Vancouver's Quaint Places

I've always had a thing for old things - antique buildings, yellowing pages of old books, and the striking poses of sepia pictures. In fact, what I loved about Manila was its old district - the famous Intramuros. It's a welcome change to see calesas on cobbled roads after much despise on the smoke-belching jeepneys and buses.

With Vancouver, to get a taste of its olden times when it was still a burgeoning city, it would be best to visit Granville and Gastown.

Granville

Who would have thought that this small island with candy colored signs and stalls was once the industrial area of Vancouver? While you can still see the remnants of industrialism - old chimneys, steel warehouse gates, large steel pipes - the candy hues have given the place a total makeover. Now, it is home to a variety of shops and amenities such as a big public market (not the bad-smelling ones) with all the fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, seafood and even yummy pastries. It is also home to a theatre group, a prestigious arts school and cute little shops selling items that you can't resist to get (and they eventually end up in your bodega).

As expected, we ended up buying lots of fresh fruits - a lot of them not available or are too expensive in Manila. Berries and cherries were the top pick and boy were they all sweet!!!

If I were to stay in Vancouver, I would be spending lazy afternoons here while drinking coffee and watching the ships and yachts pass by. Love it!

Gastown

Gastown would easily remind you of scenes from Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman (albeit minus the rough roads). As the former downtown core of Vancouver, it was the center of general trade and commerce. Now one of Vancouver's most popular sites, the community has restaurants, night clubs, upscale housing, theaters and art galleries. Talk about the mix of Vancouver's in vogue lifestyle with its old western past!

Being the cute and quaint district that it is, I thought it was the perfect time to be a camwhore. My favorite pictures is this one taken right in front of the steam clock. Yup, it runs using steam power and it gives off that strange whistle every hour. Nice!

Among the things that we bought, the "catch of the day" was this graphic map of Vancouver with all its buildings and landmarks illustrated. We also got a graphic map of Canada as we need to start early on getting to know the provinces and territories just as we know Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

After strolling for hours, we decided to have some coffee at Starbucks which is housed in one of Gastown's old buildings. I know Starbucks keeps on justifying their ridiculous coffee prices for that different "experience." This time, as I look at the cafe windows and catch a sight of this quaint town, I felt that every cent of my latte was worth it.

This entry was posted by jigs, on jeudi, septembre 27, 2007. You can leave your response.