A-Team film set

Yesterday on the way to the Circle Craft christmas show I had to get of the bus one stop earlier because the street was closed for a movie set. Nothing special in Vancouver but still I am always curious and walked by to find out what was going on. There was not much to see but when I walked by I noticed a sign on the buildung "Königsbank" and got a bit suspicious! I asked a guy who seemed to be working there which movie they were filming and he said "A-Team, the movie" which is supposed to come to the theatre next summer. I asked about the sign too and he said the scene is playing in Germany or Austria. Later I also noticed all the German licence plates on the cars standing around. There are also some bad guyes played by Germans as the crew member told me (what a surprise) and they even had someone to rope down from the building. I guess it must be playing in Frankfurt, where else do you have skyscrapers like that in Germany or Austria? On a Taxi it said Berlin, but the other licence plates were from all over, even some swiss ones.

I found this movie on youtube:


Kind of funny to see German police cars in downtown Vancouver!

A-Team crew member with coffee in front of the Königsbank (which is usually Blenz coffee :-)
Below: German Taxi in front of Königsbank with sticker saying something about gyms in Berlin! and Canadian no parking sign!

Swiss licence plate on a downtown Vancouver Street!

Fall images

 

 

Portland

This past weekend was Canadian Thanksgiving and Monday was a holiday. We decided it would be a nice long weekend to take the Amtrak Cascades south to Portland, Oregon. The train takes eight hours and it is a very scenic ride along the Northwest Coast and the Cascade Mountains. Seattle is about halfway and also Bellingham and Everett seam to be interesting places. For the direct train we had to be at the train station just after six in the morning and just about managed to do all the bureaucratic stuff and security checks before the train left at 6:40 am. We enjoyed the ride towards the border with all the bridges over the Fraser river and also the clear view of the coast was great. We saw shipwrecks, container ships and lots of fishermen.


Pearl District




Delicious Tuna at Bay 13

In Portland we walked to our hotel in bright sunshine, quickly refreshed and headed out again to check out the city. We took the Portland Streetcar which has a Fareless Square that covers most of the area that was interesting to us. The Portland Streetcar is the first new streetcar system in the US since World War II to use modern vehicles. They are similar to Swiss trams but were build in the Czech Republic and shipped to Portland complete.




Portland at night

In the Pearl District we explored the streets with old warehouses and industrial charme. We found a stylish seafood restaurant and I had some amazing tuna while Olaf went for the steak. We wandered around the Pearl District a little more and went to another cafe for coffee and dessert. It was getting cold and we still had some time to kill before the concert started, that we wanted to check out. The concert was alright but it was even more intersting to watch the Portland cultural scene and try some of Oregons microbrewed beers.


Indian Corn at the Farmers Market

On Saturday we alreday knew we would check out the Farmers market at the University since it was recommended to us by Kristi and Ben when they were in Portland two weeks before. After trying a few things we bought German style bread, rawmilk cheese and pesto for breakfst and some apples for a snack. We walked around some more, went to a crafts market at the waterf ront and when we were getting tired we went to Wordstock mexican restarant just across from the, a bookfair, and listed to some readings and discussions. For dinner we took another advice from Kristi and went to the Bailey's Taproom were you can have 20 different, changing constantly local beers from microbreweries. The torta and Enchilada were a good basis for the beer and the athmosphere was relaxed but vital.


Olaf in th City of books


Powell's books

An Sunday we met with an old "virtual" friend of Olaf, Claudia and her husband Stephen. She is German and has been living in Portland for ten years and plans to stay. We went for brunch and had a great time talking about all kinds of things even though we just met. They also showed us around the North West of Portland and 23rd street with its nice shops and cafés. We enjoyed staying at the Ace Hotel for the last night, a design hotel with each room different. Our room had a graffiti like slogan on the wall and a working record player with over ten records. We enjoyed listening to music instead of the TV and the restaurant next door served excellent past as well.


Our room at tha Ace Hotel



Monday morning we still had some time to walk around downtown and the Pearl district, went to Powell's books again and got ready for the long train ride. Unfortunately the ride back was really fatigable. We had a delay of almost an hour and when we were finally in Vancouver there was still a lot of waiting and the customs check, when all you want is go home. Riding the train in North America is really different than in Europe. There are people on the road waving or taking pictures, as if they had never seen a train before and the peole on the train also act like its their first train ride ever. The things we like about riding a train are that you can read and enjoy the landscape. European trains are much more quiet though, while the Amtrak Cascades is constantly squeaking and blowing the horn for cars and pedestrians to watch out at crossings. Also there is a lot of waiting at Signals when cargo trains is coming through and even the Skytrain is faster while riding through Vancouver. We chose the train because we don't like driving long distances and it was cheap but next time we will consider a different transportation. There is still a lot to do until we can confidently recommend others taking the Amtrak for such a long ride. I know, we are spoiled from the trains in Germany and Switzerland but now we can appreciate them much more agian.

Farmers Market

The Kitsilano Farmers market is our weekly Sunday market during summer months until the end of october. I anxiously waited for it to start in June because I had heard only good about it and simply because I love food markets! To tell you the truth all the Vancouver farmers markets are nothing to write home about since we have plenty of great markets in Europe. In Vancouver we have at least the Public market on Granville Island which is unique in its own way. If you don't want to end up buying at Safeway you can buy good fruit and vegetables at your local Apple Farm Market, a usually chinese managed market of everything, they have seasonal fruit and vegetable but not necessarily organic. At Whole Foods Market you get great products for double the price then anywhere else, IGA isn't bad either but to me nothing beats an open air market in the summer. First I take a look at all the market stands and see whats in season and who is selling what. On the way back I try not to spend all my cash but still at the end can barely afford a coffee :-)








2009: a good year for blueberries and blackberries

Chinese Night Market

Finally we made it to the Richmond Nightmarket. A chinese or asian style Night Market in the industrial area of Richmond (close to Ikea and Home Depot). After having visited the Chinatown Nightmarket we were positively surprised how big and well visited the market is. Although there is nothing to buy (except food) that you even would want, you end up taking stuff home (little robot figure and gute tin). The food section is probably as close as an asian experience outside of Asia can get. We tried several things: Vietnamese summer rolls, bbq lamb, curry fish balls, Bubble Tea, Vietnamese Cocktail and Sweet and Sour Soup. Everything was really good and fresh and the prices were great to try a few little things.




Very artistic version of fries (chinese instead of french)


First time Bubble Tea: an unforgettable experience


Feeling like in downtown Hanoi or Hong Kong?


Happy market visitors

Tofino Beach Impressions

Sanddollar on Chestermann Beach


Sanddollars on driftwood


Sandpattern at low tide


Kelp


Tofino mudflats

friends visiting and sunshine coast part2

We had more visitors from home the other week. After hiking the West Coast Trail we met Metke and Bianca on Salt Spring Island. We then continued to travel to the Sunshine Coast after a few ferry sails and spent a day in Robert's Creek.


Pod of Orcas seen from the ferry to Salt Spring Island


Luckily Olaf got these shots while I was way too busy watching them with binoculars and without. I even missed one spy hopping because there were so many and so much to watch.


Enjoying the evening sun on BC Feries


BC Ferries fries after dawn


Kayaking in Porpoise Bay


We did not see and porpoise but hundreds of starfish in various colours and sizes with 5 legs or up to 12 legs. We also saw lots of jellyfish, crabs and sea cucumbers from the kayak as well as a few seals that were curious and stuck out their heads.




Bianca was brave anough to touch a little starfish

Friends visiting and Sunshine Coast part1

Dagmar and Wolfgang, friends from Berlin and Hanover, came to visit us this summer. They first went camping on Vancouver Island with Astrid, another friend from Berlin, and spent their last week with us exploring Vancouver and the Sunshine Coast.


First we introduced them to good canadian beer, especially Pale Ale, from microbreweries like Granville Island brewery and Okanagan Spring.


We were very fortunate to be able to stay in Duncans house in Robert's Creek at the Sunshine Coast for three days (Thank you so much Duncan and Denise). We made good use of the open and well equipped kitchen, played Carcassonne and enjoyed waking up with a terrific view of the forest.




Pender Hill with a scenic view after a half hour hike through Arbutus trees.




We took our barbeque and groceries down to the beach and make beef and buffalo burger "all you can eat". When we ran out of burger buns we improvided with toast. Another good thing about a remote place like the Robert's Creek beach is, that you can drink beer in public without beeing disturbed by the police as it can happen at Kits beach in Vancouver.


The twilight athmosphere on the ferry back to Roberts Creek after a day of exploring was wonderful despite the chilly wind.






Not minding the rain on the next morning we had to take care of the almost 5 pounds of blackberries we had picked the day before. We decided to make scones and cook jam with the rest. The result were 6 glasses of jam and yummy scones for us and the hosts.


Back in Vancouver we went to our favourite next door Sushi place "Kibune" for delicious sashimi and maki.