Venture Vancouver

Saturday 12th February 2011, 11am, 7°C, rainy, snowy and foggy.
Location: Mt Seymour

 

Snowshoe adventure at Mt. Seymour, originally uploaded by selihpxe8.

Friday January 21st 2011, 3pm, 6°C, wet and grey.
Location: Commercial Drive & Gastown.

On the Drive, originally uploaded by Venture Vancouver.

I had heard that Commercial Drive was once Little Italy. There is a little italy in Melbourne, that is still very much italian focused. I went to ‘the drive’ and walked from Commercial Station up to Venables St. I have an Eye Witness Travel book which lists Commercial Drive as a shopping district for tourists. I would not recommended tourists go to this area. It is not a pretty part of the city, it looks old, degraded, dingy, and just very worn. I am sure this place has seen better days and that when it was little italy, it was a hustling bustling awesome place. The drive has some interesting restaurants and food shops, but as for shopping district, not so much.

Unless your definition of ‘shopping district’ is shopping for smelly second hand old clothes, books and furniture perhaps, but then you could help the homeless and buy such items off them instead of for some of the price tags I saw.

I think ‘the drive’ is a great place for locals, especially local artists. There were heaps of walls that were covered in muriels and the homes down each cross street were colourful and interesting. As mentioned there are some good food shop markets, restaurants, bakeries and cafes which make the drive a great local place to hang out. If I lived in one of those cozy colourful houses, the drive would have everything I could need. Read more… …

Friday 7th January 2011, 6.30pm, 5°C, nice outside
Location: Yaletown.

best goalie, originally uploaded by Venture Vancouver.

Tonight I am going to see my first live hockey game ever at Rogers Arena, but before the game, food is in order. The Kingston Taphouse on Richards st was recommended. I was really surprised at how large this place is inside, you would not have guessed it from outside. There wasn’t that much time before the game and I also wanted to buy a jersey beforehand too. The Kingston staff were able to place us at a table straight away and served us immediately.

I ordered a maple glazed grilled salmon. It was pretty good. Some parts tasted too ‘grilly’ but the parts that had the maple on it were sublime. We were out of there pretty quickly and made our way to the arena.

While walking to the arena there was a guy in a wheelchair with a cat in a little suit on his shoulder. I wish I had taken a photo, it was cute. There were quite a few beggers asking money from the huge horde of people making their way to the arena.

Read more… …

Friday 17th December 2010, -14°C, snowing.
Location: Drumheller, Alberta.

Bridge over frozen water, originally uploaded by Venture Vancouver.

Looking over the frozen Red Deer River, I wish I could ice skate. It is so weird to see frozen rivers, both from the sky and standing in front of one. There is nothing else to do in Drumheller, and I would have liked to have left this morning if there was a Greyhound Bus available at a reasonable time, but I have to wait for the 5.45pm bus to Calgary.

From Calgary I had organised a shuttle to take me to the airport and to get a plane back to Vancouver. I was concerned that the greyhound bus won’t get to Calgary in time for me to get my shuttle since they don’t ever seem to stick to a schedule.

I stayed in my hotel room all day. I was supposed to check out at 11am, but the hotel manager let me stay in a room that is being used for storage. I watched cable all day, ate some more crappy food from dino’s. When it came time to pack up I walked my luggage through the snow while it is snowing to the greyhound bus station.

Drumheller is pretty at night, the old fashioned lights make the streets inviting. The bus was late, of course, I got on it and got a window seat. There weren’t many people getting on from Drumheller. The bus got to Calgary at 7.50pm (it was scheduled to get there at 7.10pm). I had arranged for the shuttle to pick me up at 8pm (because I was hoping for some time at Calgary to have  a meal and washroom break), since the bus got to Calgary so late, there was no time for a break, my flight leaves at 11pm and I wanted to be at the airport early.

I got the shuttle and got to the airport by 8.30pm. I went through security quite quickly and was waiting in the departure lounge by 9.00pm, I still had 2 hours before my flight and I just wanted to be home. There was another flight leaving for Vancouver at 9.45, which had room on the plane so I was able to take the earlier flight instead – YAY.

I was glad to be back in Vancouver. Vancouver looks so beautiful at night when flying in.

Thursday 16th December 2010, -14°C, snowing.
Location: Drumheller, Alberta.

I will eat you, originally uploaded by Venture Vancouver.

Today I am spending my day walking around Drumheller town. I went to the Fossil Shop and brought a Spinosaurus tooth. I went to the worlds largest dinosaur and climbed it. It was snowing outside and difficult to walk around, I kept getting snowflakes up my nose. The view of Drumheller from the dinosaur is wonderful, I would like to come back here when it isn’t winter.

I went into the town and I was going to go to the Reptile World but it was closed. I also wanted to go see people play curling but the rink was closed. I then went and had a coffee at cafe italiano. The cafe is nice and welcoming. Most of the people I encounter in Drumheller are nice and helpful.

I got takeout from Dino’s and brought it back to my room, again the food was pretty crappy.

Wednesday 15th December 2010, 4°C, cold and windy.
Location: Drumheller, Alberta.

, originally uploaded by Venture Vancouver.

I am mostly in Drumheller to go to the Royal Tyrrell Museum. It is the only museum dedicated to palaeontology. It has the world’s largest collection of dinosaurs. I got up and had breakfast at Dino’s Family Restaurant which is right next to the Travelodge.

The food was pretty crappy. I went and looked into the fossil shop but I could spend a long time there, so I decided I’d come back later for a longer look.

After my breakfast I got a taxi to the museum. I was there all day. It was great. I watched a person work in the lab, trying to reveal a fossil. It was amazing. I also spent way too much time in the gift shop.

Here are some photos I took at the museum.

Tuesday December 14th 2010,
Location: Edmonton, Calgary, Drumheller.  Alberta.

Pointy Muttart Conservatory, originally uploaded by Venture Vancouver.

9am
I enjoyed a complimentary breakfast in one of the conference room areas of the hotel and set out to walk around downtown Edmonton. Edmonton is a really beautiful city. Today I walked around downtown at street level even though there are climate controlled pedways to get me around. I liked walking the streets in the cold, the air was fresh, it smelled fresh and the streets were quiet. The sun was shining and it was great to walk around. I noticed that there were no homeless people asking for money on any of the streets.

I walked up 103 street to go by the Greyhound Bus Station to pick up my ticket for later today, I’ll be taking a bus to Calgary and then another bus to Drumheller. I also went past the Old Spaghetti Factory on the way to the bus station and knew I wanted to have my last meal in Edmonton there. I then walked along 104 Avenue, nothing much to see there, the CN Tower is not that interesting. Walking down 99 Street is where all the interesting and wonderful things about Edmonton can be found.

The Sir Winston Churchill Square has the Edmonton City Hall building with its pyramid looking shape, and its pond out front (which of course was iced over and families were out ice skating on it). There is also the Art Gallery of Alberta with is unusually shaped building that I have no words to describe it.

I then walked as far south I could go and along Jasper Avenue. The Fairmont Hotel caught my eye with its beauty and the background intrigued me. I love how all the Fairmont Hotels are old fashioned buildings. I went further south to get behind the hotel and found myself at a spectacular view of the frozen North Saskatchewan River. I was also looking over Louise MckInney Park and could see Muttart Conservatory.

What is with all the pointy pyramid like structures in Edmonton, there seems to be a few that I see just walking around.

This view was fantastic, I stayed here quite some time just enjoying the view. I then started to get cold, it was minus something by now and even though I had just spent time in Fort McMurray I wasn’t fully layered up and could feel the cold getting to my bones. Below are some photos I took in Downtown as well as at the Mall.

I walked back to my hotel and  relaxed. I was allowed to have a late check out time of 2pm without any extra charges. This hotel was quite nice. The staff were most helpful and the place was nice. Read more… …

Monday December 13th 2010,
Location: Fort McMurray & Edmonton,  Alberta.

City Hall, originally uploaded by Venture Vancouver.

We got to the airport and got our tickets quickly. There are only 2 gates at Fort McMurray Airport. One for Air Canada Jazz and one for West Jet. We went through security quickly as well and sat in the departure lounge.

A WestJet aircraft was boarding. People stood in line and went on board. There was one guy who stood in line but was told that he had a ticket for Air Canada. He asked when they were boarding and the WestJet lady said she didn’t know, it is at the other gate across the room and as everyone could see,  there was no attendant standing there yet.

I thought to myself, I don’t understand how anyone can stand in line to board the wrong plane without realising it. It wasn’t like the place was like Los Angeles Airport where there is no signage or any easy access to gates (I hate LAX airport, it is stupid, confusing, old and ugly). Fort McMurray airport is tiny, with just TWO gates, and one departure lounge with the gates on each side of the small departure lounge, where you can clearly see both gates and the clear signs for what airline they are for.

The guy went and sat down for a while.  I kept thinking to myself that it was basically impossible to be confused about where to go in this airport, but obviously some people can still be confused. The confusion didn’t end there for the guy. Read more… …

Saturday 4th December 2010
Location: Granville Island, Vancouver

North, originally uploaded by Venture Vancouver.