Thursday, May 16, 2019

Vancouver, BC, Canada

We decided to spent a couple of days in Vancouver just looking around. On the first day we took a Foodie Tour of the Granville Island Public Market. It was an excellent tour and our guide,Tracy, was a knowledgeable and entertaining speaker. The tour included over 20 tastings such as organic breads, local charcuterie, BC cheeses, awesome donuts, fruit, etc. Here are just a few of the delectable sights.







Also on the island are the Osgemeos "Giants". This is a row of six 70 foot (21 meter) tall silos owned by the Ocean Concrete company and painted by Brazilian twin brothers collectively known as OSGEMEOS. They specialize in graffiti and their work is world famous.


We then wandered to Gastown to see one of our favorite street clocks. Underneath Vancouver there are a series of steam pipes which provide heat to most of the downtown buildings and provides steam for the whistles of the Gastown Steam Clock. Built in 1977, it is probably only the second steam clock ever constructed. Every quarter hour, the two-ton clock shoots steam from its five whistles. There are six other working Steam Clocks in the world.


The next day we visited Chinatown ....


.... and took a tour of the Dr Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden. It is the first classical garden constructed outside of China and is modeled on private classical gardens in the city of Suzhou during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).  A team of 53 experts from Suzhou spent 13 months constructing it.






These are some of the pathways.


These are just a few of the architectural details.


And this is a small sample of a spectacular silk on silk embroidery that looks the same on the front as it does on the back.