Vancouver!

Hello hello hello! It's me again, I'm back, and this time ready to keep my blog up-to-date, after that slight hiatus over the summer.

So, first things first: Vancouver. Brilliant!

Good things:

• The people: so laid back and liberal and friendly - returning to London and its relative misery was a bit of a shocker (not to mention the cold over here!)
  
• The surroundings: mountains, ocean, trees and lots of sun cos we were lucky
• Vancouver Island - amazing, especially Qualicum Beach, Cathedral Grove and Tofino (where we went whale watching and I saw my first ever proper whale out in the ocean, wow!)
  
• Kitsilano - the whole area, like Notting Hill, only less in your face
• University of British Columbia - a lovely campus
• Wreck Beach - a nudist beach at UBC, hahaha
• Stanley Park - huge and all along the coast, with lots to do and see, and so much space to walk in, and nature right there in front of you
• Aquarium - all the stuff in tanks were great, although I felt a bit sorry for the beluga whales, orcas, and other large creatures. The butterfly room was brilliant though!
• The bus and transport system - really efficient and effective, although I guess Vancouver IS smaller so it's easier to cater for
• Food - I love food and I love all the delicious pancakes and waffles and biscuits and sugary things, and also all the multi-cultural food too, yum!

Could have been better things:

• Walking around China Town and near Main Street - this area is dodgy, you can sense the poverty and also there is a general feeling of edginess in the area, like anything could happen. Didn't feel happy there at all. Even in the day time it felt dodgy, so imagine our mistake of wandering through the first time late one evening! Luckily we found a restaurant quickly, and the bus system is good so we got out of there straight after supper!
• Museum of Anthropology - now I'm sure most people found this awesome, and we would have too, except that it closed for renovation for six months starting the day before we landed and so we couldn't go! I was gutted as all the tour books really rated it, and it sounded really good, especially with regards to its work on First Nations people. Oh well, an excuse to go next time.
• Money - the falling pound meant we needed lots more money than we thought we would, plus Vancouver IS quite pricey. Still, we spent well and had a good time!

Hmm, I have just had a super long and hilarious conversation with a ex-TFer and now I can't remember my thread at all. I'm sure that's enough stuff to tempt you into visiting Vancouver anyway. X and I had a brilliant time so hopefully you will too.

Right, so next Sunday I move up to Oxford for the week before term starts so this week will mostly be packing and organising and catching up with people. Where does the time go eh?