Back in Vancouver!

After nearly eight years, I finally returned to beautiful Vancouver, British Colombia and got to spend a few days here before boarding a cruise ship. While I was here, I made sure to do as much as possible and I didn't seem to have much of a problem with that!

I began by exploring the city via the fast and reliable train system. My first stop was Vancouver City Centre, where I walked to Queen Elizabeth Park. This park has a large garden that I found to be very peaceful to walk through or just sit down on a bench and relax for a little while. I probably spent a good hour to hour and a half here and I definitely could have spent a lot more time here because the scenery was beautiful and the weather was just perfect.

These gardens seemed to never end and felt like a fantasy. Even after climbing to the highest point at this park and seeing the Vancouver skyline, it still felt like I was in the middle of nature and not a large city. Nonetheless, the view of the surrounding area was well worth the climb to the top.

Once I was done walking around the park, I took the train to the waterfront, a nice district with shopping, dining and entertainment right on the water. This is also the location of the cruise ship terminals and seaplane harbor.

Day 2 was a little bit more fun. I began this day by spending a few hours at Capilano Suspension Bridge Park, a beautiful park that is home to a 140-meter long suspension bridge.

It only takes about 2 minutes to cross the bridge walking at an average pace and stopping for a few seconds in the middle to enjoy the view (which I did when crossing both ways.)

This park is not just limited to the one suspension bridge. There are many things to do and see, such as small suspension bridges that go through the tree tops. I did get to walk on these and they were so much fun. They did remind me a little of Endor in Star Wars.

There is also a half-circle bridge that extends out over the canyon. This was definitely one of my favorite places to walk at this park and it also has some great views of the river and forest below.

After leaving the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park, it was time to head downtown for a grand fireworks show at the Celebration of Light, the longest running offshore fireworks competition in the world. This was a competition between three countries: Australia, Mexico and The Philippines. On the night that I was able to watch (July 26), it was Mexico that had the spotlight and put on one of the best fireworks displays I've seen. The entire show lasted about 30 minutes and standing in one spot for hours before it started was worth it this one time, but I don't think I will do it again.

Finally, my last day in Vancouver was a bit more relaxing as I spent most of this day exploring around the waterfront district. I did the Flyover Canada ride experience a couple of times and it was a lot of fun. This is located on the pier at Canada Place and is similar to Soarin' Around the World at Disney parks.

I also spent some time exploring around the block and came across the famous Gastown Steam Clock, a small clock tower that is powered by steam and sounds the Westminster Chimes every quarter.

Vancouver, B.C. is one city that I really enjoyed and I'd love to return soon to do everything again and see what else there is to explore!