Our touch down in Vancouver, Canada signified a major shift in our year of travel - the beginning of the second half. It's also the first place so far where Steve has already visited but Sonja has not, which will be the case for a number of destinations as we move around North and South America.

Meeting us in Vancouver was one of Steve's good friends from school and his girlfriend (Chris and Charlene), hence we temporarily became a foursome to explore this corner of Canada. By coincidence, our first full day in the city was "Canada Day", the country's national holiday, so we got into the spirit by wearing red and carrying around the Canadian flag, trying the local beer plus an odd drink known as a "Bloody Ceasar".

Vancouver offered a number of great things to do as part of a daytrip. We managed to pack in a tough hike up nearby Grouse Mountain one morning and then make it to Lynn suspension bridge in the afternoon, which is a free rope bridge overlooking a river canyon. Stanley Park, right next to downtown Vancouver is large enough to spend an entire day in and not see it all.

The not so pretty side of Vancouver is the surprisingly high number of homeless and drug addicted people that you see walking around the city centre. One explanation we had heard for this is that since Vancouver is the warmest place in the country the homeless population tend to gravitate towards it, and spending Winter on the streets in virtually any other part of the country would not be possible. We'll pay attention to this when we get out further into the country.

We ended up spending four days in Vancouver, which was a long time in one place by our European standards, but it certainly didn't feel like too much time for this location. Spending time there with Chris and Charlene was excellent and there was plenty to keep us all occupied.