Days 2-5: Vancouver
I feel like I did not give Vancouver its due when I was here. It is a beautiful city and the weather was fantastic, there is definitely a good vibe here. But I was not quite myself for the first couple of days; still very tired from packing up my life and I still needed to do some work (update website, tie together some things that I didn’t have time to do before I left San Francisco, etc.)
On the first full day in Vancouver, do you know what I did? I went to the mall. Now those of you who know me know that I’m not much of a mall person in the US (although I was a mall-rat in high school); but I had to get a Canadian cell phone, and that brought me to a mall in residential Vancouver. Not excatly a top attraction. So it was stuff like this that was bogging me down a bit when I first arrived.
I explored the campus of University of British Columbia, which is beautiful and got some great architecture pictures. I explored the city, both the coastlines and the city centre. I lugged my huge photo backpack with 3 lenses all day around Central Vancouver on one of the hotest days they’ve had in a long time, and that built character (and nearly broke my back) and it certainly stunk up my clothes, but it was a good day. I went to Granville Island on my last day in Vancouver, which is a small island between the city centre and the rest of Vancouver. It is pretty touristy, but there is a great Market and the Emily Carr School of Design is there and has some neat looking buildings. Further back on the island are some great older buildings that I enjoyed taking pictures of.
Up to this point, I have not taken many pictures of people. I now remember how I am a bit afraid to approach strangers. I want so badly to be the outgoing traveler chap that can just go up to anyone and be all charming. But I realize that is not me, at least not right away. It is a mental struggle and something that I need to work on. In the meantime, I’m taking many urban landscapes and getting reaquainted with my camera, which is the most important thing.
Tags: Destination, Travel
Administrator
January 20th, 2006 at 11:48 am
Jason this will be my last post probably as I am so busy with the last three days of the federal election but just have to say, try not to be shy about talking to strangers.
As I age I realize that the MAJORITY of the world’s population is good and wherever you go people love to talk, talk about themselves, their country, their city, their town, etc. so once you say, “…excuse me please tell me where, how, …?” you’ve got it made……be yourself, you have a wonderful, positive attitude.
What is that phrase? “…be a fool once and ask: or don’t ask and be a fool forever..”, something like that, but that’s the general idea. As an older nurse, I ask! Or maybe I am just too nosey, hehe!