Vancouver, British Columbia

 We had an absolutely fabulous trip.  Vancouver is a beautiful place, straight out of the pages of a story book. It is a combination of urban sophistication and natural splendor.

The Vancouver airport is like walking into a museum.
Displays of indigenous art and very beautiful

Ray and Isabel Grant are wonderful, generous hosts and we felt so comfortable.  Isabel was waiting for us on arrival at the airport.  She gave us a driving tour after lunch and many more well organised sight seeing tours during our time there. We enjoyed the first evening at Top of Vancouver, great choice for seeing the city from a bird's eye view.  We enjoyed Pat's company at dinner and it was a nice surprise to see her again.  We left the next morning for Lake Sakinaw which will be on a a couple of blogs.
I will also divide Vancouver into separate blogs to cover some of the beautiful places and photos.  We went to Dick Ferguson's retirement party and we spent a night with Dick and Cheryl before going to Victoria for three days. Cheryl made a nice breakfast for us although she had to be exhausted from the party preparation and event.  Dick drove us to the ferry terminal to leave for Victoria.
So, there are some fun photos of the party to share and our wonderful time in Victoria.

Quite a surprise to walk through this art
filled entry as you arrive at Vancouver airport.

Great views of the city, Vancouver controls the height and
number of tall buildings.  Many new buildings are under-
ground providing a park area above.





Yes, we are in Canada

 

Control tower, downtown, for float planes
and all the traffic on the water



A small passenger ferry

The view from the dock on Granville Island

   

Beautiful skyline of Vancouver

Another view from the Top of Vancouver
Convention Center in background

A rose garden, just one of the many, many parks
and green areas.

This municipal pool is the largest that I have ever seen.

A city of bicycle paths

Vancouver's 'Little Mermaid' copied from Copenhagen




     



'Amazing Laughter '
14 Bronze Sculptures in Morton Park
Iconic faces in a state of hysterical laughter
Chines artist, Yue Minjun



Full of people taking Fun photos,
the patinated sculptures express the wave of
artistic freedom in China

  




MOA Outdoor exhibits with

Haida houses and several

contemporary poles

Yellow cedar sculpture by Bill Reid. The haunting

betrayal of creation and mischief of the raven, eternal

trickster.  Located in the Bill Reid Rotunda

MOA Multiversity Galleries house thousands of objects
from the museum's worldwide research collections.Special
fibre-optic lighting and a unique system of drawers allow you
to explore the objects within them.



Queen Elizabeth Park.  The scene of wedding photos and
sidewalk artist and people just enjoying the oudoors.

 

Stanley Park is 400 hectares (bigger than Central Park)
Spectacular views with hiking and biking forest trails
for a scenic journey through natural wonder.









Contemporary Torches constructed for the Winter Olympics

 

 

Beautiful sculptured gardens with
layers of color in every area of the city

  



A tree that came down in a storm
was trimmed and sculpted to give
 kids a tree climbing experience

TO BE CONTINUED -  As I have a maximum load capacity on the photos