Sunday was a long but exciting travel day. Here is what happened:
3:45 am: alarm goes off. Robert arrives for airport taxi service.

4:30 am: car loaded and off to Houston Intercontinental airport. Check in is smooth. Thanks for driving us at such an early hour Robert!

6 am: US air takes off on time

8:00 am: arrive in Phoenix-forgot how brown the hills and mountains are-no wonder- 103 degrees there today. Transferred to new plane-Air Express

7:45 am: now on Mountain time- Take off for Vancouver- only 2 1/2 hour flight

10:30 am: Arrive in Vancouver! Now on Pacific time, so have entire day ahead. 51 degrees. A bit cooler than Spring Tx.! Immediately got jackets out of bags.

11:15 am: buy all day transit pass for $9.00 each at 7-11 store just outside of airport-suggested by airport information guide. Great public transportation system. We opted not to rent a car as parking is a problem downtown and expensive.
Ride sky train from the airport to Vancouver center downtown and walk 1 block to Kingston hotel-a European style bed & breakfast in the heart of downtown. Easy walking distance to harbor and Water St. or transit station.
Settled into room and started exploring- head towards Water St. After 1 block we pass Holy Rosary Catholic cathedral and mass is just beginning. Seems like divine intervention calling us in, as we hadn't been to church yet, so we go in to praise the Lord and give thanks. A nice lady asks us to present the bread and wine at the altar after the sermon. So the 2 Houstonians go up -WHAT A COINCIDENCE-out of 500 people we are selected. Beautiful, old cathedral with lovely stain glass windows on Richard St..
One hr. later, on to Water St., which is off the harbor-the place to be -shops & restaurants etc -very old world flavor with hundreds of hanging baskets and street lamps. We were starving and selected The Old Spaghetti Warehouse. Delicious spaghetti and vegetable lassagna. We then walked to Waterfront station and decided to ride the water taxi across harbor to North Vancouver. 10 minute trip. Our transit pass includes all harbour taxis, sky trains and buses in Vancouver. Walked around water front park and picked up some fruit from a great open air market place.
It was a wonderful day! Downtown Vancouver is very clean and a mix of the old world and new. Beautiful flowers are in bloom every where-the public parks are numerous and so pretty. The public transportation system is super!