A Spectacular Scenery - Vancouver's Waterfront

A fountain in the court of one of the buildings at the Vancouver Waterfront

Vancouver's Waterfront is spectacular! Even though it was in the middle of our Canadian winter, we could not believe how mild the temperature had been while we were in Vancouver.

Canada Place, Vancouver, British Columbia

A balmy 12 degree C in the morning and up to 17 in the afternoon!

Stairs to the Canada Place

It would have been a crime not to take advantage of this fine weather and walk around the city.

The Canadian Trail at the Canada Place

We decided to walk from the Sandman hotel where we were staying downtown and walked to the waterfront.

We were in Vancouver before, somehow, I  could not remember the place being so pretty.

Vancouver was the host city of the 2010 Winter Olympics

I think because of the 2010 Winter Olympics held in Vancouver, it helped to speed up some of the big construction project.

Walking on West Hastings, it did not take that long to reach the Waterfront considering how many times we stopped for picture taking along the way.

Carol Huynh - won a gold medal for Canada in Olympics' Women Wrestling

One thing that was not there when we visited many years ago was the Canadian Trail with display boards introducing some outstanding Canadians such as Carol Huynh at the Canada Place.























                               
                                              This time, the Vancouver waterfront wowed us!

Water planes taking off from the Waterfront Terminal

We were in the Canada Place and enjoyed a concert years ago when we were here for Expo 86.

To our pleasant surprise, there were so much more to see this time!

We  watched water planes taking off at the Water Plane Terminal at the Vancouver Waterfront.

Water Plane Terminal at the Vancouver Waterfront

Elijah McCoy gave us the expression " the real McCoy"!

Besides learning a bit about the Canadian history, we also learned who was the real McCoy!

Exploring Beautiful Buildings on Foot in Downtown Vancouver!

Week of February 22, 2016

Vancouver is the most beautiful city in Canada!

Not only has Vancouver blessed with spectacular natural beauty, it also has awesome architecture!

Its downtown was quite walkable for us as there were plenty of benches, and chairs installed on public streets for pedestrians to sit and catch their breath.













As we stayed at one of the downtown hotels, we could walk everywhere and to a lot of the attractions in the city.















Suffering from some joint pain from time to time, I was
concerned if I could enjoy walking around and taking in the scenery of this beautiful city.

The former Bank of Toronto building, now a Vancouver historic building

To my amazement, the more I walked during our vacation, the better I felt and the less pain I experienced!

A glass domed building at West Hastings & Seymour St.

So we just headed out of our hotel and kept walking every day while we were in Vancouver.

A beautiful old building at Cambie St & W. Hastings - Vancouver

Vancouver is an absolutely beautiful  city with its old and modern eclectic mix of buildings.

         An eclectic mix of old and modern buildings  

Putting on our running shoes, we set aside a day out of our western Canada holiday and took a walking tour and wandered the street of Vancouver on our own.

We started from West Georgia and headed towards Stanley Park along West Hastings.


Walking past by spacious green parks, we could not believe that we were in the middle of a Canadian winter in late February!

Was this really February, in the middle of a Canadian winter? Only in Vancouver!

The tulips were out in full bloom; sidewalk cafe lounge chairs were set out for pedestrians to pause and take a break.

People were out and about relaxing and sitting on park benches enjoying the warm winter sun!

Cobbled stone street around W. Hastings St.

This could only happen in Vancouver; nowhere else in Canada could we experience this kind of mild weather in late February!

Mosaic tiled art work at the street corner of downtown Vancouver

We came across well maintained cobbled street and sidewalk mosaic tiled art on street corners.

Exterior elevators operating on a downtown building

There have been many reports about the incredible high prices which home buyers are willing to pay for houses in Vancouver.













We learned while we were in Vancouver that the house prices of homes were not always this crazy.
















In fact they were quite reasonable until the late 1980's.

In 1986 Vancouver hosted Expo' 86. and the event was very successful. The world came to visit and discovered the beauty of the city.

House prices started to go up
and the demand for homes has not slowed down for the past decade despite of numerous predictions about the pending house price bubble being burst.















As a result, there has been a building boom in the condominium market to meet the consumers' insatiable demand.









It is evident in the number of new condo buildings everywhere in Vancouver.

Downtown Vancouver is beautiful place to visit! With many interesting old and modern day buildings to explore, it can easily keep you busy for an entire day.

We were certainly glad that we took time to explore this great city on our visit this time!

R.T.
Downtown Vancouver

Butchant Garden, Victoria, B.C. - Magnificent Landscape Created by Generations

Week of Feb. 22, 2016

Beautiful gardens!  A retirement community with a slow and relaxing pace! These are the images that come to our mind when we think of the city of Victoria.

When it comes to beautiful gardens, we were not disappointed as we toured Butchant Garden - a famous privately owned and run garden in Victoria.

Sunken Garden - one of the themed gardens in Butchant Garden, Victoria

The Butchant Garden is a huge property made up of a number of themed gardens. The tour guide informed us that one of the Gardens - Sunken Garden, was so well hidden that a lot of the visitors missed it entirely on their visit. Therefore he took us there first to make sure we would see it.

The scenery was breathtaking!

Ross Fountain, Butchant Garden

The Ross Fountain was created by the grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Butchant to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Butchant Garden.

After the Sunken Garden, we followed the winding path, passed by fountains, statues, sand garden with benches for resting.

Breathtaking scenery at the Butchant Garden!

Japanese Garden - One of the themed gardens in Butchant Garden

We loved the Japanese Garden, an informal garden with many natural   elements incorporated in its design.

It was a tranquil and quiet place to sit and reflect.

Trellises in the Rose Garden

Since it was in the middle of winter, there was not much to see in the Rose Garden.


 I could see the trellises and easily pictured how gorgeous the Rose Garden must be in summer when the roses are in full bloom!

The Star Pond leading into the Italian Garden 

Butchant Garden is a huge place!

Italian Garden - The most formal garden in Butchant Garden

It was clearly a labour of love by Mr. & Mrs. Butchant who were determined to transform an abandoned limestone quarry into a garden of paradise.

Its magnificent gardens rendered us speechless!

We enjoyed the walk and tour of the different themed gardens making numerous stops to capture the indescribable spectacular scenery on camera.

The Indoor Garden

One of the theme garden was the indoor garden where tropical plants are flowers were in full bloom.

A great place for wedding pictures in the middle  of winter!

Indoor Garden at the Butchant Garden where brilliant colour flowers are in full bloom

I have two regrets about this garden tour - first I wished we were there in the spring or summer months to see all the flowers in full bloom in their brilliant colour.

Cafeteria where visitors can rest their tired feet after their garden tour

Second regret, I wish we could have been there for a whole day so that we could have more time to linger over coffee and enjoy the spectacular scenery of the varaious gardens!

A carousal for kids and the young at heart!

Butchant Garden is a place for everyone, young and old, as there were various activities catering to different ages.

There was even an indoor carousal where the little ones can get on for a ride rain or shine!

Rub or kiss the nose of the Little Pig for good luck!

We were turned into kids for a little while as we strolled along windy paths lined with carefully manicured flowers and shrubs.

We truly enjoyed our tour at the Butchant Garden and would definitely revisit it in the summer time if we are in the area again!

R.T.
Butchant Garden
Victoria, British Columbia