| Road Trip! Day 5 |
[May. 16th, 2008|11:00 pm] |
Late post again, because apparently, Wi-Fi is a commodity in Canada.
Our sixth day of road trippin’ began in downtown Seattle, around Pike’s Market. Somehow the both of us woke up at 8, so by 9 we were out wandering the streets of downtown. Our first stop was for breakfast, at a place called “Piroshki Piroshki,” and you can guess what we ate there. I got a chicken, rich and musroom one, while Stefen got a potatoes and cheese one, and both came with a cup of borsch. It was delicious, so delicious that we bought another one to go – a poppyseed-cinnamon with honey-lemon glaze, made right there in the shop. Awesome. Next, we walked through the farmer’s market, and stopped to buy organic chocolate soap and a bag of assorted flavored honey sticks, of which the grape was the best, hands down. I showed Stefen the world famous fish monger stand, and we watched the show for a while before heading towards the Space Needle. Since check out was 12, we had to powerwalk our way there, but made it with enough time to take some awesome photographs of the needle. Then we had to head back and get on the road.
Seattle hadn’t really changed much since I was last there – although now there is an underground system for the buses and they are building a light rail, but it still has that same San-Fran-with-trees-and-a-hint-of-Portland feel to it. I like the city, it’s one of my favorites, but it still doesn’t hold up to Portland.
The drive from Seattle was pretty, but not nearly as pretty as the drive through Oregon. We got to see a little bit of Everett, the city where Cogswell’s sister school used to be, and it was green and beautiful. Also passed through Lynden, which is where another friend from school lives. Before reaching the Canadian border, I stopped at a rest stop, where there were veterans giving away food and lemonaide. We talked to them for a while – they were rather nice old folks, and I checked out a nearby map of Washington just to get my bearings. Then we got back in and headed for the border.
Getting into Canada wasn’t too bad – there was about a half hour wait at the border, followed by about a 15 minute wait as they checked our passports and searched our car. While we were waiting, we talked with guy who looked like one of Hell’s Angels who had been in front of us and was also waiting for his passport to clear. He introduced himself as Mathias from Texas, San Antonio I believe, and said he had decided to come up here on his motorcycle just for the hell of it. He pulled out a digital camera and showed us some pictures he had taken along the way, mostly of the various people he had met and of some of the beautiful sights he had seen along the way. He even took a picture of us for his journal. We talked more about the traveling we had done, and then the border patrolman gave me the car keys and we headed back on our way.
Entering Canada was like driving through a green version of California – mostly flatlands and fields, except the signs are all in kilometers, which is pretty cool, because you see “Speed limit 100” signs all along the highway. We found our hotel easily enough – it’s called the City Centre Inn on 6th and Main, about a 20 minute walk from downtown. After we dropped everything in the room, we were off.
Walking down main street takes you right into downtown, though at first we weren’t too sure where to go, but we saw a monorail, so we stopped at the station. Stefen and I were both confused, but while we were trying to figure out where to go, we heard a voice from behind us ask “Hey, whatcha folks lookin’ for?” Apparently, the locals are pretty nice – even the stoners, which I’m pretty sure this guy was. He showed us on our map where to go and in what order, where we could find the “yuppie” areas, and where we could find restaurants, the streets to take to walk along the beach, and much more. He also showed us the areas to stay away from, and for a while I slightly freaked because he pointed to an area that I thought was where our hotel was. Turns out I was wrong though – we’re actually in a cool part of town, a few blocks north of a decently artsy area. And then, of course, being the nice Canadian he was, he also told us where we could get weed and go to a strip club. Ah, Canada.
Exploring Vancouver was…interesting. It’s a very pretty city, and the people are very friendly, the weather’s nice and there are a lot of interesting places, but I do have to say I’m somewhat…indifferent to it. Actually, I’m kind of disappointed by it. I was expecting a place a lot more like Portland or Seattle, and in some ways it does resemble to two, but in reality, to me, it just seems like a yuppie overly-high-class place with too many condos and sports cars and tourists that just want to shop at upscale prada shops and eat overpriced sushi that will give you tapeworms. True story. I know I’ve only been here a day, and it’s not as if I hate the place, by any means – it’s much better than LA, or SLO, or even the Silicon Valley, but I just don’t feel at home here. Not like I did in Portland, not like I did in Japan. I can usually get a decent feel of a place within the first day of being there, and in Vancouver I just feel like I don’t belong. There’s something about it that makes me uneasy, makes me restless, makes me feel…sort of trapped. I really can’t explain it. I’m going to enjoy it while I’m here though, because this is what we came for, and I’m sure I’ll see some wonderful things during our stay.
So, we walked around, and took pictures, and eventually stopped at a coffee shop to get chai and use the Wi-Fi to get Gregor’s number. Julia’s friends also called, and while they’re out of town this weekend, they gave us some good places to check out, which we’ll do tomorrow. We continued walking, and saw a part of downtown called Yaletown, which seemed to have some cool restaurants, and grabbed some Subway for dinner and headed back to the room. Things are a lot more expensive here – and not because we’re spending Canadian currency, but the dollar is so bad that it’s almost equal, which means we’ll be spending more on things that cost less. There’s nothing we can do about it though, and since we’re only here until Sunday, we’ll just have to deal with it.
Upon returning to the room, sometime around 21:00, Stefen and I decided that we didn’t want to just turn in yet, but didn’t really know what we could go do. We then came to the realization that the legal drinking age in Canada is 19. Now, neither of us drink, but we both thought it might be somewhat of an adventure to go and buy alcohol somewhere. So, we walked up the street, away from the downtown, but had no luck – apparently, in Canada, alcohol is only sold at certain specialty shops. So we came back and asked the guy at the front desk, and he told us that we had turned back one street before there was a beverage shop. We decided what the hell, and went back. The shop was called Brewery Creek, and it wasn’t some sketchy, hole in the wall place, but instead a nice sort of winery-esque type place. We asked what was good, and the lady recommended a local beer called Thirsty Beaver, and yes, yes I bought beer (wow, did that feel weird) and we headed back to the room. I know you’re probably thinking “wow, how ghetto, buying beer while UNDERAGE (but not in Canada!) and drinking it in a hotel room” but really, though it wasn’t bad, I just had a few sips to say that I did indeed, drink in Canada. Hell, I’m not even buzzed. Bite me.
So now we’re sitting here watching some late night TV, getting ready to turn in. I have a feeling we might sleep in a little bit, since this is the first time we don’t have to be awake to check out. On that note, g’night! |
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