Today is a rather lazy day for us – we aren’t scheduled to disembark Solstice until 9:30. We’ve no where to go, just spending the day in the city, so we figure what the heck? We’ll just hang out on the ship then head to the hotel as late as possible. Turns out to be a good plan because the port is having an awful day! First day of the Alaska season, there are 3 ships in port, and no one is moving very quickly.
Apparently there was some customs issue, and our disembarkation is running at least 30 to 45 minutes behind. We end up off the ship an hour late – which of course doesn’t bother us in the least, but anyone trying to make an early flight was in big trouble.
Leaving the cruise terminal, it is absolutely jam packed with people. The taxi cab line is easily 500 people long. We ask one of the guys directing folks into appropriate lines how long he thinks the cab line will take. His answer: “about an hour”. Our answer: “more like 2 – we’re walking!” And off we went.
It’s only a little over a mile to hotel, so we figure it will be our 2nd morning exercise. Fortunately, it’s Vancouver in May, meaning: the weather is great, nice and cool and crisp; we’re lucky it is sunny; the walk is all along city streets with excellent level sidewalks, and ramps at each corner; the walk is straight up Howe Street with one turn on Drake street. This is workable! And a workout. Howe Street looks fairly flat, but in reality it climbs every so gently with every block. So by the time we get to the hotel, we know we’ve been walking with bags, that is for certain.
Still, we know for a fact we made it to the hotel before we would have even been halfway through that cab line. And, to top it off – they have a room available for us. Yes! We don’t have to store our stuff and wander about aimlessly until a room is available. It’s on the 2nd floor, we usually request a higher floor for the noise, but this room is perfect – at the end of the hall, and it’s behind half walls that are part of the hotel façade, so the noise is muffled and there is ambient light from the outside lighting. Perfect.
We organize the bags, stow our gear, change into short sleeve shirts and head out to wander our neighborhood. Turns out we are right at the base of the Granville Bridge. The front desk clerk says we can walk over the bridge to get to Granville Island, so we decide to head there for a beverage. Last year we enjoyed a brewery there, and wandering through the market.
It’s a great walk, but a little chillier on top of that bridge than down on the city streets. I’m freezing and the more we walk, the more we realize that “right over” the bridge is an euphemism for “oh, you hapless tourists, just try to make it Granville Island.” What a funny joke we play on you. Seriously, we’re halfway across the bridge and there is no way we can see to get down to Granville Island that doesn’t entail a couple more miles of walking surface streets and climbing down to sea level. Abort!
Back across the chilly bridge we go, and down onto Granville street, checking out the restaurants, bars and pubs close to the hotel. There is everything you could ever want on this street – every cuisine, bar and lounge type imaginable – oh, and of course pot. Medical Marijuana shops abound. We skip the smoke shops and spy a cool looking little place called The Sidecar. The menu looks good and they are open at 5 (we need to eat early so we can get up early – another crack of dawn day), so we make a note of it and then head to The Two Parrots Taverna, where we hang our hats at the bar and quench our thirst. Great talk with the bartender (owner?), about the hockey riots (they were shut down that night), the Baltimore riots, guns (not allowed in Canada). Nice time chatting away.
Back at the hotel we freshen up, relax for a bit (yes, I napped) and then headed back out to Granville for The Sidecar. Great move. This place is fantastic. First of all it is a long, narrow building – similar to New York City bars and taverns, and their theme is Prohibition era NYC style. The bar is a long affair, running halfway down the space, and its façade is made of river rocks behind mesh fencing. Really neat. It was empty when we were there – because it was early – but the bartender says it gets packed at night (the only way to move through the crowd is to crowd surf!). My pictures aren't’ the best, but the atmosphere is just great, even without the crowds (or maybe because of it).
The food was amazing too. First of all it was all 50% for happy hour – so even if it was mediocre, it was a deal. But this was anything but mediocre. We started with Sweet and Spicy chicken bites, which were like little General Tsao chicken bits on rice noodles. So good I totally forgot to take a picture until they were all gone. Oops.
Then we split the Triple Chop burger which was a huge patty made of wild boar, veal and chuck, topped with pork belly, sautéed mushrooms, onion marmalade and Guinness cheddar cheese, on a brioche bun. Oh, and did I mention the onion aioli? So delicious, and so glad we spit the thing. You want to talk about a mouthful, and a belly- full.
We happily wandered back to the hotel after our scrumptious and affordable meal (oh, and plus, with the Canadian dollar conversion, it’s even cheaper – a $42 Canadian tab becomes $35 US – nice). Settled in our room, to bed early, we have a cab booked at 5:15AM for our train ride to Seattle.
No comments:
Post a Comment