Vancouver, B.C.

After riding the Amtrak Cascades, we arrived in Vancouver, BC and took a city tour. Vancouver is the host city for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. It is an absolutely gorgeous city and has consistently ranked as one of the world's most livable cities. The population has doubled in size since 1986 to over 600,000 in Vancouver and 2.25 million in the metro area. It is bordered on three sides by water and to the west by mountains. Below is the view from the harbor area called Canada Place looking west to the mountains.

The view below is from Stanley Park back toward Canada Place where the cruise ships come and go. It will also be the media center for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Next is the Lions Gate Bridge which connects Vancouver to North and West Vancouver and would take you to the Whistler ski area.

We went to Granville Island, a very quaint place where the pace seemed a bit slower. It is where the artists like to live and it had a fantastic farmers market. We ate at "Sandbar", a great seafood restaurant on the water. The photo below is the view from the restaurant back toward Vancouver and under the Granville Bridge.

The Vancouver area was first inhabited by Indians and these were beautifully carved totem poles in Stanley Park, a 1,000 acre urban park bordering downtown Vancouver.

We stopped at a lookout point near Queen Elizabeth Park to take photos of the city from that vantage point. There were beautiful views from anywhere we went....the beach area, Stanley Park or Canada Place harbor. The following cityscape was taken from the Vancouver Lookout, the "space needle-like" viewing deck. It somewhat shows that the Vancouver city core is made up of mostly high rise glass buildings.
I have hundreds more pictures, but this gives you a taste of the city. We will be looking forward to seeing more as we watch the 2010 Winter Games.