Day 284, 14 April 2013, Vancouver, B.C. Had a very slow start indeed today. Didn't get much sleep in the worst room in the hotel - right next to a fire door being opened and slammed all night and with a bunch of drunk blokes in the room next door getting back at 3 am and crashing about like a herd of elephants. If ever there was a case for justifiable homicide... Having put the fear of God into the Duty Manager when we dragged ourselves down at 8 am for breakfast, we were given a new room and moved there for a morning snooze. Can even hear the Gastown steam clock blowing the Westminster chime through our window. And hear the gulls cawing as they swoop and wheel and see the ocean. Much better. Took off for a hike across town and bridge to Granville Island's foodie market for lunch and then jumped on the world's shortest ferry ride back to the city proper for a great walk around the waterfront and through funky Denman Street to the "other" waterfront and on around to Canada Place. From the sublime to the ridiculous - hard to believe blocks and blocks of down and outs are less than a 20 minute stroll away. Vancouver is, more than anything, a city of contrasts. And sushi restaurants. I kid you not.