Today we ventured over the Burrard Bridge to the H.R Burrard Space Centre. We managed to time it so we were wandering just as the Vancouver Marathon was underway, so we did our bit by cheering and applauding at the runners whenever we saw some. The bridge was closed to traffic which meant it was a lovely quiet walk (apart from all of the cheering and cowbells, but that's ok) and the bits surrounding the Space Centre were very quiet. At first we thought it was clo...

Today we met up with Aidan's aunt June who took us to see some glorious bits of West Vancouver. First up was Lighthouse Park where we listened out for various birds (we heard a woodpecker but it must have been hiding, but we did see a hummingbird) and wandered around a woodland trail. Then onto Cypress Provincial Park to go up the mountain to see what we could see. We saw impressive vistas, a huge sky (HUGE... I've heard people talking about huge skies before ...

So, Seattle is rather nice. I don't think six hours is really enough time to explore the place (what with it being quite big) but you can certainly get a taste of what the area has to offer. Our guide Tom took us to some pretty nifty places, including a Pyramid Alehouse (apricot ale, I'll never forget you...) and the Space Needle. For some reason I always thought the Space Needle was taller. And a bit shinier. It's certainly shiny inside but the outside is loo...

So here we are, on our way to Seattle on a big ol'train. It was a pretty early start but we've still been waking up at 4-5am so it wasn't too much of a hardship, then to the station (Pacific Central) to fill in forms of varying colours asking the same information. Then it was to the fingerprinting and photographing station (so now I guess we're "in the system"), $12 for a visa thank you very much and finally onto the train. The ride down to the Canada/US borde...

After a bit of a chilly and dreary morning the sun decided to come out and it warmed up quite nicely. After our jaunt around Vancouver aquarium we decided to meander around the sea wall at Stanley Park before heading back into the city for lunch. Even though there were big grey clouds out towards Grouse Mountain and North Vancouver (and there was at least one big rumble of thunder from the distance) it stayed dry and got fairly warm so it was all very pleasant...