Summer vacation - Vancouver

First thing in the morning and we're at the train station. What's funny is, we get into this line...

and then we find out that we needed to actually check in our luggage and get our passports checked. And then, back into the line that is sooooooo long now. LOL!

Thankfully, we manage to find a table that seats 4:

I wonder what those arrows mean?!

Except we are on the wrong side of the window/train - not the scenic side:

Just trees most of the time:

Ocean is on the other side of the train!

Ah, missed a mural:

Supposedly, this is where IKEA gets all their sawdust from!

Tired daddy and Charlie:

Looks like Graham is out too! 

The train ride took about 4 hours, not too shabby!

Except... now what? No rental car - again. LOL!

Welcome to Vancouver train station!

Bob sent us in an Uber and he went to pick up the rental car. Interesting images along the way:

This was by the entrance of the hotel.  How interesting!

Found a cafe not far from the hotel.  YUMMM!!!

FIFA is also in town! We seem to be following it as we go along on this vacation. Too funny!

Tank!

We actually wanted to eat in Chinatown, but O.M.G, could not believe the homeless situation there. It was shocking! Almost can't unsee what everyone in the car saw that day.  We kept driving on and ended up in Gastown, where there's actually a steam-run clock!

How cool is this!

Here's the description of the clock.  I've never seen anything like this before:

Graham was obviously fascinated by it. Who wouldn't be!

Part of the inner workings of the clock:

We had a nice relaxing dinner at the end of Gastown:

Too bad my favorite store (Desigual) is closed by now!

I made Charlie stand by this moose for a photo.  I told him I really wanted a photo by one of these Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and looks like this was as close as I was going to get :-) 

Back at the hotel... so many different bins for recycling!

I wonder if I'll ever get a chance to do a mural THIS big one day??!

The next day, The boys and I are out and about while Daddy is working in the room. I love how wide these pathways are for walkers and cyclists!

I'm glad the paths are wide because it's rather high on the bridge!

We were suppose to take some sort of little boat to the island but somehow ended up at the top of the bridge. My navigation skills are not what they used to be. LOL!

Great photo op of the boys though. They are getting so big now:

Looks like we can get to the US border in that direction :-)

I love the Native Canadian art!

That's a lot of bicycles!

We finally made it to Granville Island!

Ooooh, we should have had our lunch here!

These boys will always still be little boys at heart:

Omg, how cute is that bag!

And this puffer-fish teapot - adorable!

So much to see and eat at this market.  Look at all the fresh pasta:

Okay, this time we are taking the little boat across to the other side. Not walking over that tall/huge bridge again!

Happy :-)

Ps, new hat for me and Graham bought a new Lego-like car to put together.  Surprisingly, nothing for Charlie:

Didn't take long for Graham to get busy with his new purchase:

We weren't sure exactly where to venture, so we took the car and drove out across the Lions Gate Bridge - so much traffic!

We found our way to the Lonsdale Quay.  Here's the Polygon Gallery:

It's a seaplane!

Graham still at it - taking photos:

We find our way to an Italian restaurant.  Look at all that prosciutto!

Here was the special of the day at 50% off - which was still over $100!  

Bisteca alla Fiorentina, which according to Bob - is a special cow that's white in color in Italy.

YUM! Everyone thoroughly enjoyed this meal tonight!  Followed by dessert at the food court downstairs.  These boys love their sweeets!

Okay... this was pretty funny.  Based on Life360, we seem to just be scattered all over the map! LOL!!

So far so good in Vancouver.  Can't believe we're already halfway through our vacation!