Montag, 19. Januar 2009
French Vanilla
Today, I went to Tim Hortons, the legendary Canadian coffee chain, and ordered a "French Vanilla". I was curious what I'm drinking and asked whether it contained any coffee, but ufortunately, nobody at the counter knew. However, the very friendly lady even went to the back office and the chief finally knew that their drink does contain coffee. And by the way, if you have a sweet tooth, is actually really good.
Sonntag, 18. Januar 2009
Above the fog
After several days with heavy fog in the city we were hoping to escape that by going up to Cypress Mountain on Saturday. We took the early bus together with about three dozen of "Richmond kids" (thats where the bus started) and some staff people who complained to be late for work while we could not believe how early it still was. We were rewarded by bright sunshine just a few miles from downtown. You could even see some skyscapers stick out of the fog.
From the bus I could not possibly take a picture like that myself.
Cypress Mountain is the 2010 Olympic venue for Freestyle skiing and Snowboarding. Passing the Alpine Venue we saw the slope for a Freestyle event. Too many bumps and jumps for me! We decided to start with snowshoeing. At the Nordic area they have very nice snowsho trails with maps every few metres. There were many people on the trails and on the cross-country ski runs but still it was a nature experience walking between ancient trees and on about 2 metres of snow.
Olaf on snowshoes. The snow was quite packed here but we went through the forest a lot and there we needed snowshoes.
Lunch break with other cool snowshoeers.
Last descent to the Hollyburn lodge.
Nordic ski area on Cypress Mountain. We will come back!
From the bus I could not possibly take a picture like that myself.
Cypress Mountain is the 2010 Olympic venue for Freestyle skiing and Snowboarding. Passing the Alpine Venue we saw the slope for a Freestyle event. Too many bumps and jumps for me! We decided to start with snowshoeing. At the Nordic area they have very nice snowsho trails with maps every few metres. There were many people on the trails and on the cross-country ski runs but still it was a nature experience walking between ancient trees and on about 2 metres of snow.
Olaf on snowshoes. The snow was quite packed here but we went through the forest a lot and there we needed snowshoes.
Lunch break with other cool snowshoeers.
Last descent to the Hollyburn lodge.
Nordic ski area on Cypress Mountain. We will come back!
Gang Violence at New Year's Eve
Don't worry - we didn't get involved into gang violence but that's the name of a local music band...
New Year's Eve, we had spent with Anja (out of Brackenheim Blog) and Rabea, first cooking at our appartment. Later, we went to the "Emergency Room VS Icecream Social" party at Biltmore Cabaret. Emergeny Room is the probably hottest music label in Vancouver and they presented the band "Gang Violence", who played pretty loud noisy music.
In contrast, Icecream Social is a party DJ playing 50s and 60s music, famous four his great parties and many guests had dressed up with pettycoats and similar clothes. If you think, these two music directions don't get along, well, it was interesting, but somehow, it fits. Or, as Anja said, it was a "Potpourri, ein bunter Strauss an Melodien".
Photos: Steve Louie Photography @ Flickr
Freitag, 16. Januar 2009
Donnerstag, 8. Januar 2009
Dienstag, 6. Januar 2009
Tofino Time
When we were thinking about getting out of the city for a few days after the holidays we were soon thinking of Tofino as the perfect getaway. We were already amazed by its beauty and tranquility on our first visit 2 years ago.
Tofino is a small intimate town at the end end of the Trans Canada Highway on Vancouver Island. It's where the ancient rain forest meets the Pacific Ocean. Yes it rains a lot here, but when it gets too cold to rain it will snow. For the local surfers neither rain nor snow nor temperatures just above 0° C are a reason not to go surfing if there are big enough waves. We had it all in 3 days. Beautiful sunshine and sunset, rain and hours of snowing. We were glad to spend the time when it was snowing at the cosy fireplace of our hostel reading and drinking hot beverages.
2 surfers and their dog
surfer on bike
Who said surfers don't drink beer?
Tofino is a small intimate town at the end end of the Trans Canada Highway on Vancouver Island. It's where the ancient rain forest meets the Pacific Ocean. Yes it rains a lot here, but when it gets too cold to rain it will snow. For the local surfers neither rain nor snow nor temperatures just above 0° C are a reason not to go surfing if there are big enough waves. We had it all in 3 days. Beautiful sunshine and sunset, rain and hours of snowing. We were glad to spend the time when it was snowing at the cosy fireplace of our hostel reading and drinking hot beverages.
2 surfers and their dog
surfer on bike
Who said surfers don't drink beer?
Donnerstag, 1. Januar 2009
Everything's Gone Green
Vancouver's famous and usually great writer Douglas Coupland (Generation X has been the best description of a whole (maybe my?) generation) has not only written books, but he also wrote the script for a movie with lots of insiders about Vancouver:
Everything's Gone Green is a 2006 Canadian comedy film starring Paulo Costanzo, directed by Paul Fox and written by Douglas Coupland. This movie, Coupland's first screenplay, won the award for best Canadian feature film at 2006’s Vancouver International Film Festival (Wikipedia).
Well, I was a bit disappointed about the rather predictable story and some of the best jokes Coupland had used in JPod already, but still, you get lots to see of and laugh about Vancouver.
Abonnieren
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