Blue Lake and Rocky Shore... #3

Day 3.

Again we woke up to a dry, if overcast, morning. Emily didn't have a camping mat (d'oh!) so we were trying to share, I spent most of the night halfway between the cold floor and slightly less cold matt, and woke up not too rested I can tell you!

Chris had abandoned his tent at some point in the night and opted for the car and from this point on we'd pretty much leave him with the car keys in the evening. But we got up, ate breakfast and showered etc, admiring the squirrels as we ate. There were big fat ground squirrels, and ones with black-stripes on their backs: the ground squirrels were noisy buggers...

While some of them were getting washed and using the loo or something we were tidying up, and I left the garbage bag and some utensils on the table - about 3 meters from the car. I turned my back for all of 10 seconds to put stuff in the boot, and what do I see when I turn around? Ninja squirrel and crow over there trying to get into the bags!!! The cheek!! The others were pretty amused by my reaction (giving said miscreants a piece of my mind).

Heading out of the campsite we bought our first National Park Pass and stopped off in the village for a camping matt for Emily, some gas for our stove - just incase we ran out, along with a couple of other supplies. Then down the road to the actual Lake Louise - a bit of a must see for anyone in Banff National Park.

Luckily for us we were there early in the season, which meant that it wasn't busy:
The thing is you see, as stunning as Lake Louise is - everybody and their mother knows it. Every guide book sends you there, every brochure will sell you the azure blue of the lake, the icy web of peak-tops and the grey rocky mountains. And the guidebook is right - there's a comfortable lake-side walk for the tired, a moderate hike to the glaciers, as well as a hard-core route which will take you round to Mirror Lake and more!

The reputation is well deserved, for sure, but - as Jules said - the tourists kinda ruin it if you came to Canada for untamed wilderness.

It doesn't help that they built a Hotel on the lake:

Well whatever your opinions on the "Chateau" (in my opinion the architect could have done better - but then again, it coulda been worse), you'll soon pass the elderly and too-rich-to-care occupants of the concrete construction if you walk further than the edge of the lake.

We took the trail to the Plain of the Six Glaciers, which was just perfect for me. Exhausting enough that I'd felt I'd achieved something, but not so difficult that I ached all over for the next few days! In total it was about 11 km roundtrip, so 6.8 miles. It verges off from the path around the lake at the mouth of it - where the sandy, silty flats are cut through by the mountain stream which feeds Louise. The path starts to climb very, very, very gently alongside the sheer rock facese which were already set up with climbing leads for the tourists. Jules was gutted, she'd have climbed them if she could! But you know, the whole wrist thing, so she gazed forlornly at the rocks as we passed: The trail becomes quite forrested for a large portion, exposed to roots being the only thing to watch out for as you walk. Following the stream means there's an awesome waterfall section on the way up that we only really stopped to appreciate on the way down as we were somewhat concerned about daylight and time. So we continued on and the path started to get pretty damn steep, and pebbly too! As the trees and foliage slowly dissapeared, so did my layers of clothing. I am sooo unfit.

I'm tellin' ya I was already wheezing when we came across melting snow, supplying a small but constant stream down the path and down into the valley. Then there was a huge block of snow-ice in the path with a hole cut through where people had been walking. "Motherfucking glacier!" I exlaimed (completely out of my head exhausted) how cool is that! What was essentially the beginnings of a glacier (well, just ice really, but still!) crept into our path!

Then there was a family and a guy on a horse passung use: which was kinda cool to see on such a narrow path... Then we rounded the corner... motherfucking glacier. This pack of ice and snow not only encroached into the path, but covered it and then some! The sign post showing a split for horsetrail and human trail was almost covered up entirely - I actually used it to steady myself as we clambered around! (below)

It was nerve-wracking. Slippery snow, rocky ground, a bit of a fall - and I still had a dodgy knee! Needless to say that half-way round when the path split into high and low road I was pretty keen to take the low road and escape the snow. Jules came with me, she could tell I was struggling. So Emily and Chris kept going while we took out time getting across via the rocks. A patch of rain/drizzle passed over us so the coat came out briefly. It wasn't just wet but cold too. The wind chill was crisp and nippy, and as we got around the ice monstrosity, Lake Louise came back into view. A blue lagoon in the distance - stunning.

By now the glaciers seemed as though they were withing touching distance. The path continued through steep portions and slopes, more and more ice-melts peppering the pathway until, eventually, we were dealing with snow. Proper snow. Well trodden on by the hikers who had passed throughout the day. On severall occasions I was fooled by the sound of other human beings into thinking that we'd reached the tea-house, but just a small push through the snow and my hallucinations came true!

A glacial stream passing by benches situated facing the glaciers, the odd patch of pine, and a rest stop complete with teahouse!

There was a small bridge over the stream which I sat on for a bit to catch my breath and enjoy the stunning view. Jules stuck her bad arm in the freezing waters as she had been doing on the way up from time to time. You see she has to keep the injured wrist cool - so the melt-water was a really good remedy!

Moving to a bench we were visited by yet another stripped-back squirrel, and as we ate some nuts, seeds, and dried berries part of the glacier in the distance came crashing down from a cliff face with a thunderous roar. The powder raining down like a waterfall right in front of us. AWESOME.
So eventually we decided to move it to the tea-house - a cute little Alpine-esque cottage a few metres away. We sat upstairs on the balcony, near the lady's kitchen/living space. You see there was an Aussie girl working there, and she would live in the tea house for a few weeks before someone else would come up. Supplies came up with the change of shift, or locals coming up to visit, horsetrail leaders etc. No mains gas or electricity, no internet or phones. Apparently they'd opened for the season only two weeks before, so we were actually pretty lucky. There was just one couple upstairs with us and we all got to chatting.

Most of them had hot chocolate. I however had tea. If I remember right an Earl Grey, and chocolate cake - let me tell you, with that scenery, and being that exhausted from the exercise- the cake was sublime! Utterly divine even. I didn't care that it was expensive, (I hadn't expected it to be cheap - to be honest it was moderately priced considering!) it just tasted so good. Worth every penny! And I even let everyone have a bit!

There was another cheeky stripped squirrel who hung around the teahouse - cute, but it's kind of a shame that tourists have turned them into pests. And you know what? The teahouse wasn't built by Brits?! Swiss! What do ya know - eh?

So we made use of the tea-house's restrooms which were outhouses, pits, very well kept but still... drop downs, and apparenly that's what the tea-house workers have to use too because there's no running water/sewage pipes.

Then we began the descent... and the sun was so bright I realised it was burning my scalp, so I decided to wrap my scarf round my head. Yeah, I looked like a complete idiot, I know but it functional!
On the way back down Jules, Emily and I saw a Marmot thanks to a family of hikers who's paused on the path which wasn't snow-heaped - Chris had taken the snowy path again. I also found the most awesome rock in the world! It was malachite, I think, and just the right size for hugging!

Slowly but surely we made our way back down again, spending some time at the waterfall:

and taking a rest at the mouth of the lake for a nibble to eat. The squirrels were there again, after our scraps! Resourceful little buggers. Actually, we'd stopped there earlier for a little bit, and there were a couple of Asian tourists feeding the squirrels so they got a perfect shot - can't say I approved. There's a reason that its against the law to feed the wildlife in National Parks and its not to protect your fingers getting nibbled off!Once we'd gotten back to the car we drove to Banff - I wasn't too impressed. It was pretty and all, but expensive, and it wasn't that different to anyother town except there were more hotels and restaurants than citizens! We bought some roast chicken and stuff from Safeway for our dinner and drove to a campsite just outside of town with an awesome view of Tunnel Mountain.

As we settled down to dinner, Jules' was getting into a bit of a panic about the fact that her wrist didn't feel any better. Bless her, so we said if it hurt we should take it to a doctor in Banff - which in the end we didn't do. I think it probably just felt worse because she knew she needed it better in a week's time! Anyway, we sat out with the candles and had a little nightcap. But as the darkness drew in it got very cold, so we went to bed early, hoping that the forecasts would be wrong for yet another day...

Hot Springs and Mountain Clouds #2

Day 2.
We woke up after a night of rain and disrupted sleep to an overcast day, but one which was ultimately dry - Wooo! Breakfast was bread and peanut butter and eggs - the last of which I wasn't to keen on, but ate anyway seen as though we had little else. Then, of course, a lovely warm shower. I washed the pans, and was about to use the sani-station when a very kind old man pointed out that this was a bad idea, as it's used for the toilets in RVs, oops! Luckily he said it wouldn't do us much harm out here, where the water probably all comes from the same pipe - but out in the Rockies he said I'd have to watch out because they pump it right out of the ground. =S

Then, while we were breaking camp an American woman with an RV came over, asking why the washrooms were locked. Complaining that "we paid for full service, you'd think that'd include the washrooms" moan, moan, moan... seriouly? You have a shower and a toilet in your RV, and besides, you could always ask the office nicely. Jules leant her one of our keys anyway, and she seemed content with that.
By 11am we were fed, watered and ready to go! Chris was riding shotgun today as it made sense that everyone should get a turn - and break up the stress-factor too, lol. We headed out along the beautiful Shuswap Lake, stopping briefly at Salmon Arm for some petrol, before continuing, out through the beautiful Revelstoke area and National Park. I can see why it's such a hot-spot, even on a changeable day it was stunning.


Somewhere around here we passed a waterfall on the Highway with a suspension bridge over it:



Crazy Creek Falls wasn't a free attraction so this picture was actually taken from the Highway - and not by me I hasten to add! We parked in the car-park for the bridge and walked back along the road. Jules and Chris went up onto the bridge to get a few snaps - something I wasn't too keen on doing myself, as there was no hard-shoulder and no pathway on the bridge. All they had was a foots-width brick between them and the huge 10ft lorries - and I'm talking Optimus Prime sized here!

So after this short interlude we continued on until we reached Canyon Hot Springs - which came highly recommended by Lonely Planet: I enjoyed it. It was, after all, an opportune moment and the first time I'd ever been in one. Plus, at around $8 it was probably cheaper than it would've been in Banff or Jasper. Jules said it was a shame that the mountian-tops were covered in cloud.


Chris said that in New Zealand the Hot Springs aren't usually pools, as in swimming pools, but kept as natural as possible. Oh yeah, and apparently the cold wasn't cold enough? Still, it was clean, well kept, and no-where near busy. So I enjoyed it immensley! There was this tiny winy cutie of a bird which hung around as well, flying impossibly quickly!
Well, after a nice swim we sat out on the park bench near the car-park and had lunch. Jules decided the kiddies swing was irresistable, then we took a few snaps before heading out again.

Having already phoned Budget before we went to the Spring, they knew we were heading into Alberta, so we carried on through Glacier and Yoho National Parks. There was a river in an utterly glorious valley between two mountian ranges, and this huge road going over it, and we stopped on a dirt track the other side of the bridge, hoping to get a better look. No such luck really, we just ended up stretching our legs: Oh and I redeemed myself with the map-reading. At one point the Highway we wanted diverged from Route 1 or something, and Chris was telling Jules to carry on when I pointed out we probably needed to turn off. And I was right - phew!

So we pretty much carried on right into Banff National Park without stopping - crossing the border into Alberta and - the very first Wildlife I see? - a Black Bear and it's cub on the edge of the forrest about a football pitch or so away from the highway! How cool is that?
As we drove into the village of Lake Louise the weather was looking decidedly dismal, so we decided not to go with the BBQ, and bought some alcohol anyway. The village was tiny, and, I never truly understood what my cousins meant about Alberta until I reached that town. Very different to Vancouverites, for sure.

There were campsites nearby run by the National Park, and the lady at the gate was pretty nice - she let us camp without a park pass so we could just buy it in the morning and save ourselves a little money. At first I was pretty worried by the state of the toilets until I realised there were cleaner ones with the showers around the corner! lol Ironically I was far less worried by the bear-fence around our perimeter. But the campsite was well sheltered from wind and rain - which was quite a concern at this point - and the firewood came free!

So we camp-fired it up, sausages and marshmellows, had a little to drink and went to bed.

The Rocky Roadtrip... #1

So I guess we should start with the beginning? Sunday, 6th June. After a Saturday night close at HMV, I wake up bright and early so we can rent a car for the week. Luckily there wasn't too much of a bathroom-rush because our new housemate - Izsumi (I think that spelling is right) - was already on her way to Seattle for the day! Jules had moved out at the end of May, so she arrived around 9am with the newest addition to our party.

You see, both Ellen and Jon had wanted to come with us, and both had been unable (for various reasons) =( So Jules had sent a message out via Craig's List for anyone interested in travelling to the Rockies and sharing costs. So that's how we found Chris.

A Kiwi who'd been living with family in Richmond, Chris had his own tent etc, and was pretty cool about getting the go-ahead only the day before. So after he'd met up with Jules and Emily we decided to ask him to come. He was a pretty cool guy, I mean, he pulled his own weight... and we discovered he was a chef - so even with limited supplies we were eating pretty well for the week!

Dumping our stuff in the kitchen we headed out down Earles to catch the bus down Kingsway to Budget Car Rental near Fraser. It was a bit more expensive than projected, but not by much thanks to the fact that Jules is over 25! Despite her wrist (which she injured kayaking at the end of May) Jules decided to drive which, despite her dislike for city driving, worked out well I think. Even though Chris is an experienced driver (used to drive bus tours in New Zealand,) Emily and I knew Jules better, and as everything is on the head of the driver and renter... well, you get the picture. We used my credit card ... so I was technically the renter.

[Above: The Car posing near Hope]

Once we were inside there was a minor panic when Chris' seatbelt didn't seem to fit (turned out the correct one was still under the seat), but apart from that everything was a-okay. Jules drove us back to ours to load up the car, and while they did that I ran to Metrotown to get a car stereo jack for our MP3 players. As HMV had given me a $20 gift voucher for being awesome at cash-crashers I didn't have to spend a penny which was awesome. By the time I got back we were pretty much ready to go. Though, I have to admit that personally, I would not have packed the BBQ and coals (especially without the lighter fluid) - but then again, I am the egit who forgot to bring the blanket - which would have been very useful. Anyway, its not like we didn't have space - even once we'd bought food there was still room in the car for stuff!

So for the first day I was up-front and navigating... which was working out well until I discovered Boundary Road was not a left turn. Ah. Now, silly me, I'd not printed a Google-map of the Burnaby area, and Highways in this country (for some reason) are very badly signposted. Well, maybe its just becuase I wasn't used to them. Either way, we ended up snaking our way up and down through Burnaby all the way to the Coquitlam area before we got anywhere near the highway - highly embarassing I can tell you, especially when the new guy's probably thinking I'm just really bad at reading maps (not true! I had no map! lol) We stopped briefly at a gas-station in the Surrey area for a Subway - or a pizza if you're Jules or Emily, before heading back out, at which point we were convinced that we were on the right road.

But, it got even better... the map Jules had borrowed from the library was at such a large scale that though I thought we were on Highway 1, we actually weren't! Suddenly the landscape had gotten really flat and there were signs for US Border... eek. Even consulting the map it was hard to tell where the frig we were! Chris pointed out it was better to head back to Vancouver (even though it was pointing us towards the Delta which was the opposite direction to Alberta), and get our bearings. Which is what we did. And whilst on the wrong Highway there was a turning towards Hope and Highway Route 1 and, shouting for joy, I said next right with some actuall confidence!

So following the signs towards Langley and Route 1 I could kinda tell where we were on the map. Not for the first (or, sadly, the last time) did I second guess myself in one of the towns and turn off too early. No biggie, because we just went round until we rejoined the Highway, but it was one of those moments where you look back and think - why the hell did I turn off there? My only explaination is there must have been a highly misleading sign. As I realised by the end of the trip, a lot of signs on the highways will give you the name of a place, with an arrow for the next turning, with a km underneath which doesn't mean how long it is until the turning - oh no - it means how many km after the turning... craziness!

Eventually we ended up on the correct highway, en route to Hope, and deffinately, deffinately out of Vancouver!

Around the point where we reached Hope we stopped briefly for coffee at a Husky gas-station.

It was a proper Diner. Seriously, it was just like in a movie or computer game, even down to the phone in the corner by the washrooms. The waitress there seemed like a really nice lady - she was pretty excited by the exotic collection of nationalities that we represented: A German, a South Korean, a Brit and a Kiwi. It sure does sound pretty impressive I guess.

[There were big trucks like this (above) all the way through our trip - except on the Icefields Parkway, where they're banned. Some of them were travelling well over the speed limit! To which all I can say is - bloody good job the National Speed Limit here is 10mph slower!]

So from Hope we joined Route 5 to Kamloops, which - can I just say - is a spectacular drive. The second half takes you right up into the mountains, and as it was a changeable-weather kinda day it was doubly impressive; with the clouds snaking their way around the mountains, and the odd splash of sunlight highlighting the still-icy rocks.

Reaching Kamloops around 5pm, we went food shopping as planned. As it was a Sunday evening most shops were closed, so I asked a nice hostess at a restaurant on the outside of a mall for directions and she was very helpful! Finding Save on Foods, and using Chris' store card for extra savings, we eventually came away with all the old camping favourites... peanutbutter, hot dog sausages, bread, pasta, eggs. Then we decided to go as far as we could before night, knowing we wouldn't make it to Alberta. We almost made it to the Shuswap Lake proper, instead we camped at Chase, a few km from Salmon Arm on the Shuswap.

It was a lovely campsite run by the Lions, and the guy there was extra nice and let us pitch Chris's single tent at a discount as it was so small. Jon had let us borrow his three-person tent for the week - and it was a pretty awesome tent (something Jules was keen on saying the whole week long lol).

The first night brought rain. Jules was pretty worried about this. Chris was even more worried by this as his tent was too small for him and therefore, let in the damp. Emily and I were pretty cold, but I just put it down to the first night camping and getting used to it... Still, we were all hoping that the week would not continue like that, so we were very pleased to see a dry, and even sunny, morning... it seemed we were in luck for the day.

A Brief Update - May Madness

My my it's been a while hasn't it, and for that I appologise! Things kinda got into a routine over here - work, play, work, play, make travel plans - not much in the way of actual travelling or sight-seeing really. No gigs either - although we had several acts in-store at HMV including Fanshaw and the John Butler Trio (who were pretty cool). Jules and Emily went to see John Butler Trio in concert the same day, but I was absolutely shattered and took a pass.

Lets see, what did we do in May? Well we had Jules' family members visit and a night out at the Roxy, went to a cool Japanese Bar called Guu for Johanna's birthday meal:

...plenty of nights out at Club 23... I took a day off from Spag to enjoy the sunshine on Kits Beach, and had a free French lesson (courtesy of Etienne) whilst drinking Sangria.

We went to Kareoke night at the Met with the Spaghetti Factory crowd, succesfully organised a HMV-Spag-Roomate dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory, had a few BBQs with a Barbie which Jules and Emily found on Craigs List for $10 (and took the whole day to retrieve). Rachel and I went to see IronMan 2 (awesome film!), and at the very last minute decided I would go camping with Jules and Emily in Alberta afterall!!!

So the rest of May was a mad rush to organise a camping trip into the Rockies, which you will be hearing about shortly... I was lucky enough that my cousins could come over and bring me essential camping supplies the day before - which worked out really well, because we met up and dropped stuff off, before having lunch at the Grasshoper cafe on Granville together. It was a lovely sunny day so we sat out on the patio, and despite the drugged-up verbal abuse from certain people on the sidewalk it was a pleasant meal - though we very nearly made John ill by suggesting the Cajun Chicken. (I didn't know he was allergic to Paprika!!)

Then after eating we were wandering, and came across a magic act - which was very entertaining, but they did seem to only have one trick each - getting out of a straight jacket and doing a rubics cube blindfolded (and I kinda know how both of those tricks are done). Still it was good banter. After that I dropped them off at the busstop, as they were heading to the Aquarium - and I was heading for work. And then the next day... I'd be on the road.

Impromptu Gigs (or why "Winging It" has benefits)

On Wednesday 14th April, Rachel and I knew two things: Florence + The Machine were playing at the Commodore Ballroom on Granville Street, and tickets for the gig had sold out online. Still, we thought, if there was even so much as an outside chance that there were tickets at the door, it’d be worth trying. So it was a beautiful sunny day, and I was working at the Old Spaghetti Factory, being very envious of the guests on the patio, sitting in the warm sunshine. So I gave Rachel a call, and asked her if she’d rather eat out in the sun rather than go back to mine for dinner? And we met up after I’d finished – the sun still out – and had Spaghetti and Sangria on the patio.

Finishing up dinner we wandered to the nearest RBC ATM for Rachel, (which turned out to be all the way on Burrard!) before heading to the Commodore. When we arrived there were already a few people looking to buy tickets, and this was around 7/7:30pm – the warm up act didn’t even start until 9:30! They hadn’t even opened the box office to Will Call, and when we asked what was going on they let us know that they may, or may not, release tickets later in the evening – but it could be as late as 10pm, and they didn’t know yet.

So Rachel and I decided to line up with the hopefuls, rather than nip back home to get changed, pick up our cameras etc. (which is why I have no photos or videos – sorry). This way we’d be somewhere near the front of the queue and in with a better chance… RIGHT DECISION! So we hung about in line and then, around 8:30 ish they started talking about letting us know “yes” or “no” pretty soon. So we stayed and – can you freakin’ believe it? – we got in!!

$35 – that was all we paid! $35 to see one of the hottest new acts of last year!

The Commodore was an awesome venue too. It’s how I’d imagine a small concert venue to look right? There was a big ol’ stage, big dance floor, seating areas near the bars, this kinda old-worldy feel to it. Pretty damned cool. So we grabbed drink before the warm up act, still well chuffed with ourselves for getting in. The drinks weren’t too overpriced, and there were like three or four bars there, so it was hardly difficult to get to the bar. I didn’t have much money so I went with a pear Cider – Okanagan, of course.

Anyway, then the support act started. I have no idea what they were called (they weren’t even mentioned on the tickets), but they were cool. The only problem was that the distortion on the guitar drowned out the lyrics. But I wouldn’t mind checking those guys out.

So at this point, with the dance floor starting to fill up, we decided to get in the crowd and stake out a place – which turned out to be pretty easy. Oh, Canadian crowds – so much more laid back than UK ones. Everyone had drinks in their hands and (at least during the support act) it was pretty easy to wheedle your way towards the front. You almost had elbow room the whole night! Very different to Feeder playing at the Warwick Student Union I can tell you that!!

We ended up about three or four people away from the main stage! Which was freakin’ awesome because, when Florence finally did come on stage, she came right up close and you could see her properly! Their stage was set up pretty cool – with lots of flowers. And they had a harp! The Machine led out the band, dressed in black with a bit of cape-action going on, lol – later on Florence said they’d dressed up as Superheros, ha ha. Then Florence made her entrance, wearing a very glam-rock-esque outfit, really freakin’ high heels (she actually took them off after a couple of songs) and a spangley head-cover thing which didn’t last very long with all her hair-thrashing and dancing.

They opened with HOWL and I was like “Woooo! Hell yeah!” and yet again I felt like the only one in the crowd who’d listened to the album, because it seemed like no-one else around me even knew the song! Le sigh. But it was sooo cool! And Florence’s voice is just amazingly powerful. It was a pretty cool set and they had so much energy on stage. They played:
Hurrican Drunk, I’m Not Calling You A Liar, My Boy Builds Coffins, Lungs, Cosmic Love and an old track of theirs I’d never heard called The Hardest Heart (which sounded pretty good). When they played Blinding it was really eerie! She had a shawl as one of her few props, and she put it over her head like a hood, so you couldn’t see her face and made her like the reaper or somethin’ – spooky =D And they played Drumming Song – completely rockin’ the joint with some absolutely mental drumming and dancing.

And when they played Dog Days, Florence was like “Alright Vancouver, I want you to do something for me…” and, I will love her forever for this, she told everyone to dance to the music! To actually DANCE! Yeah, you tell ‘em Florence. Woo! So FINALLY everyone was leaping together, and then the next song was You Got the Love. Oh man, I’m tellin’ ya, I was jumping and singing so hard I actually ran out of breath for a moment! But it felt soo good. And some point after Dog Days (but I can’t remember which song – it could’ve been You Got the Love) she stood on the barrier, and jumped in! Crowd surfing – hell yeah! I never in a million years expected her to be such a rocker, lol, though, thinking about it, they made it big through festivals! So it makes sense.

By the time they left the stage the audience was pumped and hollerin’ for an en core, and when they finally returned they came back with Kiss With A Fist! Amazing. And finishing, finally with Raise It Up! Leaving us on a momentous high, and feeling as pleased as punch that we’d waited it out, and only spent $35 for such an amazing experience. Oh crap, I still owe Rachel $35… musn’t forget that! Lol. Florence + The Machine – way better in concert than on CD. Bloody brilliant.

A Flavour of Life - Vancouver Style

I realised that as things in Vancouver start to become mundane that I've not really blogged. As my mother pointed out - I seem to only be writing about "worthy" things. It's not intentional, I assure you, I just don't think it's entirely fair to start splashing the names of aquaintances about where all the world can see! Hence plenty of nights-out go unchronicled here, and plenty of fiascos in the work-place too!

That being said, half of living in a place isn't the events but the everyday. The SkyTrain: driverless, fast, regular as clockwork. Tim Hortons - where the donuts are less than a dollar, and you can get a lunch combo for $5. Eau-de-Weed, that all-too-common Vancouveran scent. The hobos on every street corner, the crazies. We have regular crazies at HMV - my favourite is the crazy-dancing-lady. She spends hours at the listening-posts, harmlessly dancing away.

The thing is, that no matter where you go, the Earth is the Earth. But - to quote Pulp Fiction - "It's the little differences..." : chocolate tastes wierd, more powdery, less milky perhaps? Either way - don't buy an Aero - it's just not the same. The only place in the world with more Starbucks is probably Seattle. The streets are straighter, wider too, and all the electric cables hang overhead, buzzing away in an eerie fashion which makes you wonder if it might fall on top of you at any moment!

The crossing man is white, not green, and he makes a strange noise (though I struggle now to remember the sound of a British one). Skunks can occasionally be seen scampering between houses - racoons too, apparently. Mountains, with real snow on! are just on the city's doorstep, and I see them everyday. Art Gallerys and Museums are rare, and small, and barely visited... and therefore overpriced. Every-other person is of Asian descent - especially in East Vancouver. The Irish are here in abnormal amounts - as are the Aussies and Kiwis.

When it's not raining, or freakishly windy, the sun is glorious - and the sunsets here are sublime:

(I took that one from the SkyTrain Station in February!)

I have never seen a city with so many trees! And we have cherries along our street:

I'm living in a basement flat with two other housemates and we each have our own room. Our old housemate Johanna (who is Swedish,) moved out in the beginning of April, so we made meatballs and mash for a last meal kinda thing:

This all kicked off because Jules loves cooking and eating together, and kept stuffing our faces with pancakes. (Seriously, I think I put on weight!) Jules (on the right below) is German. She's still here, but now we have a new housemate - Emily, who's Korean and very nice. (She may be cooking us some octopus soon - how cool is that?) Anyway, will probably write again with more snippets of the mundane later! Toodles!

MUSE

Ok, anyone who knows me, knows one thing: I love MUSE.

Now, I'm not the biggest fan-girl in the world - and I ain't about to start stalking anyone! But sure, I know a little too much, and I get a little too excited when I hear them play. And yes I have an itunes playlist devoted entirely to them... so needless to say when I couldn't get tickets to the UK Tour, or Teignmouth, and then found out I wouldn't be in the UK when they play Wembley - I was gutted. Especially as I didn't manage to get tickets for the Black-Holes & Revelations Tour in '06/'07.

As I started to seriously consider a weekend abroad to see them I found out they were playing in Vancouver on April 1st!! I didn't get tickets right away. After all I had no idea if I'd find anyone willing to go with me, but then I met Rachel - and then when I visited my cousins, David said he'd love to go too! So, hoping this wasn't some sick April Fools joke, I got us some tickets and OMG - it was the best $60 I ever spent! The only possible way that gig could've been better, would be if I were closer or on the floor. Then I could have jumped up and down some more without worrying about falling, but it was just... wow, just... WOW.

Silversun Pickups were the support act, and they were ok. (Very Goo Goo Dolls sounding.)

Though I felt bad for them, half the arena didn't turn up until they'd finished. Personally I like to see all my ticket is offering! But then MUSE opened up with Uprising, sadly David's awesome videos won't upload so you'll have to settle for my crappy ones:

It was when they started playing New Born that I was like - That's it! I'm not sitting down through the entire show! Hell with that. And dragged Rachel up with me! =D

And they played almost all my favourite songs I was soooooo happy: Uprising, Resistance,

New Born,

Supermassive Black Hole, Map of the Problematique, Hysteria,

United States of Eurasia, Feeling Good (yes, he broke out the speaker-phone),

And Matt and Dom had like a drum & bass jam which was so cool, and then they had Undisclosed Desires, Unnatural Selection (man that solo in the middle is just magic),

Time is Running Out...

Finishing with Plug In Baby and some giant inflatable eye-balls! it was all over too soon. We were cheering and shouting, Encore, ENCORE!!!

So they came back and played for like another half hour! =) And they played Exogenisis Part 1, and then STOCKHOLM SYNDROME! OMG!! and finished, of course, with Knights of Cydonia! Legends! And Matt started reflecting the spot light into the crowd and making each side cheer, louder and louder, to outdo each other - which was funny.

There wasn't much banter, but oh dear lordy we hardly needed it! They're such awesome performers, sooo good at what they do. They moved seemlesly from one song to the next. Not just reproducing it, but making it mold to the crowd, so you felt surrounded by it. And the lights and everything just fitted so perfectly.

So basically MUSE deserve the title best live act in the world. Especially if your a fan.

Snow, Skis and Falling Over

Learning to Ski has always been a life-time ambition of mine. I suspect it was all those Bond films when I was younger, but I've always wanted to try it - even knowing that I'd have no natural capacity for it!

So I was lucky enough to be able to arrange three days away from work and head over to see Elaine and Co., to try the slopes of Mount Washington, and even luckier that Elaine's amazing! She took John and I to the bus stop at 4:30am (urgh), as well as lending me her ski pants, a knee brace, and taking me out to an absolutely wonderful meal the night before! (Thank you 'Lainey!!)

The place was amazing. I'd never seen snow so fresh and deep, mountains so high, pines that ghostly shade of white and covering the land as far as you could see! The air was crisp and clear. My feet fell right through the snow the moment I stepped off of the bus, and it even snowed on-and-off while I was there!

It's been a really good season for them at Mount Washington, way better than at Grouse or Cypress in Vancouver. Washington's bigger too, though not so big that it's a resort-trap. There's not much in the way of shopping, which means everyone there is there to ski or board! I managed to book myself a lesson for $72 with included rentals, and a lift pass. Not bad and very cost effective because God knows I'm not a natural! So John went off to board and I started my 10am lesson.

We started off with learning how to put our skis on and start-stop - something I still haven't really mastered - ha! Our two instructors were Aussies - sisters I think - and I got to know Jess all too well because I was at the bottom of the class. I was constantly running into people and falling over, so the last hour or so I basically got a one-on-one lesson - how cool is that?! Not only were the instructors very patient but they even managed to be really encouraging, which was good, because it kept your outlook positive. It also helped that the snow was nice and thick, so I wasn't falling onto hard ice or anything, and I wasn't hurting my knee - yay! Though you could still kinda tell that it was weaker than the other one - which didn't help when trying to stop gorram it.

Anyway, after much slipping, sliding, falling, etc, I still enjoyed myself! So my first proper pay-packet when I get home, I'm going to start planning a trip to the Alps. It was exhausting but in a good way. After my lesson I completely crashed – didn’t help that I’d been up since 3:30 and eaten barely anything. So John and I grabbed a BeaverTail – a cool little donut-mix in a flat-tail shape, covered in sugary goodness. I had cinnamon and sugar, mmmm.

Then we trudged back to our gear and John watched with amusement as I struggled to put on my skis! Then he realized how slow I was and went off for a run while I kept practicing starting and stopping. I literally managed to go down the baby-baby slope twice before giving up. But it was worth it to get a better handle on it in my own time.

By that point I was dead tired. Sooooo tired. I had some water, deposited my rentals, met up with John for a bit, had pizza. He came back from his last run pretty pissed. His goggles had epically failed to protect his eyes, so much so that when he complained he got his money back on them. But he was still pretty ticked off that his last run had been a bummer. We caught the bus back, making good time on the way home, and chilled in front of a few DVDs. Even better, I woke up in the morning to a smattering of snow – how cool is that?

A Wander Round the Gallery for a Little Art...

When it comes to culture Vancouver certainly lacks galleries and museums, and its no real suprise - after all, the most valuable artworks in history are in Europe! So Vancouver's premier Art Gallery, at Robson Square, is almost entirely short-term exhibits on loan from elsewhere. The Leonardo da Vinci exhibit - the Mechanics of Man - for instance, is on loan from Windsor Palace. Now add the fact that it's FREE entry over the 2010 Olympics and Paralympics - and it's well worth seeing!

Sadly, everyone realised this, and over the Olympics queues went down the whole block, with over an hour's wait to get in. The gallery was closing much earlier than expected, around 3pm, making it one of the most in-demand attractions, with probably only the Zip-Line for competition!

Luckily for me I managed to get in after only 20min or so, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn't too crowded inside. The first level had the Mechanics of Man, displaying the pages of da Vinci's Anatomical Manuscript A and though it was short/small, it was a really well put-together exhibit! They managed to give a few good examples for the historical context, as well as displaying translations of da Vinci’s mirror-script on the walls, so that you could better understand his thoughts. Most of them were scientific, mathmatical, logical, but then, occassionaly, there'd be this surprising glimmer of philosophy. A few short lines, showing da Vinci trying to deal with the fact that his anatomical studies were taboo. I it found utterly fascinating.

On the same floor the Visceral Bodies exhibit continues da Vinci’s theme almost seamlessly, adding a more modern twist. Innovative artists such as Wim Delvoye, Wangechi Mutu and others have provided some truly fascinating works, encouraging us to look at how we represent the body in new and intriguing ways. Particularly grusome but interesting were the wax-sculptures of limbs, which were suprisingly realisitic. And I particularly liked the stain-glass windows which used x-ray sheets.

Further on up in the building Visions of BC houses many of Emily Carr’s expressionistic landscapes, alongside more modern works. I loved the full-sized whale-skeleton made of plastic chairs, and the Murder Research installation, both offering very different aspects of life in BC. Then at the very top was BC Pavillion, which has a few technological marvels and gadgets to entertain, though the "3D immersive experience" was a little... erm, underwhelming.

For a modern-art collection the gallery is fantastic! And you know what? For these particular exhibits I'd say it was better than the Tate Modern, because you see, the exhibitions are well thought out, and even though it lacks the big names, it has something to suit everybody. If you don’t like videos – there’s sculpture, if you don’t like your art too abstract or conceptual, then there’s something a little more literal. Even though the gallery is small, it’s more than enough to take up a few hours at a leisurely pace and I would highly recommend it.

Olympic Flame and Closing Ceremony Reflections

This post has been a long time coming, but I've been a busy beaver so you'll have to forgive me =D

Viewing the Olympic Flame is something people feel drawn to do during the Olympics. It becomes something of a pilgrimage, a feather in your touristy cap to say "I was there". People felt so obliged to see what is essentially, just another bonfire, that queues for the viewing platform grew hours long!

Luckily for me, I went during a hockey game, and was standing in a quickly-moving queue for no more than 10min. It was the best time to go. Evening, a blue twilight making the flame that much brighter. All the city's lights coming aglow.

As I stood in the queue I met a couple from Canada, who'd been pavillion-seeing all day. I also met a family from Vancouver who had the amazing idea of taking a flag up with them, and taking a picture of themselves infront of the flame with the flag! Deffinatley one for the album. You see, that's what the Cauldron's all about. There's not much there, it's not that amazing, it's just one hell of a photo op'!

As you probably know, they had technical difficulties with the torch at the Opening ceremony, lol. Well, they took the chance to put it right again in the closing ceremony, and hats off to them, I think it was a brilliant idea. Better to laugh at yourself than get angry! They had a mime pull the fourth arm of the torch from the ground, and then let the athlete who couldn't light it before set it aflame. So at least she got her moment.

You see, even though this games has been frought with problems, Vancouver 2010 has not only coped, but gone beyond the pail to make it right again. Somehow I can't see the British cynics doing the same if - sorry, when - our games go wrong. Plenty of politicians will be loosing their jobs. And another thing! If the UK Press has led you to believe that Vancouverites have been "lapping up the dream" over the last few years your very, very wrong. It's been nothing but a thorn in their side for all this time, but strangely enough, during the games, I think a lot of them actually came around to the idea.

The closing ceremony, like the opening, was a mixed bag and suffered a little from poor planning in my opinion. It's hard to put into words but it kinda just left a bad taste in your mouth. They could've done without bloody Nikki Yanofsky & friends for one, because that was quite bland - but the Sochi 2014 exhibit was AWESOME!

The atmosphere was buzzing thanks to Canada's last gold in the hockey earlier in the day. They were so hyper-active that during John Furlong's speech they wouldn't stop cheering! The speech was really good, he's such an eloquent public speaker, that I actually wasn't bored - more than what could be said for the spoken-word pieces by William Shatner, M J Fox and that other woman - once I'd gotten over the fact that - look it's Captn JT Kirk!!! It was quite boring, and everyone in there was ready for a party - particularly the athletes!!!

Shame that they didn't really deliver a party really - after the boring spoken word pieces came Michael Buble (also miming), and some inflatable giant beavers, Mounties etc... omg it was horrendous, and boringly coreographed - I even felt slightly embarrased.

Then came Nickelback - woo yeah! Awesome, get this party started! Then Avril Lavigne - woo yeah! Concert! then Alanis Morissette - miming to a very boring song, which was disturbingly mellow after all that rock music! She just didn't capture the stage like K.D. Lang did. Then a few Canadian bands I'd never heard of but were OK - except Hedley, they were designed for Teeny-boppers. Then (after stopping-and-starting) came a hip-hop dance group which was quite cool (but by this point I was bored), and STOMP (well the Canadian equivalent) - then before you knew it it was all over! And a little underwhelming after all that! lol, oh well, it's still a shame to see these games go - cock-ups and all! =)

It's All Over Now... and we say Goodbye So Soon to Vancouver 2010

We all knew this day would come. The Olympics lasts but two weeks, leaving almost as soon as it arrives and leaving one hell of a mess behind! Still, even though it's been a few days now, the streets feel empty, and it's more than a little disconcerting, living without Vancouver's Winter Games. The thing is, that even if you have no love for sport, the sheer volume of people, the shouts of support, the busy attractions could not fail to touch your life in one way or another.

Now there are no queues of pin-freaks outside HMV, waiting hours for CTV's commemorative pin. There are no pot-heads and drunks stumbling through in maple-leaf-flags and screaming "Wooo Canada yeah!" before running out again. The red and white has melted away, along with the temporary screens, buskers and free concerts.

I was working through the Hockey final - damn it - but I could hear the shouts and cheers from the bottom floor of HMV, let alone the main floor! Canada 3 - USA 2 and what a sweet end to the Games. The car-horns started beeping, people kept cheering, from the late afternoon all the way into the wee-hours of the morning - a near-constant frenzy of chaos. It reminded me of Naples. Hot-headed, loud, blaring, an edge of bite behind the smiles... when your sober, such things can be pretty scary. When you knock off work and get a couple of drinks down ya however... =D Electric. Exciting. Absolutely bloody mental! High-fives and hugs all round, music in the street, just a brilliant, drunken vibe.

[Video: the sound of the crowd outside HMV on Robson and Burrard. Those car-horns are happy car-horns, and, BTW, that video was taken at an ebb of noise (yes, that was a quiet portion of the night).]

I almost didn't go out. But I'm glad I did. My feet were dead from a long weekend of working and sight-seeing, I was tired, cranky - and then I realised that the reason I was cranky was the fact that I'd had no fun. The fact that I couldn't find the closing ceremony online only added to my frustration (they really put it in the most obscure location)! Soon realising that it was utter madness not to take up the inivtation I ended up getting to Malone's quite late. But just in time to still enjoy the atmosphere before catching one of the last SkyTrains home.

And so we say goodbye, so soon, to the games. And isn't it a shame. We know by now that time goes on and oh, so soon, goodbye...

The Paralympics just won't be the same.

Pavillions for Free, but what is there to see?

Being peniless (kinda), but mostly so busy with work that I haven't stopped, has meant that I've not seen all that much of the Olympics. I've watched a little on the TV in the Staff-room, I've kept track of how we're doing, and whenever I'm free I've tried to see the free stuff downtown - though the sheer volume of people has prompted me to give up more than once!

The problem with doing the Olympics on a budget, while you and all your friends are working your ass off, is that you can't really see the Live Bands and go get drunk. Alcohol - already rediculously expensive - is twice as much as The Beaver at all the Olympic venues, plus the cover charges tend to be around $20! Even the Irish House, famed for its party-atmosphere, has sobered more than one of its punters with its prices.

If its not the price which gets you it's the queues... oh dear lord. Some of them move surprisingly quickly, but still! Who wants to wait in the rain for several hours, to pay $20, to see an act which could theoretically be shit, whilst sober because they can't afford to get drunk? Exactly.

So mostly I've been on the Cultural trail, checking out Pavillions and buskers etc.

I've been lucky enough to avoid queueing longer than 20min, and I have to say that if any of these things had made me wait longer than that I wouldn't have bothered!

The Aboriginal Pavillion has had a huge fuss made over it as Canada tries to maintain its image of being First-Nations-Friendly, and isn't a bad start. They project a 10min video/light-show onto the dome-ceiling which is kinda cool. But it doesn't really tell you anything. I left with only a vague impression of what it means to be an aboriginal Canadian, and really, none-the-wiser as to their traditions, regalia, communities or language.

Live City Downtown is one of the several LIVE sites where they broadcast the games, and is also home to Canada and Manitoba Pavillions. It was raining when I went, and cold, so it wasn't so busy. Canada House was the best pavillion I'd seen - with interactive games, and the opportunity to be photographed holding the olympic torch. That being said, it was still over in less than 15 min. Manitoba Pavillion was even more boring - basically consisting of several tourist-industy driven adverts. You'd have thought that the best advertisement would be actually giving us a clue as to what you're all about - right?

Anyway, I'd managed to get into Live City just before the hockey game against Russia - wooo! So I stuck around to be a part of this crazy nationalistic atmosphere I'd been hearing all about. Maybe it was the rain... but I wasn't feeling it. I just don't think the Canadians have it in them to be ferocious spectators. The crowd inside the stadium was going absolutely wild, for the first time I heard that old footie-ground soundtrack of roars and cheers. But the Live sight was pretty tame. Even when they scored, five seconds of whooping and cheering would give way to utter passive calm...

See what I mean? ...Wierd.

Canada did very well in that game though, I watched the rest of it at home after grabbing some popcorn.

Robson Square however, has a good vibe about it. There's music and acts throughout the day and an ice rink with cheap skate hire. The zip-line queues go on for miles, but I'm not gonna do that anyway! The BC Pavillion is upstairs in the Art Gallery, and it's not bad. Again, mostly an advert for the area, but at least they had a "3D immersive experience" and some interactive boards! So BC did a pretty good job as far as pavillions go.

The German House on the other hand had nothing - which is why it's free during the day! They have over-priced German food and beer (might as well have it in Germany), a few screens (might as well watch it at home), and some tables. They have a stage with live acts after 7pm - but like I said, you have to pay a cover charge then, so it's too expensive. So all I did there was pick up a tourist booklet about Thueringen - which, as it turns out, is where Jules comes from! Whad'ya know?

So overall, the pavillions are a bit of a disappointment and I pitty the poor sods who waited hours to see these things!

Dancing in the Street - You can feel the Olympic Beat!

All you have to do is walk down a street these days, and you can find something to entertain you! Well, if you're around Robson and Granville at anyrate. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, there've been some killer musicians, artists and performers filling the streets.

I mean, for Lunar Fest they had these Taiko drummers performing on Granville:

They're Canada's first Youth Taiko band, known as Chibi Taiko. Bloody impressive if you ask me!

I really wanted to dance, but was a little too selfconscious. It's a shame isn't it, that we grow up and suddenly we're expected to not dance, or sing, spontaneously in public.

Anyway, it's not just drummers and musicians on these streets, there've been dancers too! I was lucky enough to come across these Flamenco Dancers after work, when I realised that the Art Gallery was already closed. I have no idea who they were but I liked their style:

Oh yeah, and that same day I stopped off at Trees Organic to try the "Best Cheesecake in Vancouver". Check it out:

They burnt their espresso, and kinda drowned the cheesecake in the strawberries (so I wouldn't bother getting the strawberry topping again), but oh my lord the cheesecake hardly disappointed! I will certainly take anyone who comes visit there for some coffee and cake!