lOved it!

by Roland
(Calgary)

My wife and I visited Vancouver late April to mid-May (10 days) and we had a glorious time, except for a bit of liquid sunshine and low cloud at the beginning and end.

We arrived by VIA sleeper from Jasper (having traveled by VIA day coach from Edmonton and stayed in Jasper 3 days) and left on the Rocky Mountaineer GoldLeaf.

We stayed at the Vancouver Centre Holiday Inn (711 W Broadway), where we were given a corner room with a view (of False Creek), since it was our 16th weddding annivesary and we had stayed there in 1983.

We also visited Granville Island, just down the hill and walked along the seawall from Oak St (or so) to get there. The weather didn't allow us to visit some other sites (Burnaby Village) and some attractions weren't running because it was too early in the year.

I managed to take in Yaletown as a side trip to Granville Island (travelling there by ferry) and my wife and I spent an entire afternoon at Queen Elizabeth Park and the Bloedel Conservatory.

We will again visit Vancouver for sure, but not in 2010; where accomodation will be almost non-existant and very expensive during the Winter Olympics and the service fair to poor after.

We experienced it in Calgary during and after the 1988 Olympics. There is a general "downer" all around for at least a year. After the dust has settled, (too much hype, then sudden letdown and everyone prospered from the Olympics and sudenly broke), we will come back to the real Western friendliness.

All in all, on a scale of 10, our Vancouver experience was a 9.5 (the .5 due to the weather).