Intrest

Vancouver is full of interesting places and unique experiences.  It would take a

lifetime to see and do everything this vibrant city has to offer.  I do, however, have a

number of suggestions to get you off and exploring this amazing and incredible city.

Chinatown is east of the city near Main and Hastings and is the second largest in

North America.  You will truly forget you are in Canada when you are touring the

streets there.  There are tons of Cantonese, Mandarin, Szechuan, Vietnamese and

dim sum restaurants there.  It is definitely best to walk because there is literally now

where to park.  Be sure to pay a visit to the Chinese Cultural Center and Dr. Sun Yat-

Sen Classical Chinese Garden.  A word of caution:  do watch you wallet.  Also, be

careful about taking pictures of people as sum absolutely do not want their pictures

taken and you might find yourself in a situation you really do not want to be in.

Stanley Park is north of the city center right in between Vancouver and West

Vancouver.  It is an incredibly gorgeous 1,000 acre park that was established in

1888.  It is one of the largest parks in North America and may well be the most

beautiful, too.  Inside the park are all sorts of different trails, restaurants, museums,

playgrounds, totem polls and of course the famed Vancouver Aquarium (I’ll discuss

that in another post).  While there you can walk, roller skate, ride a horse or take a

bus tour.  This is a definite place you have to include on any visit to Vancouver no

matter how many times you have been there.

VanDusen Botanical Gardens is just four miles south of downtown at the

intersection of Oak and 37th.  It is the most amazing botanical garden I have ever

seen.  It was originally owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway, and then became a

golf club and then in 1975, after ten years of hard work and planning, it officially

opened as a botanical garden.  The gardens cover 55 acres and there are over

255,000 plants from all parts of the world.  The nice thing about the mild climate in

Vancouver (and remember it is in a temperate rain forest) is that you can visit the

gardens anytime of year and there is always something interesting going on.  The

gardens are open daily from 10:00a.m. to 9:00 p.m. June through August and close

earlier at other times of the year.