Vancouver - part 3

     After a fitful sleep, we had an easy morning then walked over the Van Dusen Botanical Garden, a favourite childhood haunt of CC's.  It now has a new, modern building at the entrance which fit in nicely with the landscape.  We felt young amongst all of the wrinklies and there were many beautiful plants and flowers organized according to region of origin, and of course I took many photographs.

       I particularly enjoyed the maze which had a Monkey Puzzle Tree at its centre - clever huh? We had a good long meander through the gardens and afterwards, lunched at the restaurant there, Truffles (hideous name but the food was very good).  We both had pea soup and I had a beef brisket vietnamese sandwich which was fusion at it's tastiest.  CC had a quinoa salad, also very flavourful.

A-maze-ing

     We went back to the house and I managed to talk to my dad who had talked to my brother on the phone and said he sounded quite lucid and chipper (this after having a three hour operation to have a brain tumour removed the night before!).  After some time relaxing and reading, we caught the bus downtown to Broadway and Granville and met my friend SE for dinner at Portobello.  SE and I had lived in the same house in the Little Portugal neighbourhood of Toronto many years before and have kept in touch over the years but hadn't seen one another in about six years, so it was a reunion of sorts.  While we were getting caught up, an obtrusive waiter kept coming by to see if we were ready to order, and we had to keep sending him away.  I had melon and prosciutto for an appetizer and pasta with salmon and a cream sauce for a main.  After a good long meal and chat, SE drove us through East Hastings (eek!) to an industrial area that had the International Ice Cream House.  It was a mob scene there and once inside I could see why.  After buying a token at the cash which determined what size of ice cream/gelato/sorbet you wanted (single, double, etc.), the real fun began.  You could get small sampling spoons of any flavour you wanted and there were well over 200 to choose from!  Not only that, but there were many odd and delightful flavours to choose from including maple bacon, vegemite, basil pernod, etc.  I have never seen so many happy people in my life and you could feel the energy in the room.  CC had seaweed, SE had porcini mushroom and I had a double of durian and black sesame - wow!  We sat outside in a beautifully lit courtyard, finished our tastes of heaven, then SE brought us home then left us with promises to see one another again soon.  We were in bed soon after.

Bring it on!

     After a good fry-up for breakfast, and a quiet, restful morning, Aunty J took us to the Vancouver Yacht Club for lunch, along with CC's ex-sister-in-law, AC.  It was a loverly, sunny day and we sat out on the deck, overlooking the harbour with great views of West Vancouver across the water.  AC was a bit late and somewhat breathless but calmed down once food was ordered.  I had Fish and Chips in keeping with the water theme of it all.  Afterwards, CC and I went down to the pier and walked to the end of it and back.  After a group photo, we went our separate ways.  Although CC and I had planned to go downtown to see the Vancouver Art Galley, we decided to put on our swimsuits and go down to Jericho Beach for a swim in the water, our first time this trip.  The water was quite shallow and there was lots of seaweed in it, but it was saltily refreshing.  I went in and out a few times and after about an hour, we headed back to the house.  After changing, we headed to downtown Kerrisdale, so CC could buy his mum a birthday card and we could get Aunty J some chocolates from Purdy's.  We also stopped in at Hill's and I bought four t-shirts that had out of print book covers on them (http://outofprintclothing.com/shop/t-shirts/).  We then had dinner at the White Spot, a local hamburger joint, walked home, had our evening scotch on the rocks and chatted  until it was time to go to sleep.

     The next day was pack-up day.  We left around 9:30 for a 12:00 flight home, said our goodbyes to Aunty J and Vancouver and talked about when we would next visit.

Scary Apple-head Doll