We visited the canning factory at 3:30 on Tuesday and, since it was so late, we did not have time to finish our tour. We were told that we could come back and did this morning. When we finished our tour of the factory, we headed on over to the light rail terminal to hop on a bus for the city. The parking was limited at 2 hours since it was a commercial district so we circled around to a close residential district and found a place on the curb. Then back to the light rail to figure out the fare and the route we wanted. What a ride. The first part is above ground and we got to see the city as we passed. Then the light rail heads underground just like a subway.
When we got out we were no longer in the suburbs. It was all high rise, all hard edges, smooth surfaces, glass and metal and little color. We walked around, close to the waterfront. We watched as float planes took off from their pier, taxied out between the sailboats, turned and took off. Whoosh.
All along the waterfront were small signs covering some aspect of Canadian history. Very interesting and it took Gary and me a long time to walk this area.
Very interesting and we appreciated that they did not sugar-coat their history. They told of environmental disasters and victories, union strife and progress, heroes and scalawags. They told it all.
We were able to walk around Stanley Park, a peninsula to the NW of the city. There we turned around for a glimpse of the city from afar. Against the light blue sky with puffy white clouds, it was an amazing sight.
And, these are Canadian geese, right?
We enjoyed the depiction of the War of 1812 and how America was the agressor. Seems that I remember that the British were shanghaing our American sailors for their war ships. I also remember that the British marched through our territory and burned our White House. If this is American aggression, I’m not thinking we were very efficient. However, from the Canadian side I guess we were. We moved into Canada to give the British something to distract them. We also through that we might be able to add some more territory to ours. In the end we fought off the British who were much more involved in the Napoleonic Wars and really hadn’t devoted much firepower to the American War of 1812. But it was the Canadians who benefitted the most. They were united in their opposition to America and they consider the War of 1812 the beginning of Canada as a nation. Had I known that before? Nope. But now I do. We’ve spent 3 days in Canada and all have been rewarding and educational.
On our walk back to the light rail, we saw the Olympic Torch site.
We walked around some more before we hit the light rail and saw this building. It was once the tallest building in the British Empire adn one of the great art deco buildings in the world. It was supposed to be a great accomplishement when it was started in 1929. Then Wall Street creashed, the Depression hit and offices stayed empty. The building’s oppulence frightened people though rents were fairly reasonable. Soon it sold for a third of its cost of $2,300,000. The builders and developers lost their shirts but the city gained a landmark.
We wandered back to the light rail, streamed back to our car and headed home. We've had a great taste of Canada and will eagerly come back for more.
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