Tuesday 1st July Vancouver

It's Canada Day!!!! Red everywhere. We had a Vancouver City Tour with our tour group. As we were driving to Stanley Park we stopped at the nine totem poles at Brockton Point. Then we passed a life size bronze statue of a woman in a wetsuit, with flippers on her feet and her mask pushed up on her forehead sitting on a large granite boulder on the North Shore of the Park. In 1968 Douglas Brown, a Vancouver lawyer commissioned a sculpture inspired by the famous Copengagen Mermaid to sculptor Elek Imredy. Stanley Park is a 1000 acre public park that borders downtown Vancouver and is almost entirely surrounded by waters of the Pacific Ocean.The park has lovely beaches, miles of well-maintained paved and dirt trails, Canada's largest aquarium and a pool, water park, miniature railway and more. It has ever-blooming gardens, pristine coastal areas and roughly 500,000 cedar, fir and hemlock trees. It's also has an impressive 8.8-kilometre paved route, called the Sea Wall, that loops around the park and, along with adjoining seaside pathways, connects the park to downtown Vancouver and skirts its entire inner waterfront. There is also an area in the park dedicated to the First Nations Art and Totem Poles.

We continued on by bus to Prospect Point which is a historical lookout site situated at the highest point in Stanley Park The lookout point, café and patio all boast a spectacular panoramic view of the entrance to Vancouver's inner harbour, the North Shore Mountains and the Lions Gate Bridge. The Lions Gate Bridge was completed in 1938 and spans 1,553 feet over the Burrard Inlet, making it one of the longest suspension bridges in the world. The Burrard Inlet is the passageway for cruise ships on their way to and from Alaska. The term "Lions Gate" refers to the pair of Lions, which are of cast concrete placed on either side of the approach to the bridge in January 1939.

Continuing on our tour we finished at Granville Markets for lunch and shopping. Pete and I caught the ferry to Yaletown again and walked into Canada Place. There were thousands of people in the streets celebrating Canada Day. Pete and I went to the Fly Over which is a breathtaking flight simulation ride like no other. We had to wait about an hour because there were 4 cruise ships in and Canada Place was swarming with tourists and Canada Day revellers. Firstly we entered a small room that had a 360 degree screen showing some of Canada's amazing scenery. At first I thought, is this all it is? Then we were ushered to the boarding zone for our preflight briefing. We were strapped into our seats and then the lights were turned off. The floor retracted and we were left hanging in our seats. A huge dome screen appeared from the darkness with the latest in projection and ride technology creating a true flying experience, complete with wind, scents and mist!! This flight was truly amazing and the experience is unforgettable. WOW!!!

We walked back to our hotel and got ready for our Sunset Dinner Cruise We travelled by limosene that held 24 people down to the Stanley Park Yacht Club. We set sail at 9pm and had a beautiful buffet style dinner. We were entertained a man singing and playing the guitar which was very nice. We sailed to Canada Place and had a front row view of the fireworks display on Canada Day. It was breathtaking and so special to be in the harbour watching the fireworks from a boat on such a beautiful clear warm night. We didn't get home till after midnight............huge spectacular day!!!