McPlassmann Honeymoon

So we left San Fran and I'm now shopped out. Vancouver has this street called Robson St and Hester now has many bags and I am the jacket carrier.

Money has been spent - not by me tho... haha!

Anyway so we left San Fran and went through American passport control and customs - it seems Hester looks more like a terrorist than me after all! She got selected (maybe she is a crazy german, who knows) to go through "special screening", where she had to stand in this booth thing and get sprayed by jets of air. Weird Yanks. She says, she didn't scream, but I think that was only at the request of the guy at passport control... I got in trouble because I tried to take her bag and shoes and he thought I was some miscreant trying to steal them! Yes I had a 4 day growth.

United Airlines was only a 2-hr flight, but possibly some of the most amateurish service I've ever received on an airline. The flight attendants sadly don't stack up next to the Virgin blondes we get in Oz.

Canada has been a pleasant change from the airport right through to today - customs was easy, they were friendly and Vancouver is a fantastic, laid back city with friendly ppl, plenty of nice coffee shops, shopping and dining. A bit of a change from ol' San Francisco - not that we disliked San Fran, but it's nice to walk down the street without feeling like you have to protect your wallet or constantly get a cup shaken at you asking for spare change. Not that I know what the various coins are in the states yet - they still have $1 notes!! A bit backward?

Today we went up to Grouse Mtn which sits right at the foot of Vancouver, so only a short trip across the harbour in a "SeaBus" then a "RoadBus" up the mountain - where we then got on a "AirTram" - otherwise known as a gondola to the rest of the world.

The view is spectacular, and guess what - it was snowing! Ppl were still skiing and it seems it was the penultimate day of the ski season, so there were plenty of ppl still around. It was only zero degrees, so not too cold really.

We only have today as our full day in Vancouver, which is a bit of a shame, because it seems there's much to do here. There is a great cozy coffee shop just down from our hotel that seems popular with the students - our area we are staying seems great. There was a big ice hockey game on here last night - playoffs between the Dallas Stars and the Vancouver Canucks - everywhere has "GO CANUCKS GO" on it - pretty good atmosphere, tho they lost last night.

So tomorrow we're off to collect our car, attempt to stay on the right, no, left side of the road (I've just been told it's the right, so I hope I'm not the one driving) and drive inland, towards Kelowna, Banff and Calgary. I hope we don't hit any moose.

Till next time!

Hesti and Craig