Tired of Vancouver

       There are a lot of people from all over staying at this hostel. Last night, after sitting in the lounge area for a while, I met a German, a French Canadian, an Estonian, and a guy from Japan. The German, French Canadian, and I went and had a couple beers at a nearby bar. Beer is expensive here... When we came back we spent some more time in the lounge talking with 5 other Germans, a Scottish girl, and a guy from the Netherlands.
       I didn't sleep too well last night. The bed was comfortable enough and my earplugs did the trick, drowning out the noise of Saturday night partying outside the window, but I slept lightly all night and was up early. I showered, stuffed myself with the all-you-can-eat continental breakfast, and caught a bus to the University of British Columbia. It was raining quite a bit by the time I got there. It was the worst kind of rain. A never-ending drizzle that soaked everything and weighed down my rain jacket.
       The campus was quiet. I guess that makes sense since its the last day of spring break. The buildings weren't impressive. They were all plain and made of concrete. It helped me to better appreciate the U of O campus.

       My original plan was to visit the Museum of Anthropology and then the Notobe Memorial Garden. I decided not to go into the museum because I could see through the windows that all there was inside were a bunch of totem poles. Totem poles are great to check out, but I wasn't going to pay $16 to go inside when there are plenty of totem poles just outside of the museum. I also decided to skip the garden because of the rain. I ended up just wandering around the museum. I stumbled on some old WWII gun mounts and ammunition stores. That was neat to check out, but there wasn't much to see. After that I found a a long stair case that lead down a steep hill to a "clothing optional" beach. The beach was empty. It wasn't sandy, but full of pebbles of all sizes and colors. I started walking down the beach with no real aim.

       After walking about half a mile I came to another stair case leading back up. I was a bit disoriented for a moment when I got to the top, but I soon found my way back in the direction of the bus stop. After being splashed by a passing car, I was thoroughly soaked.
       I needed to break a 20 to get exact change for the bus ride back to the hostel, so I headed to a fast food restaurant on campus and ordered some poutine. Poutine is supposed to be some kind of definitive Canadian dish. Its french fries with brown gravy and cheese curds on top. Its OK. I spent quite a while just sitting there, hoping the rain would stop. It didn't. I made my way to the bus station and back to the hostel...and here I am.
      
       I'm heading to Greece tomorrow. I can't wait to get out of Vancouver. I'm not fond of this city.

Don't expect to hear anything from me until Tuesday or Wednesday.

Alone.

       I'll start with some pictures that go with my last post, since I was unable to put any up. The first is of Amanda and I having our first beer and meal in Vancouver.

The next is me on the Capilano Suspension Bridge.

Amanda is afraid of heights...

 

Amanda on one of the tree bridges:

 

Amanda on the Cliff Side walk:

More of Amanda on the Cliff Side walk:

The bridge from far away:

Amanda at Yaletown Brewing:

       Yesterday wasn't too eventful. We spent most of the day just walking around the city, checking out shops and such. In the morning, we decided to give China Town another try. It was not a good experience. The China town in Vancouver is very run down and full of unnerving people. It is not at all like any other China town I've been to. We walked a couple blocks in and then got the hell out. I really wanted to check out the Chinese Garden that's supposed to be somewhere in the area, but I wasn't going to brave that neighborhood any longer in order to see it. We ended up spending most of the day at the waterfront, where all the sea planes take off and land, looking at sea birds and people watching. We grabbed a couple beers at the Steamworks brewery before we made the trek back to our hotel. We had a late lunch/early dinner at a ramen place down the street and then spent the rest of the evening watching strange Canadian TV shows and getting everything together for the next day. I didn't sleep too well. The British girls next store were loud and drunk and I was worried about saying goodbye to Amanda.

      
       Today has been...okay. Amanda left this morning. I wont see her in person for 3 months. In fact, I wont see anyone I know for at least 3 months. It was hard saying goodbye. It was hard imagining my self being totally on my own from here on out. I still don't think I've totally come to terms with it. It still seems like a dream that in 2 days I will be boarding a plane, by myself, to Athens, Greece to spend 3 months living out of a backpack in several countries I've never been to. 
       In any case, I watched Amanda get on the bus and I went back inside the train station to sit down and think about things for a few minutes. I ended up with my sights set on the Bloedel Conservatory in Queen Elizabeth park. As it turns out, Vancouver has a really great transit system, so I hopped on a bus heading that way. This backpack I have is so damn heavy. I though 25 pounds wouldn't bother me too much, but I was wrong. I got off the bus a few blocks away from the conservatory and started walking. When I came into the park I arrived at a pond with the most wood ducks (or are were bufflle heads...Amanda would have known) I have ever seen in one place. All I ever see at home are mallards.
       The hill I had to walk up wasn't fun with my heavy backpack, but I made it to the top where the conservatory is.

The view from up there is awesome! You can see most of Vancouver and the surrounding mountains. Unfortunately, the photos I took with my little point-and-shoot camera don't do it justice. The inside of the conservatory is really cool. Its full of tropical plants and birds. I spent around hour just watching and listening to the birds and studying all of the many interesting plants. There were also benches to sit on with gave me time to write a bit in my journal in a nice environment.

       After that, I made my way back to the bus stop to catch a bus to my hostel. On the way I saw a black squirrel. I didn't know they came in that color...

       Anyways, I made it to my hostel, checked in, and ate a couple cheap slices of pizza from a dirty restaurant on the corner. I don't know what I'm going to do with my self for the rest of the evening, or tomorrow for that matter...

I'll post more tomorrow.

Vancouver, BC

        Yesterday was a long day. Amanda and I got on the train at 5:30 am and didn't get to Vancouver until around 5:30 pm. The train and bus ride went fairly smoothly. By the time we got here, we were stressed and lacking in sleep. The bus/train station here in Vancouver is in a pretty sketchy area. We got a bit lost trying to find our hotel in the pouring rain. We ended up heading back to the train station and hailing a cab. When we got to our room we were starving, but couldn't decide on a place to eat. We ended up walking around the block until we settled on a BBQ restaurant and bar just down the street from our hotel. We went to bed a bit early...

       Today was a good day. We got up and took showers in our shared bathroom, before we headed to a coffee shop for breakfast. We caught a free shuttle to the Capilano Suspension Bridge. It was really cool. It was something like 205 feet above the Capilano river. In the park there were also several bridges set up that were up in the trees. We also did a cliff-side walk on these thin wooden walkways that were bolted to the rock face. We caught the free bus back downtown and then headed back to our hotel. we decided to go get dinner and some beer at a brewery a few blocks away called Yaletown. The food was great and the beer was awesome. They had one of the best IPAs I've had in a while. We wandered around a bit after that and then decided to head to China Town. It was starting to get dark around the time we reached the entrance of Chinatown, and the neighborhood made us nervous, so we headed back to the BBQ bar we had been at the night before to have a couple beers. Tonight there is a hockey game going on at the arena across the street and we watched a bit of it on the TV at the bar. Hockey can be pretty brutal...

       I would really like to add some pictures to this post, but the computer here wont let me... I also apologize for any spelling or grammatical errors, as trhe backspace key on this keyboard is broken and the spell check istn working so well... I'll do my best to fix these issues in the next couple days. hopefully the computer (if they have one) at the next hostel will be better and more user friendly.  

Here Goes...

       Tomorrow, Amanda and I will be catching a train to Vancouver, BC. We will be spending a few days exploring the city before Amanda heads home and I catch a plane to Greece. Over the following 3 months I will be backpacking, on my own, from Greece to The Netherlands via Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, The Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, and Belgium. I will be posting here as often as possible with pictures and stories to let everyone whose interested know how things are going.
       I am so excited for this trip, but also very nervous and sad to be leaving all my friends and family behind. I'm really looking forward to seeing and experiencing a new part of the world, and meeting new and different people.
       It was really great to see so many of my friends come out last night to wish me the best for my trip. I'll see you in a few months...