Cosmopolitan world

We have had several conversations with locals who have emigrated to big North American cities but don't quite feel at home. Sadly they don't feel they belong in their birth country either or/ and can't afford to travel back. So many displaced people in our world many of them due to civil war. 

We have several times been told New Zealand is  a beautiful country with an easy laid back lifestyle and great lamb!

Hockey Hall of Fame

This chap guards the entrance

PATH

We discovered why the streets aren't super busy. There is a whole city underneath us connected by walkways. The walkways are lined with shops, food courts etc. public transport also connects  to these. The system works using these signs and different coloured arrows for NSWE. Really quick to get around the city this way. Stephen had an underground haircut. 

Eaton Centre

Close to our apartment we ventured inside this morning. Wow it's huge. Multilevel shopping and this great art installation. The atrium roof is the whole length - about 2 blocks. 

Steamy

Most of these big cities have underground steam that bellows up as you walk past. Uncanny. 

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Niagara Falls

Really impressive. The straighter falls on the left are the American ones and the Horseshoe are Canadian. Definitely get a better view from Canada. There are 3 bridges with borders on each side. 

Wine Country

Went on our all day tour to Niagara which is only about 90 minutes from Toronto. On the way we stopped at an airstrip and most people went on a tiny Cessna to fly over the falls. There were 13 of us from UK, Ireland, Australia and NZ. We also went wine tasting. 

The township Niagara on the Lake is really quaint. 

Whiteout

Christies front yard

Highway 

Prairie with 15cm snow

City lights

A great flight to Toronto with Air Canada. This is taken from our Airbnb lounge. 43rd floor. We are in the centre of downtown.  Will check it out on Wednesday, off to Niagara tomorrow. 

Calgary

We travelled in convoy to Calgary as the Christies kindly escorted us to the airport.  Girls led the way with the guys following in the rental. Sunny in Banff but the temperature dropped as we drove and was still -4' when we got to the airport. Luckily the forecast fog didn't hang around. 

The Three Sisters

Bow Falls

Brrrrr

Snow

It snowed all day though not much settled here. The road to Calgary was completely snowed over but cleared in the afternoon. We are heading that way tomorrow. Very pretty but didn't get over 0'- we were happy in our merino :)

Got a peek at the mountains in the afternoon tho they were getting pretty white. 

Banff Springs Hotel

Built in 1888 on the Canada Pacific Railway. We spent ages inside - it was warm!- and heaps to see. Ballrooms, shops, art galleries. A popular wedding venue if you have the means. 

Let it snow....

Light drizzle this morning our first if the trip. Snow forecast for 10am. It began snowing at 10am. Pretty on to it over here. We went out walking to see the sights. 

Banff

Queenstown of Canada. Very pretty and busy even after dark. Met up with Lance and Sharlene and all went to Spagetti Factory for dinner. Met one of Rudolphs friends on the way home. ( actually an elk)

Rockies

Big day on the road. Kicking Horse pass 1643m high. We forgot about changing over to mountain time so lost an hour. Lots of end of season closures including National Parks but we did jump the gate to see the Giant Cedars. Snow on the peaks and the side of the road in places. 

B&B Art

Okanagan Lake Front

 Chinese garden

Quack Quack

The game was awesome. Very exciting and fast. Plenty of crashing into the walls but few penalties. 5-5 at full time so they played extra time, dropping a player each 5 minutes. The Vipers then had  a player in the bin so the Vees took a penalty shot and won. Home crowd very happy. 

Ice Hockey time

Friday night the Penticton Vees played their arch rivals the Vernon Vipers. They are Junior A grade teams which means after high school and the guys who get scouted for the NHL. The stadium is impressive $56 million 5 years ago. Includes 2 rinks, swimming complex, gym etc.The main stadium seats 5000 for hockey and concerts. 

South Okanagan Events Centre

Penticton

We could stay here for a week. Huge number of trails to bike or run, boutique wineries galore and very arty. 

Drove to Narramata up one side of the lake and visited a few wineries. It's off season but we found some lunch.

The Trail shop

On the KVR trail 40km long

Pinot anyone?

Running Friday morning

One of the trestle bridges

On the journey

Driving right

Picked up our jeep from Vancouver airport and negotiated the spaghetti junction out of town. Silkie did well especially with 3 back seat drivers and a GPS all telling him where to go :)

We stopped off in Hope. A mountain town that is starting to come alive for the season- get lots of Kiwis and Aussies working in BC winters. 

Very pretty and impressive mountains with a dusting of snow. Hurnie did some driving on the last leg into Penticton and made it through all the roundabouts the right(wrong)way round. 

Arrived at our B&B which is really an art gallery to a glass of local wine. Out to a busy pub for dinner- baseball and NFL and ice hockey all on the go. 

For Stef and Timon

The bike is a brand new Swiss model on its first outing. 

Gastown

An historic area of Vancouver with an amazing steam clock. The glass cabinet meant you could see how it works. The steam comes from the city underground supply. 

Lynn Canyon

Sunny today :) Stephen and I went back over to North Vancouver to explore Lynn Canyon. A beautiful spot with its own suspension bridge and waterfalls. 

The running quote was on a seat in the forest. Runners and mountain bikers were making the most of the trails and very few tourists. 

Morning sun

Skytrain

After our long day in the mountains Hurnie decided we should take a trip on the sky train to make the most of our one day travel pass. 

We got off the seabus and on to the Expo line train. The idea was to see the city from a new angle and then to see the lights on the way back. 

These trains are mainly elevated and don't have a driver so it's a bit like a mild roller coaster. 

Once on the train he was keen for us to be in the front carriage to get the best view. To the amusement of other passengers this meant getting off at each station and sprinting to the next carriage before the train left again. (These embarrassing episodes are why our children don't always holiday with us!!)

When we eventually got to the right spot Hurnie  realised we should have been at the back! We stayed in the front and enjoyed the view. The fog still present over the water. 

More photos

Capilano Suspension Bridge

This bridge is pretty amazing. It has been here since the 1890's. There is also a treetop walk (every kids dream) cliff top walk and rainforest. We spent a couple of hours here on the way home - much cooler again so we enjoyed hot chocolate. 

Grizzly bear on Grouse Mountain

Lucky he still had some lunch left to nibble on.

Sunshine

We headed for the sun today- 2 days of 10' fog was enough so it was off to the mountain tops. We took a sea ferry then bus to the foot if Grouse Mountain - a ski field in North Vancouver. Stephen, Richard and I walked up the Grind, a vertical mountain track 2.9km long with 2830 steps. We did it in an hour and arrived to a beautiful sunny day of 22' as the mountain was well above the fog. Had a lovely few hours up there and could see Vancouver beginning to appear below.