Summer 2013: Vancouver

Hi there!

More delays. I know. Once again I apologize *bows*

So I've recently went on a 31-day trip with my family to Canada, America, and Korea. I had an AH-MAZING time. My birthday was also unlike anything I'd ever expected :D

We took some 15 000 pictures, and some are just pure stunners - the kind that makes you start playing Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" in your head :') and here I am to share some of these marvelous pics with you! And also to show my friends the highlights of the trip.

Welcome to Part 1 of the Best Summer Eva 2013 series of blog posts! Part 1 shall consist of the first city we visited in Canada - Vancouver!

I loved Vancouver :D My whole family did. Quite the laid-back city, and we really liked that. The weather was a bit chilly for summer, but it was all good. I'm not that much of a hot weather person myself, so I didn't mind it in the least. So here are some more pics to show you what I saw in Beautiful British Columbia's largest city!

Japadog. A must-try if you pass by the cart while it's open. Instead of the usual mustard-and-ketchup 

combo in the regular hot dog, a Japadog contains onions, teriyaki sauce, mayo, and seaweed. I happen to be a huge fan of Japanese food so I immediately jumped at the chance to try this :9 The sausage was out of this world! So warm and juicy.

Poutine is a Canadian dish that consists of french fries, hot gravy and chunks of cheese. I loved this, as I am a fan of gravy and cheese. I found that the ones we had at the cafeteria at the Ontario Science Centre were the best! Very generous on the gravy and cheese. Yum :9

 Vancouver Aquarium! They had really cool jellyfishes, cute playful otters, awesome dolphins and belugas :D

Yup. This pic was in 9GAG. Lol :P

I never knew exactly how great it feels to have a public park surrounded by lush greenery and fresh air until I visited Stanley Park. So clean and so, so big.

This shot here we achieved after numerous failures. There I was in the middle of the park, jumping up and down, much to (possibly) the amusement of many chillaxing citizens. I'm talking about you, group of Japanese students who were having a picnic with me so shamelessly tainting your field of vision. If by any chance you're reading this, yes I finally got a decent shot.

Welcome to the impressive display of Stuart's Baked Goods at Granville Island Public Market! I got to taste one of these little delights - mango cream cheese cake! It was awesome. Ermahgerd.

Macaron tower! Which I did not get to touch! :(

Grouse Mountain was a great experience, overall. Not to be missed if you're in Vancouver. Though the presence of a crowd kind of ruins the views as you go up the cable car if you're not able to snag a spot near the window.

Don't forget to meet Grouse Mountain's very own pair of orphaned grizzly bears, Grinder and Coola!

We took this pic after the lumberjack show. Make sure to watch it if you're dropping by in summer! I highly recommend it - entertaining, fascinating, and we had some good laughs. There were also a few moments where they kept the audience at the edge of their seats :)

Another great show they have there is the Birds in Motion demonstration where you get to see birds in flight, sometimes they hover right above your heads. One of the trainers asked us if we'd ever seen a wild bald eagle, and my family were of the small part of the audience who couldn't raise up their hands. But during that very show, a wild juvenile bald eagle hovered in the sky above us. It was so elegant and...I don't know, it was just astounding to see. Sadly, they had to cut the demonstration short because the other birds became distracted by the wild bald eagle trying to mark her territory (or something along those lines). Although somehow I'm not convinced that the eagle was really 'wild' as the timing was too perfect. But we did have beautiful luck in Canada - you'll have to read the next posts to find out what I mean ;D

Anyway. Wild bald eagle sighting or not - catch the show :)

Owls. Should be reason enough to watch ;)

Hopefully you enjoyed this post! Stay tuned for the next one!

アリシア

Now listening: Crystallize - Lindsey Stirling