I was wide awake at about 03:00. I read for a bit and then thankfully, I went back to sleep. We were both awake at 05:00 and talked for a bit before nodding off again. When we woke up again just after 06:00, we figured that this was an acceptable time to be up. We both had a shower, got dressed and then headed over to the breakfast room.
Breakfast was included at our hotel. As this was our first time staying at a Best Western Plus, I had no clear idea what this would entail. The breakfast room had a lounge area with a TV near the entrance. At the back wall opposite the entrance was a horseshoe shaped counter where all the food was. Opposite the tables along the back wall was the drink station with hot drinks, juices, water and milk. It did not look particularly impressive, but there was plenty for us to get on with. Graham had boiled eggs on toast, an orange, cranberry juice and coffee. I had Cheerios with milk, a boiled egg, bacon, breakfast potatoes . I also had toast with peanut butter and strawberry jam. I had orange juice and coffee.
After breakfast, we briefly headed back to the room to get what we needed for the day. Then we headed out. The closest Skytrain station was not far away. The walk was also quite pleasant. On that line, trains run every two minutes, and one pulled in just as we got to the platform. We were on our way.
It did not take long until we reached Waterfront station. This station has two ends. One is close to Canada Place, which was where we were heading first. The other end is in the former long distance railway station. We had to go there later to meet up with our tour group. We decided to head that way to work out how to get from Canada Place to our meeting point. This could not have been easier, and it ended up being a lot closer than I expected.
There were no ships in port that day. We watched the float planes go by. There were also a lot of interesting birds about. We found somewhere to sit and watched the world go by. It was a gorgeous day. I spotted a barcode for a tourist challenge. I decided to check this out. There are a bunch of information boards along the walkway about different aspects of history that is connected with Canada Place. Most of the answers could be found on those boards. The final answer was inside a little museum. I had never known that this was there. It was very interesting and I was glad that I had found it.
Soon it was time to head over to FlyOver Canada. We had first visited this in 2024. For those of you familiar with the various Soarin’ rides in Disney parks, FlyOver Canada is like Soarin’ on steroids. They always have two films at any given time. In 2024, the two films had been Iceland, which we loved and a film about the people of the Canadian Rockies, which seemed to be a very strange choice for a flying theatre attraction. We did not have the time to visit last year. I had initially planned to do just one film, but we got a nice discount for doing two films and then another discount for doing this on a Tuesday. This made it really affordable, and I decided to book both films.
We took the lift up to the check in and they scanned the barcode. We were offered a photo, but declined. Then we joined the line. The first movie was Awaken Canada, which covered landmarks from all over Canada. There were not many people waiting when they let us into the room for the preshow. This is something that I would happily pass on. Eventually this was over and we were directed to the entrance of the attraction itself. We were sorted into rows. We had a row to ourselves. After a brief safety video, we were then escorted to our hang glider. Awaken Canada was stunning. Out of all flying theatre presentations that I have seen over the years, this was by far the best one.
We had to exit through the gift shop and then walk up the stairs to check in again. This time we were first in line. The second film was called Believe Chicago. I had my doubts about this one. I was not entirely sure that concentrating on a single city would work. The guys that were checking us in both said that Believe Chicago was even better than Awaken Canada. This time round, I did actually enjoy the preshow. We had to share a row. I would not go as far as saying that Believe Chicago was better than Awaken Canada. We both liked Awaken Canada better, but we also thoroughly enjoyed Believe Chicago. On the way out, I got a Vancouver fridge magnet from the gift shop.
We took our time walking back to the entrance of Canada Place. We saw a bunch of interesting birds again and also saw the first of many harbour seals. This was kind of cool. Once the harbour seal had decided to move on, so did we. We walked around to the posh entrance of Waterfront station. Our meeting point was outside Starbucks. We still had time until we had to meet the group and I figured out as we were meeting outside Starbucks, I may as well have a drink. I had seen a tropical butterfly lemonade refresher advertised outside the Starbucks at Canada Place. I was intrigued about this. I decided to give this a try. It was delicious. It consisted of layers of guava and passionfruit, shaken with lemonade and ice with mango‑pineapple flavoured pearls. I wish we had this in the UK.
In 2024, we had done a Gastown food tour with Taste Vancouver Food Tours. They also offer a brunch tour in Gastown and a North Vancouver food tour. We had thoroughly enjoyed our tour in 2024. We decided to give the North Vancouver food tour a go this time round. Their operations manager had messaged me with the name of our guide and also checked if we had any special dietary requirements. I was kind of surprised by this as the description on the website stated that on this tour dietary requirements could not be accommodated. I replied that I do not eat fish or seafood, but that I was happy to sit out the one stop that included seafood. She replied straightaway telling me that there was no need and that they would arrange an alternative.
Our guide Kate arrived about 5 minutes ahead of our meeting time. When we did the Gastown food tour in 2024, we had quite a large group. However, after Flyover Canada had been so quiet, I wondered how big a group we would have. After the introduction, she mentioned that we were waiting for one more party. I had expected a family or at least a couple, but we were joined by one lady from Anaheim, California. It was nice to have such a small group.
Once our little group was complete, we headed down the SeaBus. Kate gave us a ticket each. A SeaBus was just pulling in when we got to the waiting room. We found some seats. The trip across to North Vancouver only takes about 10 minutes. Kate pointed out some things on the way. Most of things I was familiar with. However, I have always wondered about some bright yellow heaps that you can see from Canada Place. Apparently, they are sulphur and are used to make fertiliser.
The SeaBus station is right by Lonsdale Quay Market, which is where some of the food stops were. As soon as we came out of the SeaBus station, we were at the first food stop, which was Seaside Doner Kebab. Kate placed our order and was told to come back in 20 minutes. We moved on to a square in front of Lonsdale Quay Market, and she told us a bit about the history of the area, which used to be the shipyards for Vancouver. There is still one dry dock and shipyard in North Vancouver, but most of the area where the shipyards used to be is now taken up by the market, various shops and restaurants and art galleries.
Once we had given us the overview, we headed inside the market and found some seats. There was a bar in the area, and she took our drink order. Graham had a rose spritzer, and I had a Sauvignon Blanc spritzer. Then Kate went to get the food. According to the tour description, one of the foods that we would sample was a donair. A donair is a regional Canadian variation of the döner kebab that comes from Halifax, Nova Scotia. However, we ended up with falafel instead. I was very glad about this change as I think a donair would have been too filling. We got two falafel each. They were light and fluffy and came with an amazing sauce. I do like falafel, but I think they were the best falafel I ever had.
Our next stop was also inside the market. It was called The Soup Meister’s Nephew. The stall used to be called the The Soup Meister, but the original owner passed away and his nephew took over. Hence the change of name. They specialise in homemade soups and offer a rotating selection of over 80 varieties. We had 6 different soups to choose from. Graham had the Boston clam chowder, and I had the rich hamburger soup. Each soup came with a hunk of sourdough bread. It was delicious.
After this, we headed upstairs. The second level of Lonsdale Quay Market mainly consists of quirky little shops, but there are also some restaurants there. Our destination was Fiorino Italian Street Food. They started out as a sandwich restaurant using a type of bread from Tuscany. They still offer sandwiches, but also serve pasta and other Italian specialties. We had Paccheri al Ragù di Cinghiale. This was a pasta dish with pasta in the shape of a very large tube, originating from the Campania region of Italy, wild boar ragu, Stracciatella cheese, and Parmigiano Reggiano. I was a bit nervous about trying wild boar, but it was delicious. Graham had some red wine, and I had a berry smash mocktail.
Our next stop was outside the market, but right across from it. It was called Pier 7 Restaurant and Bar. The restaurant has some amazing views. We also saw our first hummingbird of the trip there. This was the stop where we had seafood. The seafood in question was candied salmon. This was not a hit. Neither Graham nor our partner in crime enjoyed this. As I do not eat seafood, I got some avocado toast. This was amazing. We also got a glass of rose sangria each. This completed the main course part of the food tour.
After this, we ventured a little bit further away from the market. We stopped at Main Street Honey Shoppe, where we got a cup lemon and honey lemonade each, which was amazing. We also got to pick a honey stick each. We both went with the maple honey stick. Kate gave us the option to have it there and then or take it away to enjoy later. We opted to take ours with us. I put them in my handbag, but at some stage, they must have fallen out, and we never got to try them.
After this, we headed up Lonsdale Avenue, which is one of the steepest roads that I have encountered. We walked right past the German restaurant that we had discovered last year. Our next destination was slightly off Lonsdale Avenue. We went to Streetcar Brewing, which is a local craft brewery. We were given a choice of various beers and we both that the Peach Radler. This was really nice and refreshing.
After this, we had one more stop. We headed to Earnest Ice Cream. Apart from serving amazing ice cream, they have a zero-waste policy. Everything is either reused, recycled or composted. We had a scoop of cookies and cream ice cream, which was delicious.
After this, Kate walked us back part of the way. She pointed out some more points of interest and made some suggestions on what we may wish to explore in North Vancouver. However, we all opted to head straight back to the SeaBus. Graham and I started to run out of steam. In any case, we had intended to come back to North Vancouver later in the week.
We made our way back to the SeaBus. One was leaving shortly after we got there. Soon we were back at Waterfront station. In 2024, we had discovered a wine shop opposite that had a great selection of local wines. We got a very nice local Gewürztraminer at the time. I wanted to visit this shop again. It took me a while to find some Gewürztraminer as they have a huge selection of wine, but in the end, I had multiple options. I picked one and went to pay for it. Then we headed back to Skytrain.
One was just pulling in as we got to the platform. We had a nice smooth run. We got off at Metrotown, which is close to where we were staying in 2024. There is a huge shopping centre there with a Walmart. I wanted to stock up on antihistamine tablet and also needed to cable to charge Graham’s gadgets. I was quite surprised when Graham headed into the shopping centre once we had done our shopping. We came out again at the opposite end and I spotted a construction site that we had driven past on our way to our hotel the day before. Sometimes his sense of direction scares me. It was quite a large construction site, and it took us a while before we got to the end of it and turned into the street where our hotel was. The weather forecast had predicted a 0% chance of rain, but once we turned into the street where the hotel was, it started to drizzle. Thankfully, by the time the rain started to become heavier, we were back on hotel property.
Once we got back to our room, I put the wine into the fridge and put the gadgets on charge. We got ready for bed. It started to rumble in the distance. A thunderstorm was definitely not in the forecast. Graham went straight to sleep, but I read for a bit. I had just settled down to sleep myself when there was a loud bang. The centre of the thunderstorm was right overhead. It seemed to move away after that. I could still hear rumbling for a while, but it was more distant and at some stage, I just fell asleep.
Dolphingirl’s Travels 
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