When I got to Vancouver airport I assumed that I would make my own way to Aunty Helen's house because I had messaged her to say I would. But I have to say I was thrilled to see her waiting for me when I got through customes. She lives in a lovely apartment in the Westend of Vancouver, near Stanley Park. It was so nice to be with family and to have my own room and a hot shower. I had a lovely nights sleep.
The next morning we met up with cousin Bryn and his partner Stephen, all four of us went sightseeing.
First we went to Cleveland Dam,which was very impressive.
Then we took the cable car up to the top of Grouse Mountain overlooking Vancouver. Even though it was very cloudy it was beautiful.
As we sat and had lunch in the restaurant overlooking Vancouver, the clouds began to break and we got some gorgeous views.
After the meal I realised that I had lost my cable car ticket from my back pocket !!! so everyone was taking the micky out of me.Thankfully Bryn found another one that I could use to get down the mountain. We went to the Grizzly bear enclousure to try and see the two orphaned bears that live there.
We could not see any bears for ages so Stephen and I got the giggles and decided to take close up pictures of the bears on the sign near the enclosure in a bid to convince people we had actually seen them.
Just as we finished, the bears DID appear and we saw them very close up. I was particularly excited because I had never seen bears before in my life.
We also saw a very good display by some lumberjacks. One chap did all kinds of acrobatics at the top of a very high pole before plummeting down on a wire.It made me quite dizzy watching it, but it was excellent.
Helen and I had only been back in the flat for ten minutes when the door bell wrang. Helen let the person in and said "I do not know who it was". We waited expectantly by the lifts and we were thrilled when my neice Carmel popped out.
She had flown in from Sydney. She was going to the Toronto film festival and decided to stop over in Vancouver for a couple of days to catch up with me and the family. We were both so excited to see her. And it was just luck that we had got back in time to meet her.
The next day Carmel and I walked down to the seafront and took the trolley tourist bus to go and see the sights of Vancouver. We stopped off at Granville market.
This is a very interesting place comprising of all kinds of craft stalls and a fabulous food market section where we had lunch. We then hooped back onto the bus. But we had not gone very far before Carmel was calling out with delight because she had spotted the 'John Fluevog' shoe shop. Apparently she had planned to buy a pair of his shoes in Tornonto. She adored his shoes!!! I got the picture, so we immediately hopped back off the bus again to check the store out. And she was in seventh heaven because the guy actually worked at that store and designed his shoes there. Sadly he was currently on holiday. But that did not dampen Carmel's spirits. She took great delight in trying on various shoes before deciding on a fabulous pair to woo everyone at the Tornonto film festival.
(CARMEL HAS THE PHOTO'S SO WILL HAVE TO ADD THEM AT A LATER DATE)
We then got the tourist bus to the sea shore and walked the rest of the way around the bay and through the park back to Helen's house. I love the sights of Vancouver and the feel of the city.
(VIEW FROM THE TOP OF AUNTY HELEN'S APARTMENT BLOCK)
When we got back to Helen's house Stephen and Bryn were already there for dinner.
Helen had cooked a delicous roast dinner for us. We had a nice evening catching up on all the family gossip.
The next day Helen drove Carmel to the airport and we both saw her off. Stephen then took Helen and myself out for a lovely lunch at a restaurant overlooking English Bay.
Later that night Helen and I met up again with Stephen and Bryn and we went to a restaurant not far from Helen's flat for dinner.
We had singapore sling cocktails. And a good time was had by all!
The next day Helen and I drove to Whistler Mountain. My cousin Norman ,who I had never met, owns a place in Whistler and he had kindly said that I could go up there with Aunty Helen to stay. On the way Helen took me to Lyons Bay, where she used to live before she moved into her flat in Vancouver. We went down to the park and beach she used to walk the dog on.
The views of the mountains on the two hour drive to Whistler were breathtakingly beautiful. Cousin Norman's place in Whistler is lovely.
It overlooks a very peaceful lake. We had a picnic lunch on the balcony.
We then took the cable car and chairlifts to the top of Whistler mountain. It was a bit scary at times on the chairlift and aunty Helen made me laugh because she was trying to be brave for my sake.
It was well worth the ride.
At the top there is a giant model of the 2010 winter olympic symbol for Vancouver 'The Inukshuk'.
And we could see the mountain ranges for miles and the various ski runs. When we got down the mountain we had a coffee at a cafe in the village. We were able to watch the mountain bikers come tearing down the slopes at great speed on special courses they use in the summer months, it was great fun. In the evening we had a delicious meal at a restaurant in the village square in Whistler. Then after a very good nights sleep we drove back to Vancouver where I finally met my cousin Norman.
He was so lovely and he reminded me so much of my grandad. We had lunch with him and he kindly offered to take to sightseeing later in the week.
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