Spring weekend

Xmas lounges

Walking through our neighbourhood, I already had noticed the specific style of apartment buildings, all with very representative lounges. Especially now at Christmas time, they are worth a look, so follow me through a short virtual walk through Kits.






In contrast, the last picture doesn't show an apartment lounge but an abandoned shopping trolley as it is used by the many thousand homeless, collecting deposit and other recycable garbage. Maybe, he or she couldn't get it through the raising snow anymore, nobody knows.

The whitest Christmas

We are not snowed in, we have power, we have enough food! The only thing missing are a few christmas presents and cards that still did not make it to our place :-( The road conditions require at least winter tires if not a 4-wheel drive and even Canada post seems to be overextended by 30 cm of snow.

We love the snow and look forward to the next snowfall anounced. Isn't it great to wake up at night and look out, hoping more than anything to see snow falling? Hearing the sound of nothing outside is amazing. The snow is like a blanket that takes away all sounds. It makes you feel like you are 10 again and want to go outside to sled down the hills for hours until you can't feel your hands and feet and then come home to a huge pot of hot chocolate.


View towards downtown from West 2nd Avenue


Robert's Creek cohousing

click on the image und you get an enlarged version!

Yes, this is the view from our roof on a bright perfect day like today was. I had to climb up the neighbours roof though to get the best view. Luckily the weren't home otherwise I might have had a chance to finally meet them, since we have only seen light but no people there.

I went on a bike trip east today and had to stop several times to take photos between the building because the view on downtown and the mountains (with a bit of snow) was so impressive.

Tuesday is Bagel Day (and Heroes Day)

Every Tuesday I go to get one dozen of freshly baked Bagels from Siegel Bagels, probably the Best Bagel place in town. They are only $7.50 on Tuesdays.
A Bagel is a ring of bread first boiled in water and then baked. At Siegel Bagel you can get them topped with sesame seeds, poppy seeds or caraway - with whole wheat flour, blueberrys inside or even pumpernickel bread just to name a few varieties.
I was first introduced to Bagels by my host family in rural Maryville, Missouri in 1991. They were originally from Long Island close to New York which is where the Bagel was brought to by the Jewish immigrants and is until today the most important Bagel City in the world.
P.S. Tuesday is also the day we can watch the full new episode of "Heroes" on the Net!

Advent season in Vancouver

Freshly shopped christmas tree on the way home


What looks like christmas decoration is really a gas station (Petro Canada)


West 4th Avenue an sunset

New appartment

This is how our new appartment looks like now. We have a littel balcony and a terrace and its really light as you can see. Now we have twelve days left to prepare whatever is necessary so we can actually live there! Donations are welcome!!!

running at the beach

No, I am definitely NOT going to practise for the Vancouver Marathon (May 3rd 2009). I just thought since I live right at the beach with great running possibilities and other joggers running by our house the whole day its about time to start too. I bought professional running shoes and after two or three times overthinking this morning I went for the first run at the Kits Beach Park and Vanier Park. Its a beautiful scenery along the beach and the downtown skyline. Of course I am out of shape and the other runners passed me constantly. Still it felt good and I kept going and going for over half an hour. If I get over my "Schweinehund" again, this might be the beginning of a new aera!


Map: greatervancouverparks.com

Today is the first really bright sunny day since I got here almost a week ago. Its cold and windy but really nice. So I went to the beach for a walk:


Our neighbourhood, two blocks from the beach


Group of jogging mothers at Kitsilano Beach (10:30 am)


Downtown Skyline seen from Point Grey

Ankommen in Vancouver

Dagmar und ich sind gut in Vancouver angekommen und nun dabei, uns hier einzuleben. Noch fühlt es sich wie Urlaub an – wahrscheinlich werden wir erst um Weihnachten herum realisieren, dass wir vorerst hier leben. Auf jeden Fall sind wir gut gestartet und es gefällt uns sehr. Unsere jetzige Wohnung ist sehr schön und wir haben eine noch schönere Wohnung für die Zeit danach gefunden. Beide Wohnungen befinden sich in Kitsilano, einem Stadtteil zwischen Downtown und Universität, mit Strand und bekannt als frühere Hippie-Hochburg – für Stadtplaner: heute ist Kits stark gentrifiziert und hat eine ähnliche hohe Dichte an ultahippen Babyshops, Yogakursen, Joggern, Latte-Macchiato-Junkies und dekorativen Hunden in Wolldecke wie Zürich, Berlin Prenzlauer Berg oder Hamburg Eppendorf. Aber schön ist's trotzdem! ;-)

An neuen Modetrends ist uns als erstes aufgefallen, dass fast alle jungen Frauen Gummistiefel in bunten Farben tragen. Sieht nicht nur gut aus, sondern scheint mir eine Notwendigkeit zu sein, da der Dauerregen selbst meine Wanderschuhe durchweicht hat. Wir haben auch schon einige nette Leute getroffen, wobei es uns zugute kommt, dass wir schon drei Vancouverites kennen und darüber hinaus zwei Freundinnen aus Hamburg auch seit August hier sind. Auch die Kanadier auf der Strasse oder im Bus sind sehr offen und nett, es herrscht eine lockere und entspannte Atmosphäre.


Downtown Vancouver an einem verregneten "Rememberance Day"


Pancakes all you can eat im Café Zen


Kitsilano Beach und die Bucht von Vancouver