Honeymoon post, finally...

Hello everyone,

First of all I want to thank everyone who was able to make the wedding. We had a fantastic time and enjoyed seeing everyone even if it was just for a few minutes. I wanted to post about our incredible honeymoon in Vancouver. So here it goes.

Monday morning after the wedding, still a little dazed and very tired we embarked on our honeymoon. We left Austin at 8:20am and slept most of the way to Vancouver. When we weren't sleeping we had a tremendous view of the Rockies. As we descended into Vancouver we were excited to see that is was a sunny day. Apparently those can be a little rare in the area. We got off the plane and grabbed a limo to downtown, now that's a way to start a trip, in style. We kicked off our shoes and played with every button and switch in the cabin, of course. Driving in it was so beautiful that I began snapping photos out the ginourmous sunroof until the driver asked me to stop. I don't know, something about getting in trouble with the cop or something.

Anyhow, we arrived at the hotel, which is so new that many cabbies were not sure exactly where it was. It was a short 25 minute ride to the Loden Hotel. Once we arrived we were greeted by the staff as Mr. and Mrs. Colburn, congratulated and we knew we were in good hands. We ran up to the room and it was awesome. Very modern, well decorated and lavish.

 

 

  

We didn't waste much time and we were out on the town, strolling down Robson St., which is similar to South Congress in Austin. People were out every where enjoying the sunny day, which they said was one of the first in a while. I of course let them know I had brought it up from Texas. =) We strolled around and then sat on the rooftop patio at Joe Fortes Seafood and Chop House to grab some lunch and a cocktail . It was our first experience with the bountiful seafood varieties available at almost every restaurant. It’s also all local, so it’s fresh as could be. I think the oysters were still wiggling around…

We then headed to the Vancouver Lookout at Harbour Centre to scout out the city. The view from this 430 ft tall tower is amazing and yes, I went nuts with the camera.

 

 

That evening, after napping a bit, we headed to one of the most popular restaurants in the city, Vij's Indian Grill. From the moment we sat down we were greeted with tea and snacks. The food, service, ambiance, everything really was fantastic. It came highly recommended online and from the hotel staff, and let me tell you, they were all right. One of our favorite restaurants here in Austin is the Clay Pit and this blew it out of the water.

Lamb Popsicles in fenugreek cream curry                                               Beef Short Ribs in red wine curry  

Tuesday was our first full day to explore the city and we were bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready for what Vancouver had to offer. It was to be our Capilano Suspension Bridge/Grouse Mountain adventure day. After grabbing a quick breakfast we walked down to Canada Place which is where all the cruise ships come in. Now, let me stop here for a minute and tell you our impression of the public transportation in this city. It’s fantastic! It’s so well organized that it makes it very easy to use, even for tourists. Everywhere you go people have maps and are very accommodating and helpful. The cabs, of which 75% of the ones we rode in, were hybrids, clean and professional. The buses were the same. The hardest part is getting used to having several dollars in coins clanging around in your pocket.. The Seabus once again was seamless. That in connection with the city bus took us right up to the Capilano Suspension Bridge which is a huge tourist attraction.

 

Walking down by the seawall…

Riding the Seabus…

Originally built in 1889, the bridge spans 450 ft across and 230 ft above the Capilano River. The site, a short trip outside downtown Vancouver is typical of the rest of the area. It’s so green and naturally beautiful with mountains, streams, and trees so big they make you feel so insignificant and remind you you are merely a part of nature. The bridge crossing is a little daunting when you first look at it, but awe inspiring at the same time. We had some helpful Asian teens that were having a ball parading up and down the bridge just to make it that much more interesting. Margaux could have strung up each one of them, not cool kids.

View at entrance…


Totem poles at Capilano…

Daunting view at the start of bridge

Tree huggers!!!


Overlooking the Capilano River…

From there we hopped back on the bus, with the same fare, and headed up to Grouse Mountain. It’s a ski resort overlooking the city. A short 10 minute trip and we were at the base of the ski lift. We paid a few dollars to ride up even though we weren’t going to ski. The views were phenomenal, from the patios, the café and the indoor restaurant encased with windows in all the right places. We sat at a table right by the window and enjoyed some local brews. Speaking of local, it seems every restaurant really makes it a point to use local products and it was all very good. The local seafood is fantastic, fresh and the variety is impressive. The local wines were good, although the locals seemed to think otherwise. Oh we’ll, we never said we were wine connoisseurs…

Wednesday we started the day with some delicious coffee and breakfast at Café Artegiano. They make these cool designs in the cups and also served Margaux’s favorite breakfast of the trip. The ole eggs benedict with lox instead of Canadian bacon. Cool place, good food, with strong & good coffee.

The plan was to rent bicycles and explore Stanley Park. It’s a beautiful 1000 acre park with 5.5 miles of seawall that was only 0.7 miles away from our hotel. Come to find out, we could also rent a scooter. Bonus! We could ride together and in style. We headed over to BC Cycle and got ourselves a 2 person scooter with some stylish helmets. We then lazily made our way to the park exploring the city. I think Margaux was a little nervous at first, but soon started to relax and enjoy it.

We checked out the totem poles, which are a big attraction across BC. They are representations of old aboriginal art form passed on through generations from the area.

From there we were getting hungry so we stopped at the Fishhouse In Stanley Park. This is a beautiful, top notch restaurant smack in the middle of the park. The food, service and ambiance were fantastic for a lazy 3pm lunch with a glass of wine or 2…

We even got to check out their wine cellar which was very cool…

 

Some other cool pictures of Stanley Park…

 

 

That evening we headed out for another adventure, Malaysian cuisine at Banana Leaf. We had no idea what to expect, but Frommers and Tripadvisor.com had not let us down so far. Again, they were spot on. The restaurant was tiny, maybe 15 tables. It was busy, but we only waited 5-10 min. We sat down and ordered some eclectic cocktails that were delicious. Mine was a rum with mango juice and Margaux’s was a Mango Martini.

The meal we had was incredible. It was a 5 course meal for $50, for 2! Each dish was so different and so good. It was really fun not knowing what was coming next. I wish I could say we took pictures, but the food was so good that we completely forgot. Anyhow, take our word for it, it was awesome!

Thursday was the day we would head to Victoria, on Vancouver Island, and we had some options on how to get there. Option one, use public transportation like buses to get to the ferry terminal. Then ride the 1.5 hour ferry over to Victoria. A 2 hour minimum trip each way for the day started seeming a little long. Then we found out that we could do a combo trip with a Seaplane and the ferry. You fly over on a seaplane (35 min), then in the afternoon they put you on a touring bus, send you back on the ferry to be delivered to your hotel door. Perfect. We had a great time riding the seaplane, flying over the city and all the beautiful islands on the way to Victoria. The take off and landing were quite interesting, yet surprisingly smooth if you’ve never been on one.

Tiny plane...


Vancouver/Stanley Park


English Bay/Jericho Beach


More Vancouver


Fraser River


Don't mind us, just flying over the airport...


Creepy guy staring at us, guess we were having too much fun...












Seaplane landed in Victoria Bay, unpacking luggage down below…

So we had so much fun on the scooter in Vancouver we decided to rent another one in Victoria and drive ourselves to Butchart Gardens. We made our way over to BC Cycle again and we were on the road in no time. We were hungry for some lunch and we both agreed we wanted something low key, cheapish, non-pretentious seafood. You know, the kind they serve you with paper napkins and the food speaks for itself. We of course had to pose for a photo in front of the Fairmont Empress Hotel in our dashing helmets. While there a local took our photo and it fit our bill exactly. It was right on the shore, located on a fishermans pier. Perfect, we found a gem in Barb’s Place.

We ordered the clam strips to start off and then a Fisherman’s Sampler which included a steamed 1/2 crab; mussels; clams; & 8 oz. cup of Chowder. Yep, it was delicious and fresh.

We also mingled with the wildlife that comes around hoping for a snack. This day they got it.

After chowing down there we explored the rest of the pier and found lots of interesting stuff.





Then we found Jessica’s boat. Chiqui, this one is for you… =)


 

Finally we decided to head to Butchart Gardens. We decided to keep trusting the locals advice and drive up the coast to end up at Butcharts. Of course we had to stop at every bend to take pictures. It was beautiful, everywhere you turned. So we end up getting lost in some neighborhood and need direction once more. By the time we arrived at Butchart Gardens it was too late. We had left the scooter rental place at 11:30am and it was almost 4pm. The scooter had to be back by 5pm. Oh well, we used the restroom and then headed back. I wish we could have seen the gardens, but the trip up the coast was a lot of fun and well worth it. Here are some pics along the way…

Looking back at the coast north of Vancouver...


Our trusty steed...




Our view of the Buchart Gardens Parking Lot. Nice huh? =)

Off we headed to return the scooter and catch our ferry back to Vancouver. After that we had about an hour to burn until we had to get on the bus so we checked out the inside of the Empress Hotel. Inside we had one of our best comic relief moments of the trip. Here is the way I saw it. As we are walking around this fancy hotel Margaux sees a jewelry store. Not just a regular jewelry store, but one with huge red 50% signs all over the place. I watched as Margaux kept getting closer for a better look at one of the pieces. All of a sudden she bounces her forehead off the glass, doh, gone to far. It was one of those classic Dr. Margaux moments, priceless. Where is the video camera when you need it… =)

Anyhow, we finally caught the bus that was going to transport us to and onto the ferry. Now, this isn’t your ordinary 15-20 car ferry. We’re talking the ship size of an ocean liner! It had 6 floors, 4 for vehicles and 2 for people. Once the ship is loaded they allow you off the vehicle for the 1.5 hour trip. We got up to the first “people” floor and were surprised to see a huge cafeteria. Everyone was mingling about getting a bite to eat so we decided to do the same. Yes, it was one of the least glamorous meals of the trip and we all know how much Margaux loves cafeteria food…

We then headed up to the upper deck to enjoy the views…




 

Friday we had a relaxing start to the day. I went off to find a disc golf course at Queen Elizabeth Park while Margaux caught up on some beauty rest and then went to get a haircut. Sorry, no pictures of the exciting hair cutting scene, but here are some shots of the park and the disc golf course. The course itself was pretty lame, but still I got to throw disc in BC, I was happy. There were 18 tee boxes throwing to 9 baskets because of the limited space. I tired to figure out the course on my own, but there were very few numbers and it was not so easy. I finally enlisted the help of a local, who was "panning" for dics at the pond which you throw over on the18th hole. We ended up playing 9 holes together, I showed him we knew how to play down here and I taught him a few things... =)

Welcome garden/community garden


Lawn bowling anyone?/View of downtown Vancouver


Some course shots...

After disc Margaux and I met up to go to lunch. This time we went to Le Crocodille. Yes, as the name implies, it's a french restaurant. I had the concierge call ahead to let them know we'd be coming in and that it was our honeymoon and to have a bottle of wine ready for us. Not knowing what to expect when we got there, they had set up a special table, separated from the rest of the dinning room by a giant bouquet of flowers with a bottle of wine in a fancy table side chiller, very nice. The food was absolutely out of this world. It was by far the best restaurant we went to on our entire trip. The food, the service, everything was the best. Now, it being such a fancy restaurant we didn't want to stand out too much so we didn't get any pictures. However, here are some stock pictures off their site...

Your parting chocolates...

That afternoon we made our way to the Granville Island. "Granville Island is an urban haven filled with fine restaurants, theatres, galleries and studios, and all things that are fresh: seafood, fruit, vegetables, plants, flowers, candy, fudge, breads and baked treats." I could not have said it better myself. The shops were all local art and merchendise and the market was awe inspiring. The amount, variety and quality of the produce, meats, cheeses, seafood was amazing. So amazing you wanted to take pictures of everything, so I did. Don't worry, I won't post them all, just a few to give you a taste...

Outside on Granville Island…

 

  
Inside the public market…

 

 

Stubb’s, yes, Stubb’s BBQ sauce in Vancouver…

This is inside a private shop called The Lobsterman. An amazing variety and amount of lobster, crab, mussles & clams…

Of course, looking at all this amazing food makes you hungry and they know that. The entire Island is dotted with all kinds of restaurants and food shops. Come hungry. We elected to go to the Sandbar for dinner. Since there was a wait, we decided to have some sushi at the bar. Yes, it was great, I know you’re getting sick of hearing it. Anyhow, it didn’t take long for us to be called to our table. So here we are following the hostess and she leads us to the best table in the house. The very corner of the patio, overlooking False Creek. We couldn’t believe it. I didn’t even tell them it was our honeymoon. Apparently there have been several engagements and anniversaries celebrated at that very table. We met a fantastic couple that was sitting next to us who lived in Vancouver and had a great meal. Well, mine was better than Margaux’s I think. It was a huge pot of curry seafood. Delicious. We even got treated to an “overcast” sunset over False Creek and the West End.

 
Saturday our big activity was to hit up the aquarium in Stanley Park, which is the largest in Canada. We had a nice stroll down the seawall again to get to Stanley Park and took some pics on the way.

On our way we ran into this good looking pooch and had to say hello. I guess we were missing Maya at that point…

We finally arrived at Stanley we were still amazed by the trees and the beauty…

At the Aquarium…

  

                 

          

And here is where I ran out of camera memory…doh! That evening we went to a restaurant called The Cannery. Located on the premises of the old West Coast cannery it’s a 15 minute trip from downtown and quite an interesting trip. You start to wonder if you’re headed in the right direction when it gets very industrial and all of a sudden you’re driving into a rail yard. You also have to go through a security gate and let them know where you’re headed. Once there it’s a really nice setting on the water and obviously a fancy restaurant.