After checking out, I headed to David's Cafe at the Esplanade, which was recommended by the clerk at the front desk. Their special of the day was salmon and feta wrapped in phyllo dough with baby greens sprinkled with raspberry vinaigrette. And, wow! The phyllo was crispy, the salmon was rare but good, the greens were fresh, the raspberry vinaigrette was sweet. Unfortunately, it's not part of their standard menu, so as much as I'd recommend going there, they may not have it when you go.
My tummy was still achy when I got up (although not as bad as last night), so I also passed by a drugstore for Pepto-Bismol. After lunch, I went back to the Lonsdale Quay Market to explore the shops. The market is actually reminiscent of Pike's Place Market in Seattle, but much smaller and more mainstream. There were regular shops along the perimeter, and in the center area of the first floor were stalls that sold fresh fruits and vegetables, jewelry, and arts and crafts.
In one corner of the first floor, I found an open shop that offered shiatsu massage. Well, let me just say that it was the best CA$45 I ever spent in this entire trip. The massage therapist was very good and he even massaged my aching tummy for me. It has been two years since I've had a real live massage and, oh, it felt so good. Even with all my clothes on. ;-) I don't know when the tummy ache disappeared, but it was gone by the time I went on the cruise.
There were a lot of people waiting at Harbour Cruises and more kept coming. Then a large boat called Brittania arrived and so many pre-teens were crowded at its bow. It turned out that the people were parents and siblings who were meeting this group of kids. So, it was very crowded while the kids unloaded the boat. At 2:15, the paddleboat Constitution arrived and we had to make our way through the Brittania crowd to get to our boat. There was a nice cool breeze and I got lots of pictures. This was a lot more interesting than the Red River cruise just because there was a lot to see: the Canada Center with the five "sails" and the Princess Cruise ship parked alongside it; the Chevron gas station right in the middle of the water; a sulphur factory with two high bright yellow piles in front; Stanley Park and the Lion's Gate Bridge; interesting boats of different types and sizes. Along with the usual seagulls, I saw a seal swimming in the water, which the tour guide missed. There were probably only about 25 people on board and most of them went on the third deck or indoors, so I pretty much had the outside of the second deck to myself.
My third stop was in Chinatown, the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden. As I overheard one of the other guests say, it's one of those places you go to with a fancy camera. And, sure enough, I saw more and more people with fancy cameras. I'm glad I got mine with me. I spent a long time in there. As I was focusing on the water lilies, an older couple walked by and told me about the turtles in the center lake. The woman said, "With your [kind of] camera, you'll take very good pictures [of the turtles]."My last stop was the Harbour Centre Tower. It wasn't very high but had a good view of the city. Not too many interesting pictures from above though. But I met a Filipino, named Tomas, who was working at the snack bar. And we chatted for a long while. I was looking for a light dinner but they only had (huge!) cookies and beverages. So, I got an oatmeal cranberry cookie and iced tea, and sat at a bar stool facing north. After returning the plate, I was headed towards the elevator but something caught my eye that I decided to take a picture of. As I did, Mang Tomas walked by (he must have started his break) and we chatted even longer. It turns out that his wife is an accountant both in the Philippines and in Canada. She never had her own practice but it sounds like she's a very good auditor. So I got their email addresses, in case I need her services.
It was already almost 8pm when I started out. There wasn't that much traffic in the city itself or at the border. And it seemed like the cars in line for the border heading south all had Washington plates. The border guard seemed in a hurry to get rid of me. She even interrupted me several times to ask the next question. And she didn't ask too many questions either. She asked me what I was doing in Canada, and she was satisfied when I said I was moving from Minneapolis and I was just taking the scenic route. Somehow, I was expecting it to be harder to get into the US than it is to get into Canada. In a couple of minutes (waiting for my turn took much longer), I was back on the road. It took me a while to get back to reading the large numbers in my speedometer though. As I was speeding up, I saw the speed limit sign saying 70, and had a brief shock when my speedometer said I was going 100. The shock was only for a brief moment (although long enough for my foot to get off the gas pedal), because I realized I was looking at the kilometer scale.
A brief stop at a town near Mount Baker for gas and DQ drive-through, and pretty soon, I was seeing familiar signs. It was almost 11pm when I arrived at Katia's Bed & Breakfast (& Lunch & Dinner), where the rates are the best I've seen in this entire trip. ;-)
And so ends the Canadian adventure. But there'll be another trip soon, down to the Bay Area.
More pics here.
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