This month marks two years since I returned home from my one year of living in Vancouver BC. There are many reasons I’m glad to be home (not having to experience the never-ending-crazy-inducing rain in Vancouver being one of them), but so many things I miss. Now the weather has started to turn chilly here I’m starting to get a bit Vancouver-sick. The cool air is calling me back to a time when it was perfectly acceptable (encouraged even) to wear Uggs downtown and to curl up on the couch all day watching endless episodes of Say Yes to the Dress and What Not To Wear. Life was simpler then.
Here’s my top five list of things I miss about Van (as the cool kids call it).
1. It is story-book pretty. I arrived in May and enjoyed one of the longest and beautiful summers I’ve ever experienced. Everything was so sparkling and green (didn’t occur to me during summer how much rain it took to maintain the green-ness). Beautiful in a completely different way to anything I’d ever experienced.
Queen Elizabeth Park
Stanley Park
Fall colours
2. The snow! Snow is magical. Magical, magical, magical. I felt a bit ripped that it doesn’t snow as much in Vancouver as it does in the rest of Canada, but I did make it up to the mountains a few times. One of my most favourite memories, ever, is the day my friends and I went up to Seymour and tobogganed to our hearts’ content, and made the biggest snowman ever. Ever.
Snow day at Mt Seymour
Snow in my backyard
The Lions
3. The sushi. It’s fresh, it’s everywhere, it’s cheap. I earned $8.50 an hour in Vancouver (for serious, the wages in Canada are an absolute joke. I haven’t been that poor since I was 14 years old). I lived on sushi, Megabite and vegetables from the cheapo market across the road. When I got back to Australia I was completely outraged by the prices I was being charged for sub-standard sushi here. If you want the best dynamite roll ever go to ShuRaku on Granville Street.
ShuRaku. Dynamite roll on the left. Oh yummo.
4. I see semi-famous people. And sometimes actual famous people. While I missed out on spotting the holy grail – Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles – I did spot William H. Macy, Ryan Phillippe (happy day!), Judy Greer and Craig Sheffer (Keith Scott in One Tree Hill. I served him at my job and he was super polite and friendly and I almost died). Unlike Brisbane, Vancouver is a place where famous people abound. While I was there the Twilight movies were in full force of filming – I kept my eyes peeled but I wasn’t a dedicated enough Twihard to find them (i.e I did not hang around downtown hotels stalking them. That’s just not classy).
The filming of Marmaduke at Spanish Banks, where I spotted William H. Macy. Of all the movies and tv being filmed in Vancouver that year the only one I saw was Marmaduke. Ripped!
5. Being so close to America. Want to go to Seattle for the weekend? Sure! How about going to Disneyland next month? Ok! Let’s plan a trip to Forks – it will only take 6 hours in the car. Yeah! The proximity to America and travel destinations that would normally have been completely out of the stratosphere in terms of reality made me intensely happy.
The magic kingdom
A few more photos that take me back:
Sunrise at Canada Place
Stop!
Reflections downtown during the winter olympics. I was in Robson St the night Canada beat the US in hockey. It was crazy town.
My parents lashed out on my birthday present while I was in Van. They bought me a tour in a seaplane. It was slightly scary, but wonderful. I remember being very worried about the weather - it had been raining non-stop. It rained right up until the day of my flight, cleared for the day and promptly started raining again the next day.
O, Canada!
