Vancouver April 2005 - I'm ready for company

Hi guys. I’m getting settled in here in Vancouver. I have a two br 1 ½ bath apartment on the 17th floor of a downtown hotel – plenty of room for company!!!! If you look at a map of VC, look toward the south and you will see False Creek – hotel is at that end right across from Granville Island (a 5 minute ferry ride) – if you’re looking at a map with street names – it’s the end of Howe street. Then look northeast at the other end of the island – that is where the office is. It’s only about a mile so I will walk to work most days. I have a great office on the 18th floor of the building – wonderful view of the harbor – today I watched some ferries and seaplanes – no cruise ships, but I think I can see them when they are in. It’s rainy and cloudy and cold today and I had a spectacular view of the fog hanging over the coastline.

Got to apt about 2:30 and headed to office for a couple of hours then when I got back to apt had to have tech support come and set up my internet connection. Then I headed over to an urban market about five blocks away to pick up a few things. Pretty neat place – mainly organic stuff, but some regular food, too. Had a nice conversation with a local farmer who was hawking his own pesto – bought some of it and some handmade pasta - intended to come back and cook it tonight, but the five block walk back was a little harder than going – three bags of groceries and a couple of uphill streets – plus the temp dropped several degrees since leaving hotel. And jet lag was beginning to set in (it’s two hours earlier here and I was up at 6 this morning). Stopped at three bodegas on the way trying to find Diet DP – one thing I’ve learned here is that it is very scarce – finally found a place that had three cans. Was too pooped to cook when I got back, so just flopped on the sofa with some cheese and crackers and started channel surfing – found the Rangers game so just chilled with it for a while. (it’s 3-0 LA – top of the 5th right now).

Now I’ve got to get this place organized – I brought everything with me for three months so on my trips home and back I can travel light. This weekend I need to catch up on work and work on getting rid of this cold, so will probably stay pretty close to apt – maybe just take the ferry over to Granville Saturday morning – there is a great farmers’ market there (y’all remember the Amish market in Philly – it’s a lot like that). There is a little café there that I remember from last summer that had really good crepes – so a nice breakfast and a little shopping to kick off the weekend will be nice. And about 4 blocks from the hotel is the VC Art Museum – might take it in on Sunday– the building itself looks awesome – used to be City Hall – again looks a lot like the old buildings in Philly and NY and Boston and Chicago.

Next weekend, though, I want to do some SERIOUS exploring – a trip to Victoria and maybe a whale watching excursion.

Johnny – did you get the fax last night? First time I sent it, I had one of the pages turned wrong so sent it a 2nd time – no answer – but third time I think it worked. If not, let me know – I brought it with me and can fax from here.

Jeff – when I was first here last summer I was excited about trying out my French – but just got a couple of funny looks – I think that must be more on the western side – maybe Toronto and Ontario.
Amanda – if you want to pick up your mother’s stuff while I’m gone, call me and I’ll ask Bill to go let you in