Vancouver, BC

I walked straight down to the harbor this morning to see if everything looks as perfect as what it does from a distance. Unfortunately this is not the case, as both sides of the harbor are lined with numerous industrial ports, which are an eyesore on what could compete with Sydney’s harbor.

I took photos regardless, and then headed to the Harbor Center Tower – Vancouver’s tallest building – which gives a panoramic view of the city. It also gives you a general idea of how far away each of the mapped sights are. I ride up and down in a glass elevator, which is a new scare / thrill.

Northwest Vancouver From Harbor Center Tower

I had lunch just under the tower before walking over to Chinatown. While I was there I was going to go to the Dr Sun Yat-Sen Chinese Garden. It seemed to be split in two. The larger section was free, so obviously in I went. I wasn’t very impressed and skipped the second area.

I continued through Chinatown, into Gastown – Vancouver’s Rocks. This old part of town is full of cafes and tourist shops, and not really much else.

Vancouver Harborside

Earlier in the day I had picked up a brochure for bike rental at the tourist information, so I walked across town to the edge of Stanley Park and hired a pushy. There is a track that runs around the edge of this thousand-acre park, which I rode around. The track takes you around the harbor’s edge, under Lion’s Gate Bridge, out to English Bay and all the way along False Creek before it turns to the south side of False Creek and continues, seemingly, forever. I turned back at the Maritime Museum and headed back over Burrard Bridge. By the time I’d finished I’d covered about 20 kilometers. I took the bike back and tenderly walked home.

Totem Poles In Stanley Park

Bottom Of Totem Pole @ Stanley Park

Lion's Gate Bridge, Vancouver, BC

On the way back to the hostel I stopped for dinner and checked emails.

Once I got back to the hostel I met David (from England), who I’m sharing a room with. We went down to the Fox & Firken on Davie Street for a couple of beers, ending the night not long after 10pm. When we got back to the room we stayed up and talked for hours with our other roommate Philippe (from Quebec).

Victoria, BC to Vancouver, BC

I some how managed to turn my alarm off this morning without knowing it and slept past the time when I was meant to be catching the bus. I caught one at 11am, heading towards Schwartz Bay (an hour’s ride). From here I jumped on the ferry to take me to Tsawwassen. The ferry takes 2 hours and I enjoy the magnificent serene views from the sun-drenched deck. You can see the snow-capped coastal mountains behind the forest and islands all the way. Another 2 buses get me into downtown Vancouver, and at the hostel at 3pm. On the way I ran into Dave (a guy I met briefly at the Violent Femmes last week in Seattle). He tells me the Melvins are playing here Wednesday – so it looks like I’m here for 4 nights.

Passing Ferry On My Way To Vancouver, BC

After I check in I realize that I hadn’t eaten today, so head up to dinner at Denny’s on the corner for a huge meal.

Once I’ve eaten I wander around aimlessly for a while before checking some emails. Vancouver seems like a pretty city, so tomorrow it’s out with the camera. Back at the hostel I sit outside and read. It is really quiet here (maybe everyone’s out), so I will make the most of the relaxation.

Victoria, BC

After a good night’s sleep I rang the Dublin household and spoke to Kern, Marbs and Regs, but I will call back later as they are having a party this evening and more people are due to arrive soon.

I went to a café for breakfast, the same as yesterdays, to work out what to do for the day. It was decided that I’d go to the Royal British Columbia Museum, between the Empress Hotel and the Parliament. And I am so glad I did. Started in the gallery titled “Out Of The Mist” – which provided heaps of the Pacific Northwest Indian art that I love. Unfortunately there is no book that I can find to buy with a good showing of this art. Once again I couldn’t get enough of this art – would love to have a tattoo of it (who knows – one day).

Next was the Natural History Gallery, which gives an indication of what does, and has, lived in the area over the past millions of years. There is also a small exhibit within this one, which is about the ocean. On the next floor was the First People’s Gallery – which showed the history of Native Indians and the effect on them because of the settlement of Europeans. More art and totem poles and a history that seems not dissimilar from the Aboriginies at home. The last exhibit was a Modern History of Canada – from early European settlements onwards. This I whipped through quickly and didn’t really take an interest in.

Just outside the museum is Thunderbird Park. In the park are around fifteen totem poles, which provided me with plenty of photo opportunities.

Thunderbird Park, Victoria, British Columbia

Mungo Martin House, Victoria, British Columbia

I found a phone booth and called the Dublin house again. Things were in full swing and everyone sounded like they were into it. I got to speak to Kern, Luvo, Roberta, JJ, Karla and Bert. It made me wish I were there. It was good to speak to them and I am looking forward to seeing them soon. However, I still have a lot to see in North America.

I don’t know where the day went, but I didn’t get back to the hostel until 6pm. I found a cheap, but average, pizza place around the corner for dinner and then hung out until it got dark.

At 9pm, armed with my camera, I headed out into the streets. Parliament House is beautifully lit; so I go a bit snap happy. I stopped on the way home to watch a busker, who has the crowd enthralled, and get roped into collecting money for him when he throws me his hat at the end of the performance. I got back to the hostel just after 11pm and went straight to bed.

Victoria, BC

Today looks magic – nice, sunny and warm. Because it’s such a great day, I decide that a walk is on the cards.

I walked around the inner harbor and just kept going. I followed the southern coastline for about 4 kilometers and would have kept going, except the map that I had was minimal, and I lost the street that I had started on. Instead of walking back the way I came, I wandered through the suburbs in the hope that it would lead me back into town.

Totem Pole & Parliament House, Victoria, BC

After an hour and a half I came across the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. This was only a small gallery, but still interesting nonetheless. Its two main exhibits were both by locals. Richard Hunt is a native Indian whose art, masks and totem poles occupy 2 rooms. Hunt is a traditional artist who on occasions mixes this with a modern style. He also combines his art with his other passion, golf, with amusing results. CD Hoy was a Chinese immigrant who lived in Victoria during its early years. His photography of local people covers the early 1900’s. It shows the integration of nature, immigrant and English settlers and how people were encouraged to adapt to the English ways.

From the gallery it was about 15 blocks back into town.  My only stop on the way back in was to call Mum and Kel.  Once in town I bought myself a souvenir, a necklace with a pewter orca. It is meant to symbolize strength. I also bought one for Phil, which is to symbolize friendship. This was in return for the watch he gave me.

Victoria’s Parliament Buildings run a half an hour tour through the building, which gives you a rundown of the history of government rule and the building, which is over 100 years old. Their style of government, based on the English model, is virtually identical to that of state government at home.

I got some photos of the surrounding building before heading back to the hostel. Here I met up with two Marks (one from Brisbane, one from Balmain) and we headed to the Keg for dinner and a couple of beers.

When returned to the hostel I rang Amy and spoke to her for near 3 hours. She’s off to Italy tomorrow, so we had to make the most of it.

I did more walking today than I expected, so went to bed relatively early and slept like a log.

Seattle, WA to Victoria, BC, Canada

I was up at the crack of dawn this morning to get to Pier 69 to catch my ferry to Victoria. It’s another cloudy day, and while I originally wanted to sit outside, it was way too cold to do so. I sat with 2 couples from Chicago who were heading to Victoria for day trip. They were good company for the journey, as the predicted spectacular views were cut short because of the inclement weather.

Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC From The Ferry

The boat arrived at 11am and once again I was singled out by customs (at least they were friendly), but maybe I need an image overhaul.

The hostel is a pleasant twenty-minute walk around the harbor, and as soon as I checked in and found my room, I was out again exploring this town. Victoria is a lot bigger than I expected (I was thinking along the lines of Port Townsend again), but what am I to know. I stuck pretty much to the shopping area, just walking east to west and then north to south along about ten streets. The Canadian dollar is a lot more favorable for the traveling Aussie, so I went all out on a nice Chinese lunch. After lunch I crossed the bridge and followed the path along the harbourside – just taking in the view.

By the time I got back to the hostel it was 5pm. I was going to take it easy for the night, and it took all of about 2 minutes to fall in to an hour’s snooze.

I got some dinner and then headed up to the cinema to see Gladiator. This is a great movie. The best part being how Rome would have looked in all its glory (I so badly want to go back). The movie went for 3 hours but it was so good you didn’t even notice.

When I got back to the hostel I checked my emails and had another marathon phone call with Amy. She leaves for Italy on Saturday, so tomorrow will be the last time I talk to her before I see her in person.

The hostel room is the biggest I have ever seen. 48 beds (but broken up into sections of 8).

Seattle, WA

Did my usual cheap doughnut breakfast again this morning before heading up to 2nd and Union Streets to catch bus 174 out to the Museum of Flight. The museum is 20 minutes south of the city on the bus and the last of the city pass tickets I will use (I am leaving tomorrow so I will not get to the zoo). The museum has a number of aircraft on display, ranging from hang gliders to air force fighters to an Apollo exhibit. It wasn’t really my cup of tea, but filled in some time. Typically, the main exhibit, an Air Force One Presidential Plane, was closed for maintenance.

I caught the bus back into town and had some lunch then started to make my way out to the Seattle Asian Art Museum. I walked for about half an hour and then realized I wasn’t event half way there, when I came across a huge outdoors store, REI. I went in and had a look around for a while. They have an indoor climbing wall, which I watched people climb for ages.

Afterwards I headed to the waterfront, where I purchased a ticket for tomorrow to Victoria in British Columbia, Canada. I have no idea what’s there, but a 2 hour ferry ride sounds like a good way to get there, just hope I can get here before the 7am departure.

I went back to the hostel via the Pike Place Markets to again eat my banana roll dinner.

I went back out later that night to take some photos (Pike Place lit up at night, the bands listed at the Showbox where I saw the Rollins Band, and steam coming out of manholes). When I got back to the hostel I rang Amy again and spoke forever. It was over 2 hours we had spoken for and we made many a plan for the near future, like when I come back to see her after she has been to Italy and maybe a cross country trip together.

Seattle, WA

A bit of a sleep in this morning (9.30am is the worst it has been in a while).

After a shower, I walked the block south to the Seattle Art Museum. Here I walked through the two floors, which contained a huge variety of art. On the first floor I particularly liked the Chinese and Japanese rooms, as well as the Pacific Northwest Native American room – I have instantly fallen in love with this type of art. By using very simple shapes and minimal color, these artists are able to project images (usually of animals and their relativity to the human spirit) that is very distinctive. On the next floor there was a Liechtenstein exhibit. Roy Liechtenstein was a leader in the pop-art movement of the 60’s and 70’s. More new art I was exposed to and enjoyed. I also liked the exhibition from the original Seattle Camera Club. Black and white photos from the early 30’s.

I had just enough time to make my way from the art museum down to pioneer place, to join the 1pm Underground Tour. When fire ravaged Seattle in 1889, it was decided to raise the level of the city. Roads were raised by using landfill from the debris of the fire, but sidewalks were covered later and left empty underneath. The 90 minute tour takes us through some of these areas, showing us where shop fronts and homes used to enter into the street, but are now covered by the footpath above. Our tour guide, John, was informative and funny. His detail of the history of the city was very interesting.

John suggested that a look in the Klondike Gold Rush Museum was worth the effort. So after lunch I walked the few blocks in the rain to the museum in Main Street. The museum is run by the National Parks and Wildlife people. Unbelievably I was the only one there. The ranger was more than happy to tell me about the history behind the area. Gold was discovered by prospectors in northwest Canada at the same time as the Depression in the late 1800’s. To get to these fields people had to leave Seattle via boat to the Canadian coast (1000 miles), climb a pass and then make there way some 500 miles down the Yukon River. Seattle boomed economically at this time as boats had to be built to transport the people, supplies were needed, as Canadian authorities demanded that entering prospectors had a years supply of food and clothing, as harsh winters bought shortages. Because 4 train lines lead to Seattle, the city boomed financially from a gold rush 1500 miles away.

I walked around 4th and 5th Avenues before heading back to the hostel for a banana roll dinner. A phone call to Amy lead to an hour and a half chat.

Seattle, WA

Because of the snorers in the room, I didn’t sleep well again last night. I’ll have to get me some earplugs today.

I walked down to the Seattle Art Museum, but it was closed for the day, so instead I went back to the waterfront. Today is more like I expected Seattle to be weather wise ie wet, dreary and not chance of it clearing up. At the waterfront I went to the Aquarium. The Aquarium displays the wildlife of Puget Sound, as well as displays on coral reefs. The highlight of the aquarium was seeing a baby sea otter. Not only had I not seen one before, but also the baby was only 2 weeks old. Its interaction with its mother kept the crowds entertained for hours.

When I came out of the aquarium the Imax next door was playing a movie about Egypt. Because Egypt is one of the places I desperately want to go to, I went in to watch. It was a good movie, with some awesome scenery, which has fuelled my desire to get there as soon as possible.

From the Imax I walked through the city, stopping at Pike Place for a cinnamon doughnut lunch, taking my time, up to the Pacific Science Centre (next to the Space Needle). My city pass ticket included another Imax film, which I went into straight away. This film was a documentary about dolphins, and a good one at that. A lot of the filming was done in the Bahamas, and with only 4 weeks until I’m there I now have a taste for it. Once the film was over I wandered around the Science Centre. It had exhibits on dinosaurs, the body – which tested my weight (OK), strength (good), heart attack and cancer risk (average?!?) and heart rates, stress levels and cholesterol (all OK but could be better), and technology. All up I was there near on 3 hours.

Once again I walked back through the city, to the camera store to pick up some copies of photos from yesterday’s film, and back to the hostel. Rang Amy and spoke to her for 45 minutes. It’s only been 4 days since I left (and 9 since I met her) but I miss her like crazy. I am now planning on going back to Portland once Amy gets back from her trip to Italy, and before I go to the Bahamas.

2 blocks from the Seattle Youth Hostel is the Showbox Theatre and tonight the Rollins Band played.

The support band was an English band called Apartment 26, who are best described as heavy/electro/rock. I thought they were all right, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to see them again.

Rollins Band came on at 10 and were on fire. Henry takes his rock very seriously and intensely. It is hard to see him with that intensity after seeing how funny he is with his spoken word performances. Because the band had a new line up, they only played one old song, “Tearing”. The rest was stuff off Get Some Go Again, the latest album. This was a minor setback, but not enough to mar an awesome show. Bought a tshirt that became my Seattle souvenir.

The Crap Facts

This is my 185th concert.

The Showbox is the 47th venue I've seen a concert.

This is my 2nd concert in Seattle.

This is my 2nd concert in Washington.

This is my 2nd concert in the USA.
Apartment 26 are the 244th band I've seen.
This is my 4th Rollins Band concert.

Seattle, WA

Today was meant to start in Pike Place Market, but it seems that only the fresh food stores are open on Sunday. So Matt and I walk up to Seattle’s Space Needle (their Centrepoint Tower), where I buy a City Pass Ticket, which gets me into Space Needle, The Aquarium, Science Museum, Seattle Art Museum, Flight Museum and the zoo. We go up the 180-metre tower, which gives a great view over the city and Puget Sound.

Me @ Seattle's Space Needle

When we come down we walk along the waterfront, past all the piers and their attractions. We had pizza for lunch – and tried to push all you can eat to new levels. After this Matt left, as he heads back home to San Francisco via Portland. I continue to hang around the waterfront, while waiting for some film to be developed from the wedding. It’s a beautiful afternoon, but too late to start anything, so I enjoy the sun before walking south along the water and then back up First Street to the hostel. Here I rang Amy and spoke for half an hour – I hate that it’s going to be 2 weeks before I see her again. The rest of the evening is spent catching up with my diary and sending emails and working out what to do tomorrow.

Port Townsend, WA to Seattle, WA

We left Port Townsend at 10am this morning and headed to Port Angeles, about 50 miles west of where we are. We arrive at midday and while Matt has his meeting, I’m left to my own devices. The first thing I did was call Amy. How is it after knowing her for less than a week, and leaving her only 2 days ago, I pine for her like nothing else? (Rhetorical – as I already know the answer). We spoke for an hour and would’ve kept going except there were other people wanting to use the phone. The other hour was spent floating around Port Angeles – up and down the main the main street and down by the harbor (a couple of photos for the memory).

I met up with Matt again at 2pm and we headed off to Seattle. To do so we drove back to Port Townsend to catch a ferry across to Keystone (half an hour). We then drove half an hour to Clinton, where another quick ferry got us to Mukilteo. From there it’s an hour’s drive south down the I-5 to Seattle. We got to the hostel at 6pm.

I got everything settled before having a quick bite to eat and deciding on what to do.

We decided to chance our luck and see if we could get tickets to the Violent Femmes at the Moore Theatre . We got tickets from the box office, for about a third of the price as what you would pay in Oz, general admission, walked in, and found seats in the row behind the dance floor – incredible. We got there half way through the support act, El Destroyo, and at 9pm the Femmes came on stage. They started off playing oldschool (“Promise”, “Black Girls” and “Blister In The Sun”, etc for which the crowd went apeshit) for about 40 minutes. Then they played some stuff I didn’t know – I assumed it is from their new album “Freak Magnet”. The band seemed a lot more enthused during the second half of the set, and when the band was joined by the singer’s brother and sister the band looked really ready to rock. Once they played “Old Mother Reagan” both crowd and band were fully pumped. The last part of the gig saw a mix of new and old stuff, which the crowd lapped up. “American Music”, “Add It Up”, “Gone Daddy Gone” and “Freak Magnet”. The band played for 2 hours before doing “Kiss Off” as their encore. I am so glad we went. All that from about five metres away from the band. Went back to the hostel buzzing.

The Crap Facts

This is my 184th concert.

Moore Theater is the 46th venue I've seen a concert in.

Seattle is the 34th city I've seen a concert in.

Washington is the 5th state I've seen a concert in.

The USA is the 3rd country I've seen a concert in.

El Destroyo are the 243rd band I've seen in.

This is my 4th Violent Femmes concert.

Portland, OR to Port Townsend, WA

Matt & I left the hostel at 10am this morning. It’s about a 4 hour drive to Seattle from Portland. We stopped at a Denny’s for lunch on the way. It was my small token of appreciation for the ride north.

We made another stop before heading into Seattle, then heading out to Port Townsend. Matt has a business meeting in nearby Port Angelus in the morning. After that he is coming back to Seattle, so I will tag along for a couple of days. To get to Port Townsend we have to catch a ferry to Bainbridge Island. This 35-minute ferry ride is beautiful. The mountains that surround the Puget Sound are snow capped and huge. Hope the photos turn out OK. Once we reach Bainbridge Island it’s another hours drive before we reach Port Townsend.

Seattle From The Bainbridge Island Ferry

The Port Townsend Hostel is set on an old army base camp and is fairly remote. Once we get our stuff in, we drive into town to have a look around. The main street was as good as closed (it was 6.30pm, so it was to be expected), but we did a lot of window gazing before heading to a pub, Sirens, for a drink.

It’s fairly quiet in town all around, so after a beer we head off in search of dinner. We stop at a Chinese restaurant, Zhang’s Garden, just at the edge of town. Here we manage to eat our way through the world’s worst Chinese food. God it was awful. But food all the same.

We head back to the hostel after dinner for a quiet one. But a peaceful night’s sleep is impossible as there is a snorer in the room.

Portland, OR

Started off today by walking down West Burnside Avenue this morning and through the 2 big record stores there. What I wouldn’t do for more money and room in my backpack. But I controlled myself well and didn’t but anything.

Amy picked me up at the bookstore again today and I went with her to one of her jobs before we went up to Washington Park again to have lunch.

After lunch she dropped me off at the OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry), where she leaves me jaded / down / hammered / in despair, as we are not certain at the moment whether we’ll see each other again. All going well, I’ll come back to visit her once I’ve been to the Bahamas. She is talking of traveling in the near future, so maybe we can do some together. We'll be in touch, that's for sure. The OMSI is not dissimilar to the Powerhouse Museum at home – but aimed more at kids. I wish I’d known that before I went in – but it was still fairly interesting – with exhibits about geology (earthquakes, natural disasters, etc), the body and technology. From here I walked back over the Hawthorne Bridge, through, downtown, and past the hostel and up to the northwest between 21st and 24th Streets. This part of town is full of small, trendy shops, cafes and galleries, not to mention great for people watching (kind of like the Newtown of Portland).

I was back at the hostel by 8pm and spent the evening meeting people (i.e., Jim from Wollongong, Paul from Minnesota and Esau from Vancouver) and catching up on my diary. Dinner was last night’s barbeque leftovers.

Portland, OR

Amy called this morning to say she was working from home and wanted to know if I wanted to hang out. She lives only 5 blocks from the hostel, so I walked over there for the morning. She drove me up to Washington Park where we had lunch surrounded by the beautiful rose gardens. We then drove around the north east of the city, as Amy had do some work in this area.

Amy & I @ Washington Park, Portland, OR

She dropped me downtown so I could do some more sightseeing, which I did until 4pm. I headed back to the hostel as to tidy up as Amy and I are off to the movies tonight.

Two blocks from the hostel is the Mission Theatre that is showing Being John Malkovich for $2. The theatre is an old time classic, and a sight in itself – with its own bar, balcony area, where you could be waited on, and piano (I felt like we should have been watching an old silent movie). The movie was bizarre but hilarious, who could’ve ever come up with a concept like that – it has been a long time since I’ve seen a movie this original. All of this and great company as well.

Because Amy is a Southerner (North Carolina) she insisted that I had to have barbeque. We drove all around northeast Portland until we found Yam Yams – a barbeque diner, where we ate ribs, fried ochre, red beans and sweet potato pie. I ate enough to do me a lifetime and there was still plenty left over. Over the last 2 days I have enjoyed the real American eating experience (mac and cheese yesterday, barbeque tonight). We drove around and talked till late, when Amy dropped me off at the hostel.

Portland, OR

I woke up early this morning to see Kern and Luvo off. They had an 8am flight back to Dublin.

I left the hostel at 9am to start another day of wandering around Portland – no real agenda, just wandering around this cool city.

I met Amy at Powell’s Bookstore at 12pm and we went over to the Hawthorne area to have lunch in a park on the east side of town. The park is on a hill that overlooks Mt Rainier – it’s really weird for me to be in the middle of a city, yet surrounded by snow-capped mountains. We finished lunch at 2pm and drove back downtown.

Amy & I @ Lunch

Amy dropped me off at the Portland Art Museum where I saw the Stroganoff Exhibition. The Stroganoff Family were prolific Russian art collectors around the time of Peter the Great and Catherine the Great. This exhibit is 230 pieces of art, which is normally housed in the Hermitage in St Petersburg, or Russian Museum (and originally from the Stroganoff Palace). It was a bit of a flashback to when I was in Russia. Some of the art looked familiar, while definitely the portraits were of people as I remembered seeing them.

Later that night, in the hostel, I met a guy from King Island, Australia, Matt (who now lives in San Francisco), who will be giving me a lift to Seattle in a couple of days. He sells scuba gear and is heading up to Washington for work. We spent the night hanging out at the hostel.

Portland, OR

Troy and I started wandering around Portland at 10am. The Lonely Planet suggests the east side of the river as an interesting part of town. So we crossed the Hawthorne Bridge to see what we could find. After 15 blocks we gave up and headed north to cross Burnside Bridge back to the Tom McCall Waterfront Park. We hung out here for a while before going to the visitor center to check things out before continuing to roam the streets.

Portland is a real beautiful city. Heaps of trees, not a lot of people – those that are around are quite friendly and helpful.

Got back to the hostel at 4pm to find Luvo had arrived from Jacksonville and Amy had dropped by to see what we were up to for the evening. I rang her and found out that she was holding a tequila party as part of her work and she asked whether we were interested in going. Free tequila – if we must. The promo lasted until we couldn’t take any more margaritas and tequila sunrises. We then kicked on for a small pub crawl around town. Starting at Huber’s, we moved on to Kells and another bar before stumbling back to the hostel at 2am. Not before I walked Amy home.

I think Portland is a city I could live in – if it was a bit warmer.

Too Much To Drink

Amy, Me, TK and Luvvo @ Hubers, Portland, OR

Amy & I @ Hubers