Vancouver

[Bitterwhiteguy]

Anybody ever been? I'm thinking of making a quick Xmas trip out of it & it seems like it could be fun.

[Duke Silver]

Originally Posted by Bitterwhiteguy

Anybody ever been? I'm thinking of making a quick Xmas trip out of it & it seems like it could be fun.

Went there last May and loved it (even with the ****e weather). One of the few cities I would eagerly move to if I had the opportunity. I can give you some recommendations that a local gave me before we went if you want.

[Bitterwhiteguy]

Originally Posted by Duke Silver

Went there last May and loved it (even with the ****e weather). One of the few cities I would eagerly move to if I had the opportunity. I can give you some recommendations that a local gave me before we went if you want.

Please do.

[tim beam]

Rock the San Juan Islands and Cypress Park if you have time, homie. Very scenic places if you're into that kind of stuff.

I'm not much of a food buff, so I can't help with that stuff, but I do know that White Rock and Vancouver West have some nice places (on top of downtown Vancouver obviously).

Also, if you can stand hockey, Rogers Arena is an awesome venue and experiencing the passion that Canadians have for hockey is pretty special.

Hope it's fun.

[CalHorn]

I heard it rains there on occasion.

[editionshield]

This'll sound very "you should've been in Austin back in the day"-ish.... but I really liked the place when I used to go with some regularity back in the early '90s, and then went again in 2007 and thought it had gone downhill a fair bit. Thought they'd marred up a beautiful city skyline with ungodly amounts of condos, and just day-to-day stuff with restaurants and such seemed to have gotten alarmingly overpriced and yuppified.

That said, much is still the same, most notably Stanley Park, the best in-town civic park in North America. Easy to spend half a day just checking out all the cool places there. And I'm sure it's still pretty good for nightlife. (Lots of good restaurants too, just prepare for it to be rather pricey.)

[Bitterwhiteguy]

Originally Posted by editionshield

That said, much is still the same, most notably Stanley Park, the best in-town civic park in North America. Easy to spend half a day just checking out all the cool places there. And I'm sure it's still pretty good for nightlife. (Lots of good restaurants too, just prepare for it to be rather pricey.)

Thanks, that looks like where we'll be spending a good chunk of our time. I had planned to go to their aquarium but we could run in that park as well. The hotel's less than a mile from the park so as long as the weather isn't terrible we should be in good shape.

[editionshield]

Originally Posted by Bitterwhiteguy

The hotel's less than a mile from the park so as long as the weather isn't terrible we should be in good shape.

And who could possibly imagine bad weather in the Pacific Northwest in December?


(Seriously, though, if you don't mind 40 & drizzly for running, which actually is not so bad in some respects, it should be fine. It ain't the tropics but it ain't Buffalo either; you're unlikely to get snow and deep freezes.)

[Bitterwhiteguy]

Originally Posted by editionshield

And who could possibly imagine bad weather in the Pacific Northwest in December?


(Seriously, though, if you don't mind 40 & drizzly for running, which actually is not so bad in some respects, it should be fine. It ain't the tropics but it ain't Buffalo either; you're unlikely to get snow and deep freezes.)

I can deal with drizzle & 40s, snow & high winds are my kryptonite.

[Duke Silver]

I'm still looking for the one of two emails that we got before we went from two locals, but I'll try to give you what I remember off hand.

You should definitely try a Japadog while your there. (There are a couple stands, but we went to the one in a building.) Also, Shabushen sushi and korean bbq is great. I got about a metric ton of great sushi and wasn't that expensive. Vij's Indian is supposedley one of the best Indian places in North America. It's fusion so they have more ingredients than traditional Indian, too. Get there early because the wait is always ludicrous, but you can sit on the patio and have drinks and the owner brings out free appetizers, which were actually the tastiest thing I had. We went to one really great, chill beer bar, but I'm waiting for my wife to remind me what the name of it is. Chill Winston, while a tremendously stupid name, has some good beers and cocktails. Kind of a yuppie place that edition talked about, but good location and beers for pre-dinner drinks. There's a artsy district across the sound that has clothing, book, and record shops that's cool for walking around during the day.

Also, Vancouverites are ridiculously sheltered when it comes to crime, so don't worry when people say an area is dodgy. Dodgy for them is a guy asking for changing--not a dude in a hoody with a smith and wesson demanding your iphone.

[burntorange80917]

Originally Posted by editionshield

It ain't the tropics but it ain't Buffalo either; you're unlikely to get snow and deep freezes.)

Was 60 & sunny here yesterday d*&k ........ so far we have zero snow for the year too (which as an avid snowboarder I'm not very happy about).

I like Van City but it ain't Canada, more like Seattle Lite (actually I shouldn't say that as I like it 100x's better than Seattle, what I mean is the people of Van City are more Seattle American than they are Canadian). Beautiful city & a nice place to visit if you have the chance ........ even better if you have the time to get up to Whistler. Definitely spend some time in Gastown (can easily burn a day there). Vancouver Island is worth exploring if you have the time as well.

Also agree with Duke about what they consider "dodgy areas" aren't really bad for any American that has spent time in a major US city. See the same thing in Toronto.

[editionshield]

Originally Posted by burntorange80917

Was 60 & sunny here yesterday d*&k.

And that's sure to continue for a few more weeks!

[burntorange80917]

Originally Posted by editionshield

And that's sure to continue for a few more weeks!

I hope not, I live here for the snow but so far in my 3 winters I've been thoroughly disappointed.

[Chigger100]

Originally Posted by Duke Silver

Went there last May and loved it (even with the ****e weather). One of the few cities I would eagerly move to if I had the opportunity. I can give you some recommendations that a local gave me before we went if you want.

Agree with this 100%. One of the cleanest cities I have been to with some of the nicest people, even though they are Canadians.

Lots to do and see in the city and great wilderness areas just outside.

[mdhorn]

Originally Posted by Duke Silver

Also, Vancouverites are ridiculously sheltered when it comes to crime, so don't worry when people say an area is dodgy. Dodgy for them is a guy asking for changing--not a dude in a hoody with a smith and wesson demanding your iphone.

there was a great Anthony Bourdein No Reservations episode involving Vancouver. He pretty much said the same thing and even talked to several addicts about where to eat.

[Bitterwhiteguy]

I actually ended up at Shabushen completely by accident(it was near the hotel & open on Xmas Eve), it was pretty good. The sake was terrible, but I hate hot alcohol in general so that had a lot to do with it.

Ciao Bella was good food, but the service was suspect & they shoehorned us into the tiniest possible table. They felt like putting a 2-top in between a couple booths was a good idea. It's not.

Grove Inn was a good greasy spoon for breakfast, though our choices were limited Xmas morning so we took what we could get.

The aquarium's quite nice, it was definitely worth the admission.

There are a sh*t-ton of Asians here. Consequently, there's a sh*t-ton of Asian restaurants. If I had more time, I would have hit some more places to see if they had any ramen that stacked up to what I had in San Mateo or Seattle.

Oh, and the weather is a beating. The scenery is beautiful, but I couldn't deal with this kind of overcast/rain all the time.