Border Crossings

This past weekend I had the pleasure of traveling northwards across the Canadian border and stayed in Vancouver, BC. Having never been to the city before (but being a frequent visitor to other parts of Canada), I was extremely excited to see what this city had to offer. As it turns out, I was not disappointed and can safely say that it was one of the most exciting and beautiful cities I have yet visited. My travel companion and I stayed at a hostel in the city's Gastown district, a close walking distance to a huge number of pubs, shops, and other hotels/hostels. The first thing that struck me (besides experiencing a culture that is extremely nonchalant about smoking pot in public) was the young and international flavor that was to be found just about everywhere in the city. I heard Chinese, Korean, French, Spanish, German, and a huge amount of UK and Australian accents just about everywhere. Any given pub on the side of town that we stayed in was filled with mostly non-American or Canadian 18-28 year olds, some seeking their fortune in the great white North, some spending huge amounts of their parents' money on mostly overpriced but good beer, and all enjoying the vibrant atmosphere of a young and active city. One piece of critique about the city, however: the homeless population is very large comprises a central feature of certain parts of East Hastings Street. Vancouver is one of the most expensive North American cities to live in, and this high cost of food and housing unquestionably adds to this phenomenon.

By day, the streets were filled with people walking, biking, and running, and making great use of the city's outstanding parks. We visited the most famous of these, Stanley Park, and were blown away. It is larger than Central Park and occupies a peninsula at the northern extremity of the city which includes several large beaches, hiking and biking trails, etc. To see this sort of relatively unspoiled natural environment so close to the heart of the city was impressive, and the beaches were teeming but not overcrowded on the sunny, 80-degree day when we visited. All in all, I recommend a visit to this beautiful and exciting city and wished I could have stayed for more than a weekend.