O Canada! Or to put a fine point on it, O Vancouver!
As a lifelong Easterner, sojourning north of the border always meant training my sights on familiar destinations like Quebec and Montreal. If I could squeeze a couple of extra days in my vacation, throw Newfoundland into the mix.
The opposite side of the vast expanse existed as nothing more than a misty watercolor that belonged to a different clientele. Fundamentally, I could only associate Vancouver with a hockey reference — the Canucks.
But my recent visit to this city — slathered with polite natives and the assurance of universal health insurance — revealed a unity of urban and suburban cool, highlighted by glistening steel and glass towers. All of which overlooks cobalt-blue water, snow-capped peaks and a web of neighborhood alleys ornamented with a robust growth of figs, grapes and Chinese cabbage.
Like succulent, maple-glazed salmon, the subtle pleasures arouse a rhythmic flow in Vancouver, Canada’s third-largest metropolitan area behind Toronto and Montreal. I repeatedly reminded myself that even funky, caffeinated Seattle, just a two-hour drive down the Pacific Northwest coastline, doesn’t resonate like this place. Immediately, I noted and deeply appreciated the fact that the local subway system, SkyTrain, ran on time with easy-to-understand maps and immaculate stations.
I also appreciated that you could waltz into the McDonald’s near our Airbnb and keenly observe the warm, social interaction exploding among the dozens of Asians who drank in their morning brew and released laughter with equal passion. And I noted and appreciated that yes, there’s this event, Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival, that performs the Bard of Avon’s plays on the sand by the gently lapping waves. I also appreciated how when the iPhone Maps app wasn’t cooperating, you could ask a couple out for an evening stroll for directions and get a personal, detailed narrative, complete with a smile and an encouraging send-off.
We began our Vancouver visit by acting on the advice of virtually everyone we know and scoring tickets — and passage on the oft-running ferry — to iconic Butchart Gardens. This virtual flora factory, on the south end of Vancouver Island, pulsates with a million flowers and plants. Robert Butchart, a leader in the cement business, was drawn by the rich vein of limestone deposits there. While he toiled, his wife Jennie, the company’s chemist, had a different vision for the scarred, empty pits. Using topsoil, she lined the floor of the spent quarry. In time, it grew into gardens the likes of which you may never see again.
Later, we found our way west to the richly mellow tip of the peninsula and the University of British Columbia’s Museum of Anthropology. Overlooking the Pacific, the meticulously curated exhibits tell the back story of the “First Peoples” — Canada’s name for their Native Canadian population. One recent show trotted out the works of local artist Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun. His “Unceded Territories” showed the works that confront the suppression of First Nations peoples and the subsequent suffering while pursuing lands, resources and independence from colonists.
Vancouver is blessed with a wide array of delectable public parks. The one that moved the needle the most was Stanley Park. This leafy oasis features horse-drawn vehicles that take visitors on a leisurely ride. The tour takes in a lot: Deadman’s Island, Vancouver’s Harbour, the Lions Gate Bridge and the Rose Gardens. Be sure you take time to check out the totem poles.
Also, carve out some time to get even a cursory taste of Victoria, the provincial capital of British Columbia. You can get a free tour of the Parliament Buildings, where the legislature meets. Take note of B.C.’s female political pioneers and pause to reflect at the 100-year-old-plus stained-glass windows in the halls, festooned with quotes from such great thinkers as Plato. My personal favorite takeaway: “The virtue of adversity is fortitude” (Francis Bacon).
One evening, while walking off our scrumptious farm-to-fork dinner, we stopped at the local McDonald’s for — you guessed it — a nightcap of decaf senior coffee. Although the hour was late, we stumbled on a posse of buoyant Asian customers performing in the after-hours edition of the Social Butterflies Club. In this province of nice, with plentiful landscapes and seascapes, and even at one spot a desert climate, with lead stories on the TV news about record-breaking wildfires and rogue bears, a nourishing balm had settled in.
O Vancouver, indeed.
For information, visit tourismvancouver.com.
Tony Glaros is a Laurel-based freelance writer.
Also see: Northern Excursion to the Canadian Maritimes
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