Anzac Day

April 25 is ANZAC day and whilst there was no dawn service here there was a parade down 11th street, with bagpipes and military. I have no idea if it was for ANZAC day. I highly doubt it given ANZAC day is an Australian / New Zealand thing, but it was a bit of a coincidence don't you think?

Rose Garden Thai

We used the entertainment book again and went to Rose Garden Thai which is on Stephens Avenue. YUM! It is the second time we went there and it was as good as the first time. Although Shan and I have realised that seafood is not Calgary's speciality. We have yet to have great seafood yet. Well - not as good as home!

Villa Firenze

Last weekend we went out for a friend's birthday/ house warming. I finally got to play a wii and am still trying to convince Shannon to buy one!

We ate crave cupcakes before dinner (mmmm....) which we had at the Villa Firenze. It is an italian restaurant which was quite busy. I had cannelloni (not as good as carmines!) and Shan had penne arabiatta. It was the closest he has had to carmines so far!

AFL Dream Team - Round Five

Snow in Spring

Well Tuesday was approx 23 degrees. Wednesday - it snowed all afternoon.

Calgary does not understand the seasons.

Below is a link to a "guide on snow"

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/forcesofnature/snow.html

4th avenue Cafe

We have decided to make use of our entertainment book and decided to go to 4th avenue cafe, which is below the International Hotel. Shan had a steak which he really enjoyed, while I had southern fried chicken with gritz. It was the first time I had gritz, which is made from corn! It was such nice temperature that day (21 degrees - first time we had been in the 20s since we have been to Calgary), we walked home along the Bow River.

AFL Dream Team - Round Four

This week is the first week, that the teams are playing other teams in the league. Funnily enough Shan and I, was up against each other. And as you can see from the ladder - it ended well for me!

Infusion - Bragg Creek

Today, we had brunch at Infusion a nice restaurant at Bragg Creek. We were really in the mood for lunch (it was 12:30pm), but they were only serving brunch. Thats fine with me - because I had eggs benedict (yum!) and Shan had bacon and eggs and managed to order his eggs right (these north americans order their eggs funny). The restaurant was quite busy and the girl serving us told us all about her trip to Australia. Gee - even I haven't been to Ayers Rock!

Bragg Creek

Today, we went for a drive to Bragg Creek for the first time. It is about 40 odd kms out of Calgary. It definetly had an old west feel, with all the shops in cabins.

http://www.braggcreek.ca

AFL Dream Team - Round Three

Bit of a slippage by Anne this week. After beating Shan in the first two rounds, she was beaten by Shannon :(

Granville Street Vancouver

Granville Street has a great feel and is literally one minute walk from our hotel. Lots of bright lines, lots of night life, lots of diversity. We found though that the blocks with granville street, had at least six pizza places on each block minimum.

I will miss you urban oufitters. I have only just realised, that there is only 2 canadian stores. eeek! I missed my chance to stock up big!

Comfort Inn Vancouver

We spent our time in Vancouver at the Comfort Inn Vancouver. No complaints - besides the insanely thin walls. We were woken up by our foreign neighbours, who would slam their door in the middle of the night and have loud conversations outside our door. Doolin's Irish Pub is part of the hotel, and we got breakfast served there everyday. I will miss those bagels!

Numero Uno

Again we went Italian for Easter Sunday. Gnocchi for Anna, but Calamari for Shannon. The service was awful and reflected in the tip. The poor waitress, struggle with English and had no idea what was going on. Food wasn't too bad though!

Edgewater Casino Vancouver

On Easter Sunday - it rained a lot. We couldn't spend much time outside unfortunately. So we went the casino and lost our money (reoccuring theme with us and casinos)! The casino was very much geared to the asian market, as you can see from the statues and also the shuttlebus, that went from chinatown to the casino!

After the casino, we managed to find the skyrail and get to Metrotown which is BC's largest shopping mall. We spent the majority of the day there to escape the rain.

Doolin's Irish Pub Vancouver

We luckily got breakfast at our hotel... yummm..... it was in the Doolin Irish Pub. It was awesome, because we were able to make our own waffles... but the best bit was the bagels. So good

Bellagio Restaurant

Mmmm..... pasta.... we found this little place, by the art gallery. It had a great cosy feel, and had books everywhere! Shan was in the mood for seafood (?!?!?) but we ended up here. Seafood is really hard to come by here - fish is usually salmon or halibut, both of which Shan is not a fan of. We managed to find calamari and got it as an appetizer (entree for the aussies). For our entree (ok, translation for the aussies - this is the main), we got arabiatta (something new for Shan!) and cabonara for Anne.

Vancouver Aquarium

To beat the rain on Easter Saturday, we went to the Vancouver Aquarium. The line-up was insane! Obviously, everyone else was trying to escape from the rain!

Stanley Park Vancouver

On Easter Saturday - it started to rain a lil bit. Vancouver apparently is famous for its rain! But as per a brochure we read - the April rain is responsible for May flowers! Vancouver is a lot different to Calgary, when it comes to greenery. As Calgary gets sooooo cold and continuously had snow - it makes it hard for plants to grow. Whereas Vancouver has minimal snow and a lot of rain - but has flowers and green green grass everywhere - the colours awaken the senses!

So we decided to battle the little bit of rain and walk around the waterfront to Stanley Park and get a horse drawn carriage ride! The park is over 1,000 acres and is 10% larger than NY's famous Central Park. The park is surrounded by a 9km seawall, which lots of people cycle around, walk/run/rollerblade around. We caught a glimpse of a few of the parks attractions:

- statue of Robert Burns - the national poet of Scotland, who penned Auld Lang Syne
- totem poles (Shan is in this picture)
- statue of "girl in wetsuit", the statue is a "copy" of the "little mermaid" statue in Denmark and is of a birl in a wetsuit, sitting very mermaid like on a boulder, which gets slightly covered by the ocean, depending on the tide

http://vancouver.ca/parks/parks/stanley/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Park

Count down the Winter Olympics Vancouver

At the front of the art gallery, is Vancouver's countdown clock to the Winter Olympics next year. Its almost here - should we get tickets?

Canada Place Vancouver

Canada Place overlooks Vancouver's waterfront. We visited here a few times - to get to the shuttle for Capilano, to walk to Stanley Park and to also find dinner on Good Friday.

A bit of history - Canada Place is the Government of Canada's landmark investment in British Columbia and has become the focal point for BC's thriving tourist and international trade sectors and a meeting place for all Canadians. Canada Place world-class reputation was established as the site for the Canada Pavilion at Expo 86, acknowledged as one of the best-ever host-nation pavilions at a world exposition. Wholly funded by the Government of Canada, the Canada Pavilion was converted into the Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre in 1987 and was then officially turned over to the Province of British Columbia as a lasting legacy for the Canadian people.

We walked around Vancouver for over an hour and half to find somewhere for dinner (a Shan and Anne special - we can never decide where to eat). Shan was convinced that there had to be restaurants here - as it was overlooking the waterfront! But alas no food here. We ended up getting pizza - a 30 second walk from our hotel. i kid you not.

For more on Canada Place - http://www.canadaplace.ca/cpc/

Gastown Vancouver

After going to the supension bridge, we walked around until we hit Gastown - an area of Vancouver. There was a lot of homeless people in comparison to Calgary all around town and they were a lot more talkative also. On the way to gastown we took the map out - and a guy ran across the street to "help" us with directions. They can spot tourists a mile away! Just 10 secs after this photo, another gentleman, insisted we take a photo from another spot and also gave us directions to chinatown to avoid the dodgeys (ahem..). Shan could not stop talking to him. 5 minutes later after telling him we had no change, he didn't waste another breathe and walked the other direction!

Anyway - Gastown. It is a beautiful spot - with cobbled streets, old buildings. The place has restaurants, art galleries and lots of cool boutiques. The clock which Shan is standing in front of is fully power by steam and apparently only a few steam clocks exist (5 in total). Another one - in oz - is in Berwick, Victoria. Although the clock looks quite old - it was actually built in 1977. The clock apparently weighs 2 tonnes.

http://www.gastown.org/

Just because it is cute

Cuchie cuchie coo! @ Capilano Suspension Bridge

Capilano Suspension Bridge Vancouver

On our first day in Vancouver (Easter Friday), we went to the Capilano Suspension Bridge. The Bridge is the photo which Shannon is in and the bridge is 137 metres long and 70 metres above the Capilano river. On walking on the bridge, I didn't take my two hands off the bridge at all - I was freaked out - especially knowing I had to walk back!

Across the bridge, is the treetops adventure, which is the photo I am in. There are seven suspension bridges which are about 30 metres above the ground. Shannon was making a lot of ewok noises (from star wars - see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqQevDvY2w4 )

http://www.capbridge.com/index.html