I have often heard that this city is very beautiful so I wanted to see it for myself. The olympics were held here recently. I got my first new passport for this trip so I could visit Vancouver.

The BC Ferries ride to Vancouver was a much larger boat than the one from Port Angeles to Victoria. It was usually hard to tell by feel that it was even moving. This ferry did not have the tables with bench seats that the ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria had but it did have some small alcove desks with WiFi (but poor connectivity) for using a laptop (and I grabbed one). It also had a large screen television showing the Vancouver Canucks hockey game. The broadcast is closed captions plus a person can dial to a specified AM station and listen to the television broadcast. Passengers can walk around and use the large restrooms or visit the snack/vending area (which was not as good as the ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria).

I was curious to see what special things Vancouver had done to their city in preparation for hosting the Olympics in 2010. Nothing was obvious although their new arena could have been one item. What struck me as interesting is that while Vancouver has dozens and dozens of tall buildings, they all look quite the same as far as color and height and structure. There are a few unique structures in town though.

There is way too much to see and do in Vancouver. My time was limited to one full day. There is a wonderful section of the downtown called Yaletown which sports numerous restaurants and shops. The downtown Hampton Inn was a good choice. It is about two miles east of Stanley Park which fills a penisula jutting out into the Vancouver Harbor.