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19 June 2016

British Columbia 2016 – Day 5 part 1 / Vancouver

Walked 20.13 km / 30 365 steps

After 2 car-days, today I was on a mission to WALK! And walk we did!!  From our hotel to Grandville Island along the False Creek Seawall.

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I am totally in love with this seawall! Have I mentioned that lately? I want to move to Vancouver just because of that walk way.

We started off with breakfast at the hotel. My husband is more of a lingerer when it comes to breakfast coffee than I am, I was getting antsy to get out there and take advantage of the blue skies while they lasted because there was rain in the forecast.  I think he could tell I was itching to start the day because he only had one refill. ha!

This was the view of the skies I had during breakfast (the reflection of the indoor ceiling lights look like oranges on the trees!)

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It was a grey overcast walk, but we loved it anyway!

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After about an hour of strolling, we thought we’d stop somewhere for a coffee and came across a nice looking place called Provence Marinaside

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Breakfast at Provence 3

I ordered a mimosa to make up for that “thing” I had on Day 2!  This was much much much better!

Breakfast at Provence 1

Our intention was just to have a coffee, but everyone around us was having brunch and we got the vibe that we couldn’t “just have coffee” so we thought: What the heck, a little nibble won’t hurt.

I don’t remember what my husband ordered, I had the “Fresh Baked Goods” and TO THIS DAY I regret so much that I didn’t take a picture! OMG.

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It was just as described but nevertheless I was not expecting what I got! It was a HUGE basket with a croissant, AND a chocolatine, AND a nut muffin, AND a scone.  I was in a carb coma for HOURS AND HOURS after that. Delicious but WAY WAY WAY too much.

The rest of the walk was slow going after that! It rained a little but not for long. We actually didn’t mind that it wasn’t sunny because there would not have been any shade and a hot walk is no fun for us.

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This was taken Heather Civic Marina, I liked the different colours on the rocks.

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We arrived at Grandville Island a little before lunch time, but I had less than ZERO appetite – still not recovered from my earlier carb overdose, all I could swallow was a cappuccino. Lunch was NOT going to happen!

Off the Tracks Espresso Bar and Bistro 2   Off the Tracks Espresso Bar and Bistro 1

Our plan for the afternoon was to visit The Vancouver Aquarium, so we took the ferry back to Sunset Beach and enjoyed another scenic walk along the water and through Stanley Park.

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The Aquarium was enjoyable, but (naturally) crawling with kids running and laughing and screaming and playing and having lots of fun. Good for them, I’m glad they liked it…  but the decibel levels were too high for me! I have a limited tolerance!  After about an hour and a half, I was ready leave.

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The outside part was the best! We saw dolphins, porpoises, sea lions, penguins, even a beluga whale!

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But the hands down best of all were the Sleeping Otters. OMG I have never seen anything so cute!!

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After this, it was still to early to have dinner (not even 3PM) but since we skipped lunch we were getting a little peckish.  I wanted to walk along Coal Harbour again so we set out to have a cocktail at the Cactus Club Café at Canada Place. The setting is really nice with the Olympic Cauldron right next to it.

I usually have a strict no resto repeat rule on vacation, but since this CCC was not the same location as the one we went to for lunch on Day 1, it didn’t consider it a repeat.

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Drinks at Cactus Club Cafe 1 Drinks at Cactus Club Cafe 2

As we relaxed, we talked about making “the big decision”…  where to have supper?

My husband being Italian, prefers Italian food above all others, but after that we both enjoy French and German food. Before starting this vacation, I did a few Google searches on restaurants in Vancouver and came across one that had French and German food on their menu! What luck!

We drove by it by bus on the day we arrived, and walked by it again on on Day 2 when we were on our Search for Breakfast.

Decision done, it was to be La Brasserie for supper! (Why is Google giving me this many options for a destination that is right down the road?)

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The Restaurant ticked all the right boxes: great menu, nice atmosphere, interesting décor, good service…

Dinner at La Brasserie 1

Dinner at La Brasserie 2

Dinner at La Brasserie 4  Dinner at La Brasserie 3

But the food wasn’t great. It wasn’t TERRIBLE, but it was nothing special. Sad smile

I think I let myself get too carried away by the prospect of delicious food - it would have had to be way up on the gourmet scale to meet my expectations.

I will say that the foie gras served like a crème brûlée was very original!

Dinner at La Brasserie 6

Dinner at La Brasserie 7

No idea what we did after that – nothing on Facebook or in my pictures to jog any memories!  We probably walked down Davie Street back to the hotel…  Who knows!

(Again, what’s with Google and the multiple path options??)

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