Exploring a Bit of Vancouver

Thursday morning was rainy, off and on, but we set out about 10:15 to explore the area near the hotel.  We walked to the Gastown neighborhood, an historic area filled with Victorian buildings that now house restaurants, shops, and galleries. On the way there, we couldn't pass up this photo op.

 Just inside the door of this shop was this adorable moose -- which I felt Sydney HAD to see.

As I mentioned yesterday, it's definitely Fall here. This gingko tree caught my eye, just starting to turn gold.

The main street in Gastown is lined with colorful hanging baskets.

Just before 11:00, we got to  the famous steam-powered clock, where a crowd was forming.  Here's a video:

And here's the explanatory plaque:

This building caught our eye. It's now called the Hotel Europe and provides low-cost housing and business spaces.  

For lunch, we walked from the ground floor of the hotel down to a tunnel that took us into a huge underground food court.  After a spirited, um, discussion of where we were going to eat, THIS part of we decided it was going to be elsewhere. We ended up in the Arc, the restaurant in the Fairmont across from our hotel.  Another faithful blog reader (with the initials PET) challenged me to post photos of EVERY meal on our trip. I doubt I'll meet that challenge, but here are our lunch choices.

Charlie's seafood chowder and side salad

Tricia's grilled Fontina cheese with frites (so good!)

We continue to enjoy the view from our hotel room, especially watching all the floatplanes coming and going every few minutes.  So far, we haven't managed a good video of them taking off or landing, but we'll try again. Here's a photo of some planes parked outside the convention center next to the hotel.

We were also surprised to see a Chevron station in the middle of the bay. Boats and tankers stopped by periodically.

For dinner, we walked six or seven blocks UPHILL to Hawksworth. We enjoyed very good old-fashioneds, as well as their sundried tomato and green olive foccacia to start. 

Alas, my order of braised pork cheeks with smoked chilies and pinto beans was not good. The meat was tough and the beans were undercooked.  The restaurant was very dark, and the dish itself wasn't attractive, but here's a pic!

Our server insisted I tell him why I didn't eat more than a few bites and assured me he'd inform the kitchen staff. He also comped that dish and offered us free desserts. Charlie did much better, enjoying first some tempura oysters, then braised pork collar with scallops, served with shredded apple and snap peas. He also ordered bok choy.

We decided against dessert and enjoyed the stroll DOWNHILL to the hotel. We went up to the Pacific Club for dessert. Here were the mini desserts on offer:

I tried the lemon cheesecake and the cherry tart -- both were delicious! The tart filling was pastry cream studded with cherries.  I'll try to remember to get a photo of the cookie and candy bar on Friday.

We have one more day here before boarding the ship on Saturday around noon.