Canada - Days 1 to 3

The journey to Heathrow was uneventful but it's amazing how long it all takes. Flixbus at 13.30, so in theory the 12.32 train from Alvechurch should be fine, but there are often weekend cancellations so the 12.02 it has to be. 

Sitting on the platform at Alvechurch

This means leaving the house at 11.45! Got to the bus stop, which strangely was round the corner from the last time we got the Flixbus to Heathrow before going to Indonesia. Note to self, never assume you know what's going on! The driver however was the same one who took us down in November, weird eh?

Our Flixbus to London in Birmingham Centre

Off the Flixbus, and onto the local bus which dropped us off very close to the Ibis budget which was just like any other chain hotel except you had to pay £4 for the tea and coffee caddy for the room! Good Indian restaurant next door at a really reasonable price for London.

Our first view of Vancouver as we came into land

Canada Day 1 Monday 

A very long day. Woke as normal 06.30, breakfast, chill, leave the hotel at 11.45, straight onto the bus back to the airport. Check in before check-in opened as somehow I'd got us to the Business check in, which sadly we weren't going this time, but she had no other people so didn't upgrade us, but did take our bags and give us our boarding passes.

Flight departed on time at 15.05 and we arrived nine hours later, just after midnight, except it was only just after 16.00.

View from our apartment on 39th floor

Neither of us had slept much, though we had tried. Brian was so excited, he was sitting next to the Head of MAGIC, a man who works for the British Antarctic Survey as head of the Mapping and Geographic Information Centre. He was a lovely guy and so enthusiastic about what he does. I practically had to gag Brian in the end to give the poor man some peace. Good to know that we could still give him something to aspire to, a 5 day work trip to Canada, just didn't stack up against a 54 day trip!

We have a very nice apartment

Despite not much sleep we both felt ok, so rather than wimping out and getting an expensive taxi we braved the Sky Train and a short walk, which actually worked very well. The view from our Airbnb apartment on the 39^th floor of the Woodward Building is stunning and made it all worthwhile. We popped out to a nearby Mexican for tacos before stumbling into bed about 21.00 22.5 hours after we got up!

View of our building we are staying in with the rooftop garden. We're on floor 39 of 42. It's the first time the building we are staying in has featured on a city walking tour (and we've done a lot)

Canada Day 2 Tuesday 

We actually slept ok, ISH. I'd woken and read a bit, but that's quite normal really. Fight with the coffee machine before going out for breakfast and then getting to Canada Place for our 10.00 free walking tour. We have done these tours all over the world, not because they are free, because they are not, but because they are tip based the guides have to be enthusiastic and not just going through the motions. Daniel was very good, three hours passed in a flash. 

A seaplane lands in the harbour. They offer trips to places such as Victoria, where we are going next, Seattle in the USA on a 4 hour trip and sightseeing trips. We are considering a trip, they are expensive, but wouldn't it be good!

He answered everyone's questions despite actually being from the Czech Republic and not being local. It was a friendly group and I think we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It's the first time we've been on one of these tours where when the rooftop garden was pointed out on a building we were able to smuggly say that's where we are staying, but sadly as non residents we don't have access to the roof top!

In the lobby of the fabulous Art Deco Marine building on our walking tour

What to do with the afternoon? The forecast for Wednesday was not good,  which was a shame, as it was lovely today, so back to the apartment to change into something more suitable to go and rent some bicycles to cycle round Stanley Park. 

On our cycle tour of Stanley Park with Vancouver in the background 

We bumped into Daniel leaving the hire shop with a group off on a cycle tour. As a student how does he do any studying? We set off at a very gentle pace along the sea walls, it's so popular, you can only go anti clockwise. 

At the totem poles in Stanley Park

We stopped at the totem poles and various viewpoints before leaving the herd and going cross country to Beaver Lake as recommended by Daniel. Lunch was an ice-cream en route, both still being full from poached eggs and ham on avocado toast. Maple walnut, trying to blend in with the locals!

Saw this very cute squirrel munching a nut while we ate our ice creams

A beer on the way home, we'll we'd earned it, and we were into happy hour, though we did only have a small one. It's going to be like the US, beers all brewed for strength! There only seems to be lager below 5%, so be careful what you order! A very spicy Thai meal and off to bed.

The other side of Stanley Park overlooking English Bay and the dozen or so cargo ships waiting their turn to dock in Vancouver harbour. Fun fact: Vancouver harbour (seen from our apartment window, photo above) is Canada's largest, Montreal, some 2300 miles east, is it's second. That has access to the Atlantic via the St Lawrence River and, together with the railway that connects the two, offers the shortest, quickest and cheapest way to get goods from Asia to Europe. We can see the massively long trains loading up containers, two high at the start of their long journey

Canada Day3 Wednesday 

I'd heard rain, as forecast, when I'd been awake in the night, but actually we've been ok, despite the 100% forecast for most of the morning.

We took the bus to Granville Island as we thought it would mostly be indoors. It had been recommended by both Daniel and the lady in the Tourist information. 

There's a train set ready for the journey. I zoomed in from our 39th floor window to take this photo

A market with lots of food to eat and lots of artisan craft shops. We shared a breakfast pie before buying an Eccles cake we'd spied earlier. This was not something someone from Eccles would have recognised, which was just as well really as I don't like Eccles cakes. This however was very nice, and provided lunch as well!

Arriving at Granville Island this morning. Originally it was an island of mud in False Creek, but has become an integral part of Vancouver after is was built up with mud from dredging the creek. It first became a dirty, industrial area, fell into disuse after WWII but saw a rejuvenation in the 1970's as an eclectic collection of artesian shops. It's now an attractive area

While eating our pie we'd seen the aqua buses coming and going and decided we could take one of them to get home. His plan was to see bits of Chinatown, which was a bit scary. A man we got out of the lift with on Tuesday morning had told us not to go two blocks that way as we left the apartment building, which was basically to Chinatown, and Daniel had echoed that sentiment. It's a bit rundown apparently and has a huge homeless problem right in the middle of it. This didn't necessarily make it a dangerous place to walk through during the day, just not a pleasant one! 

Inside the market hall on Granville Island

We carefully planned our route to see the things he wanted to see, the worlds thinnest commercial building 4'11 downstairs and 6' upstairs, and the Dr Sun Yat-Sen Chinese garden. Maple Square, in Gas Town before finishing up at the Steam clock, which we had seen yesterday. We'd assumed the clock was somehow responsible for the name of the area, but no, it was only built in 1977 and although it steams and pretends to be Big Ben on the quarters it is actually electrically powered. It was actually telling the right time yesterday, though it was a bit fast today. What is more confusing though is that it still whistles on the correct time regardless of what time it is showing!

We'd had a great breakfast in the market hall and then saw these. It's Canada's Eccles Cake. We had one between us and it still took us most of the day to eat it!

We've come back to blog and chill as tomorrow we have a train and a bus to Tsawwassen (yes that is how it's spelt) to get the ferry to Vancouver Island. Collect a car, have a look round and meet the Housesit family before they go away on Friday.

Walking round Sutcliffe Park on Granville Island we saw this very cute Canadian Goose nursery

There is still a cement works on Granville Island, but they have painted the silos to make even that an attractive place

Time for our little boat ride on False Creek towards Chinatown 

Its very cute inside - and driven by a 12 year old!

Coming into our final stop, The Village, by the Science Museum, with its silver dome top that has been decorated on top as a football for the forthcoming world cup with some games held here

Right next to the science museum is the football stadium where some world cup games will be staged

Walking round the Dr Sun-Yat Sen formal Chinese garden in Chinatown

Where a Canada Goose was quietly hatching it's eggs

Welcome to Chinatown 

The building alongside, behind the one with the pink lower half, is the one in the Guinness Book of Records as the thinnest commercial building in the world

Maple Tree Square in the oldest part of Gastown, near to where we are staying

This is a Velocette Vogue motorcycle that was originally manufactured in Hall Green, Birmingham UK. We saw it in an exclusive shoe shop we walked round. They had fabulous shoes costing upwards of £300 a pair. The motorcycle had been owned and rebuilt by an employee and renamed the Fluevocette after the original shop owner John Fluevog. We had not heard of the Velocette Vogue but the company was quite famous, winning several motorcycle races. They closed down in the 1960's

Such is the expansive view from our window, the area with the green roof on the left and trees in front is a zoomed in photo of the Chinese garden we walked round in Chinatown

If you look carefully, you can just see the dome of the Science Museum and the water of False Creek between the high rise buildings. The football stadium is just out of view on the right

And the other way is looking down to the harbour with some of the decorative metalwork on the outside of our building. Look at the narrow ledge on our building. It would be easy to hop over the railing on our little balcony and edge along it to the next room, 39 floors up, just like they do in the movies! See you in Victoria on Vancouver Island, our next stop from tomorrow...

Countdown to Canada: Day -2

The Crown in our village, next to the canal. Probably our closest pub but not our regular, that's the Weighbridge at the next bridge along on the canal. This was our meeting place for our walk with Brian the other Tuesday, up over the fields to Barnt Green

Planning for Canada ramped up considerably, as it is now only two days till we go. We fly to Vancouver, spend a few days there before going to Vancouver Island for a fortnight. Three stops, a housesit in Victoria for two cats for three days, Campbell River and Ucluelet. Up to the Yukon where we have hired a truck camper for a fortnight, so are venturing into the wilds, followed by a fortnight in the Rockies, starting and being based in Calgary with Richelle who we met in Sri Lanka a couple of years ago. The Yukon is very remote, with no cellphone coverage for lots of it, so although it's not that long that we've all been dependent on being 'connected' we have bought a device that will connect to satellites to prompt a rescue should we need it. Now we've got it, hopefully we won't use it.

Brian and Jackie in the middle of a Rapeseed field (they were on a path)

We have also booked a cruise for next year, with Denise and Paul, taking advantage of the 15% discount Fred Olsen offered us for the missed ports on the Northern Lights trip. We haven't been this forward planning since we started travelling!

A pause to look at Birmingham City Centre in the far distance

Tuesday walks (though two of three have been on a Wednesday) have continued. We did a local one with just Brian ending up at the Coach and Horses while John was at work. Last week the four of us, and Keith, went to Bletchley Park which was really interesting. We had been before, but a long time ago so could remember very little. A full day there before returning on the train to New Street where we set off in search of a pub. This wasn't difficult. As we were later in the day, when we hit Alvechurch the Weighbridge was open so it would have been rude to go home without popping in which really wasn't good for the head the following day, but rounded off our day nicely. This week a very gentle day out, to the Coffin Works in Birmingham. Another factory that was locked up and walked away from leaving everything exactly as it was. It made or provided everything except the actual coffin, the handles, the shroud, the embalming fluid, and all the coffin decorations. We obviously asked a lot of questions as the poor guide only had about 10 minutes between us and the next tour, hopefully he managed to get a quick sandwich! We headed up to the Craven Arms, just round the back of the Mailbox, where I used to work, one of the Black Country Pubs chain that we know and love.

Alpacas lazing on a warm afternoon

We've spent a couple of days at Abi's where Brian fitted the bath, toilet and basin unit. Tariq had done most of the plumbing, and will go back to finish off, but it means he doesn't need to mess about with woodwork which is not his favourite. She will finally have a fully functional bathroom for the first time in months. Hurrah.

Our reward at the Coach and Horses in Weatheroak

We've had a fab night out with Helen and Ian, beer, curry, laughs, the usual. A Monday Club curry and another one with Fiona and James. You just never know how easily accessible Indian restaurants are when travelling. In the US the equivalent is Mexican, in Germany it's kebabs and by the sound of it it's Chinese in Canada.

Out with Ian and  Helen on one of several stops

The Monday Club curry threw all my planning out. I knew what was in the freezer and how many meals we needed before I emptied, defrosted and unplugged it! What a trauma, talk about first world problems!

I had to put this photo of the Amaryllis in bloom. Its been in this house for probably 20 years, cared for by Jackie's mum, now Jackie. It's really fabulous

Dentist, physio and opticians for body maintenance. Sadly my new glasses were no good so they are being redone. She thought they might arrive today, but I haven't heard yet, and I'm not sure I'd want to immediately take them away anyway if they are no good. The physio was for a strange referred pain in my knee caused by my hip. She did really well, and gave me exercises so hopefully I'll be ok. It's only uncomfortable and doesn't stop me walking. I've opened the two birthday cards forward planning Fiona, and Elizabeth sent me, thank you.

Next doors  cat at the top of our stairs as our back door was open. She just trots in treating it as her home, which is lovely

The garden is looking lovely but I am really disappointed that the peonies are about to flower, and we are going to miss it. We are finally packed, bus to Heathrow tomorrow and flight on Monday, which appears to be going ahead as scheduled.

Outside the manor house at Bletchley Park with Keith, John, Brian and us. Bletchley Park was the WWII secret spy headquarters where Alan Turing built a machine to break the Nazi Enigma code, shortening the war by at least a couple of years. The D-Day landings, for example, only took place because of the intelligence gained from here

Brian dancing with Jackie in the old ballroom of the manor house. It was full of machines and people during the war

A recreated operations room in the manor house

We'd caught the train back to Birmingham and we're heading to a pub - no wonder everyone has such a smile on their face!

Building a cupboard to fit next to the bath (it's a special one under the window with a door in the front)

Cupboard fitted by bath, toilet and cabinets fitted, it just need the wash basin connected which we've left for Tariq to complete.  At last, a bathroom she can use!

Another Tuesday walk (except its a Wednesday!) with Brian and John, but first, breakfast at Great Central Kitchen

At the fountain in Victoria Square, in front of the beautiful Council House building in Birmingham City Centre

The Iron: Man sculpture outside the Town Hall

Arriving at the Coffin Works museum, Birmingham, the old Newman Brothers works that was closed and left as it was complete with stock, machines, furniture and files.

The old workshop. High up right is an old lineshaft that was driven by a gas turbine engine that powered all the presses. The operator pulled a rope from a pit on the right which raised the ram to punch the component. Very noisy and very dangerous!

Upstairs in the packing department

No-one is very sensible on our days out!

Walking back through Birmingham City Centre. That's the Town Hall right of centre, the Chamberlain memorial spire on the right and the museum and art gallery on the left

Our after walk refreshments, a few beers and cheese cobs in the Craven Arms. Another excellent day out!

And finally a nice photo of our back garden through the arch showing Geraldine the giraffe on the right and Babar the elephant on the left. Designed by Jackie and brought to life by us both