Up early again! Is 4 am early enough for you? No point in trying to sleep anymore when you just can't so we whiled away the time by catching up on emails, blog, photos etc until a more reasonable hour. We took a short walk up the road in search of breakfast and came across the Edelweiss Café, a wonderful little Mom and Pop establishment where the Asian proprietors were proud to tell us that they had been there for 20 years. We both had an amazing breakfast: bacon, egg and cheese on a brown, seeded bagel, while watching Columbia beat Ivory Coat in their World Cup group game.

Our hunger satisfied we headed for Canada Place to board the Big Bus for some more sightseeing. Today it was a big pink English double decker bus and we took our seats on top to enjoy the ride. Once again we passed through Chinatown and Gastown, past the English Bay Beach and into Stanley Park. This time we got off at stop 11 and waited for the special bus that does a loop around the whole park. While we were waiting we saw a little black squirrel come down out of the trees and cross the road. Yes, it really was black and not red or brown! He moved too quickly to get a photo to prove it.

The trip around the park was definitely worth it. Stunning views along the sea wall, beautiful gardens, ancient trees, a group of totem poles, a bridge built by the Guinness family (who appear to have been really busy in Vancouver) and various statues amongst many interesting sights. We passed the Vancouver rowing Club and also the Yacht club before stopping for a short break at Prospect Point where we enjoyed a naughty but nice ice cream as well as admiring the view across the water as an elderly Asian man entertained us with haunting music on his Chinese harp.

Back on board the bus our loop was soon over. Back on board the city bus we hopped off near to stop 9 at the Aquatic Centre and then boarded a tiny ferry for the short journey to Granville Island. It is a very laid back, hippy kind of place reminiscent of the 60’s. We wandered round the open market and visited a few of the local artisan shops. We did not intend to buy anything but we glanced in the window of an Inukshuk craft shop and a beautiful soapstone carving of a bald eagle had our name on it so we just had to take it home.

Back waiting for the Big Bus our patience was sorely tried as we were waiting a good 45 minutes before one even showed and that was full. They don’t quite seem to have got the hang of it here and have nowhere near enough vehicles. You hardly dare hop off because hopping on again is a luxury that might not come your way. Nevertheless we chose to hop off at Gastown as we knew that it was only a 10 minute walk from our hotel. We took some photos of the Gassy Jack memorial and then took a break in a good old Irish pub called The Blarney Stone. More World Cup football! We watched Japan versus Greece whilst enjoying a couple of beers. We had missed the England v Uruguay game while we were in Stanley Park and it seems that it was probably a good thing as unfortunately we lost, even though Rooney scored his first (and probably last) World Cup goal.

We strolled back to the hotel and spent a couple of hours packing and getting ready for our early departure tomorrow. To finish off the evening we went back down to the lobby bar and had some amazing tuna and salmon sashimi at the Sushi bar washed down with Marlborough Sauvignon blanc. Fantastic!