Vancouver Sunburn!

So here I am sitting in a little hostel called ‘Turtle Hostel’ in Victoria, Vancouver Island. Arriving in Vancouver last Friday was possibly the most exciting but the must terrifying thing that I have ever done. Luckily there was a girl, Kelly, on the bus who was in the same situation, going to the same hostel and looking for someone to talk to as well.

So off we trotted to the HI Central Vancouver hostel. As I opened up the door to my dorm this girl just randomly turns and looks at me. What can I do apart from say hi and then try and settle myself? Top bunk – never fun!

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with the showers. I think I have prepared myself for the worst so I was relieved to see that there were no smears on the walls and no gremlins in the toilet. However, working the shower seemed to be a mission in itself. Whatever happened to just turning it hot and cold? Later I found out that I had to pull it, twist it, do this and that – how complicated can a shower be?

So Vancouver city itself. There’s something quiet spectacular about seeing a built up city sky line, set against picturesque mountains and beautiful ports. A short distance from the buzz of Granville Street is the peaceful port where you can watch the world go by.

Stanley Park is a must. We were determined to find the aquarium, with the baby whale, and the totem poles. You would think that this would be easy – look on the map and walk towards it. No, three hours later we discovered that we had actually been walking in the wrong direction and had passed three beaches (yes beaches in the city – get your head around that!). So we trekked back to the start and the lovely volunteer guy gave us directions. Great half hour away – oh no we walked at least another hour until we eventually found the shuttle bus that runs you around the park and saw everything we wanted to see.

The park is beautiful, with lakes, beaches, forests and so much to take in. Just remember the sun screen as I’m not walking around with arms like a cooked lobster. Why is it that we only associate sun screen with tropical climates?

So to see the sights yesterday we jumped on a sight seeing bus. Oh the amount of times I’ve looked at people in London on those buses and wondered why the hell they are on one. Really this bus was a glorified taxi, but we got to go to Granville Island. Again amazing views of the water and a great tourist style atmosphere with amazing street entertainers and massive food markets.

So there’s a short (as short as I could get it) run down of Vancouver. I hopped on a ferry this morning, so I’ll let you know the ins and outs of Victoria.