Oh Canada!

The day was just beginning to break as we made our way under the Lionsgate Bridge and into the pier at Canada Place. Carol and Mark (the ones who retired early the night before) were up and exploring, checking out the sites of Vancouver as we approached. A Holland America ship was chasing us into port.

Packing to leave is typically a bittersweet affair indeed but staying in the Penthouse Suite made it a bit easier (as most of us left with many, many souvenir "gifts" and reminders of our one night of luxury - soaps, sewing kits, stationery, a Princess canvas bag and even slippers - basically anything that wasn't permanently nailed down!) Good thing we weren't flying back commercially to the states as we might have had to pay for extra luggage!!!

Though we were scheduled to disembark fairly early (before 8 am - what's up with that?), there was still plenty of time to enjoy breakfast in the dining room. Of particular interest this trip was the "raisin doughnut". Clearly it was accurately named for there was only a single raisin to be found in each doughnut.

After breakfast we headed for the Elite Lounge (for those with holding Elite or Platinum cards OR for the "PPs"). We arrived with only about 5 minutes until final call for disembarkation but we were determined to enjoy all the amenities of our one shot at being "PPs".

Then it was off to customs, immigration and locating our limo. A nice ride but I now think all paparazzi's should be banned from photographing limousine ingress & egress - there is absolutely no real dainty way for this to be accomplished. And we tried a number of them - crawling, duck walking, rolling around the seats (made a bit more difficult by the amount of laughing taking place as well!) The coveted seats seemed to be found on the back bench (which required no gymnastics!):

First up, we stopped in Stanley Park to see the Totems and across the waterfront back at our ship. It was shaping up to be a gorgeous day in Vancouver and there were already many people out and about. We would check to see what everyone was looking at whenever we arrived - and finally figured out that they thought we were the celebrities! I imagine they were quite disappointed when we all popped out of the vehicle.

I saw this sign at the washroom in Stanley Park - there was a women's restroom, but apparently the men's restroom was pulling double duty as both a Men's Restroom and the Fire Sprinkler System (I wonder how many volunteers it requires to put out a fire? I would imagine that it would depend on the size of the hoses?):

Back on board the limo and we were headed thru more of the park and to see the Lionsgate Bridge up close. As we drove thru the park, the police were trying to close the road for a race that would be taking place. All traffic, other than our limo, was stopped (it's good to be the king - or at least travel like one!)

We made a brief stop at Granville Island to check out the marketplace there and then it was time to head for lunch (already?) at Floata Seafood Restaurant for traditional "dim sum". Clearly some of us enjoyed this particular type of dining more than others but I think all of us had a good time.

After lunch it was time to head off to Gastown to see the gasworks clock (in operation for over 100 years) and do a little bit of shopping. Then we were driven around to see the site of the opening ceremony for the Vancouver 2010 games, the countdown clock and then we went in search of Murchie's Tea Shop (highly recommended by our breakfast companion on the Pacific sailing last Friday). Our original destination was closed but Andy found another one at the Mall in West Vancouver. It's a wonderful tea shop and several bags of tea found their way into the limo.

We made a final stop at a pub nearly Stanley Park (I will have to try to find the name of it). It was very near the waterfront and those amongst us who found "dim sum" not entirely to their liking found the sliders and sweet potato fries a wonderful substitute (along with a round...or two...of Guinness, beers and pear cider).

All too soon our day in Vancouver was coming to an end and it was time now to make way for Coal Harbour Marina for the final leg of our adventure. We left the luxury of our limousine behind us as we headed to the seaport and the float plane that awaited us.

Next up: Terri's Fears Ungrounded

~later, tw