A view of the skyscrapers near the Vancouver BC Coast Coal Harbor Hotel as we head out just after 7 AM to find coffee and a light breakfast.

A view from outside the downtown 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters.  The coffee shop was near our hotel and with excellent coffee and bread/pastry choices.  (Photo by Linda.)

IAs mentioned in yesterday’s blog post, the elevators in our hotel required our key card to access the floors various floors.  Not just the penthouse floors, but all of them.

I don’t recall what floor our hotel room was on; it was not the top floor (20), but it was fairly high up.  This is a panorama from the floor-to-ceiling window facing roughly south to slightly southwest.  Linda picked this hotel because it was a) close (walking distance) to the downtown train station and cruise port (Port of Vancouver), and b) not too expensive for its location.  It proved to be a nice hotel and a great location.

Our first destination today was Stanley Park, one of the “must see” things to do in Vancouver.  Located on the peninsula northwest of downtown Vancouver, it was walking distance from the hotel, but also accessible via the hop-on / hop-off bus.  This is a view from the park looking back towards downtown.

Linda photographed this map signboard to help us navigate this rather large (1,000 acres) park.  (Better/digital maps are available online from the City of Vancouver.)  The park was very green, with large trees and wonderful flower beds.  It is one of the premiere urban parks in North America and is a west coast rainforest ecosystem.  It has 17 miles of pathways and a 5.4-mile-long seawall.  It lived up to its billing, and was a wonderful place to spend a few hours and get in some “steps.”  (Photo by Linda.)

One of the highlights of Stanley Park are the authentic Totem Poles.

Another view of the Totem Poles in Stanley Park.  (Photo by Linda.)

Linda stands by the base of very large tree for scale.  Stanley Park is a west coast rainforest and has approximately 500,000 trees, many coniferous (Red Cedar, Hemlock, and Douglass Fir).  Although heavily logged in the late 1800’s, some of the trees are hundreds of years old, with the largest trees standing 249 feet tall.

The trees in Stanley Park are not all green.  There were scenes like this all along our walk through the park.

The flowering plants and shrubs throughout the park were also wonderful.

Another example of the beautiful flowering plants found along the paths.

The entrance to the Granville Island Public Market area.  From Wikipedia and Trip Advisor (via Bing):  “Granville Island is a peninsula and shopping district in the Fairview neighborhood of Vancouver, BC (Canada) across False Creek from Downtown.  Formerly industrial, today it is a posh artsy neighborhood filled with shops, eateries, breweries, and the Granville Island Public Market.  Arts and culture festivals are hosted here year-round.”  It was charming, and popular.

This photo of a street in the market area of Granville Island does not do justice to the place or how busy it was.  The Public Market was extensive, with lots of interesting vendors, but it was bustling with people, so we did not get a usable photo of the inside.

Our hop-on/hop-off tickets included access to the small ferries that go to various docks on False Creek.

We visited the Maritime Museum.  This is a view looking back towards downtown.

A panorama from the same vantage point.  Mountains surround the Vancouver metro area.  They are visible here, but often did not show up in our photos as the weather was hazy.  (Photo by Linda.)

Another view of skyscrapers (they are everywhere) from the ferry before landing at the Plaza of Nations dock and resuming on explorations by bus.

You have got to love a plant-based pizza and ice cream place named “Virtuous Pie.”  Being located in Vancouver’s Chinatown district was a bonus.  At least one source claimed it was the best pizza in North America.  We haven’t eaten every pizza in N.A., so we can not substantiate that claim but our meal, pictured here, was absolutely delicious.  Really good vegan pizza is not easy to make, but our pies were top shelf and their plant-based ice cream was also outstanding.

What you are looking at here is a steam-powered mechanical clock with four clock faces and most of the workings visible.  From AtlasObscura (paraphrased):  The clock is located in the Gastown district (central Vancouver), the city’s original/oldest neighborhood.  Vancouver has a central heating system that supplies steam heat to much of the city’s core, and the clock gets its steam from that system.

Another view of the steam clock, located in the 300 block of Water Street.  It was built in 1977 and sits atop one of the steam vents for the central heating system.  It is one of only a few functioning steam clocks in the world and is a “must-see” attraction, so we did.  There was a small crowd there along with us, which apparently is always the case, and the clock did not disappoint.  I actually shot a video with sound, but I am not posting it here (too many megabytes).

A composite image of the Disney Cruise Line ship WONDER as it departs the Port of Vancouver BC.  The large building center-left is the Vancouver Convention Center West.

The Canada Place portion of the Port of Vancouver BC Cruise Port Terminal.  The design of this port/terminal is suggestive of a ship, and allows the public to get an up-close view of docked cruise ships and watch them sail away and dock.  There is no admission charge as there are shops in the complex.

Looking west from Canada Place towards the Vancouver Convention Center West, the objects in the water to the right of the Convention Center are seaplanes.  These are not something we see very often where we live, but there were quite a few of them here, and we often saw them taking off or landing.

A view from the Canada Place portion of the Vancouver Cruise Port.  The Viking Cruise Line ship ORION is docked to the right.  As shown here, the public can get a very close-up look at the ship.