Travelog for: Ollie_Marmot

Today I went to work with Abby's mom.  She works for the association that regulates and licenses architects in BC, so she knows a lot about some of the more historic parts of Vancouver.

I spent the morning checking out this model.  It was designed by a man who is a former professor of architecture at the University of British Columbia.  Abby's mom said that he's now retired and living his days as an actor/playwrite.


I also got to meet Abby's mom's lucky rat.  It was given to her by one of the people who works for her on Chinese New Year this year, because this is the yearof the rat.


On her lunch break, Abby's mom took me to see Chinatown.

These banners mark the first pedestrian walk connecting downtown Vancouver to Chinatown.


This gate marks the main entrance of Chinatown.  It is not old at all, in fact it was designed and built to commemorate the new millennium.  It was formally opened in 2002 and is called the Gate of Thousands' Happiness.




There are two of these lions, one on each side of the gate.  They are protectors of the gate and each has a concrete ball in its mouth to symbolize prosperity.




This bell, called the West Han Dynasty Bell, is in Chinatown to commemorate Chinese history in Vancouver and marks the first Chinese settlement in the area.  It was a gift from Vancouver's sister city, Guangzhou in China, and it was modelled after a bell found in Guangzhou.




This next building is the world's thinnest building.  It was built by a man known to Vancouverites as Sam Kee.  At one point he owned more land in the area, but the city demolished his building to widen the road, leaving him with a strip of land just under five feet in width.  Rather than sell what remained of his property for practically nothing, Sam had another building built, one that fit into the strip of land.  For years the building belonged to a silk merchant, but now it's leased by an insurance company. 




The front of the building as seen in a photo

Today I went to work with Abby's mom again, and she took me to see a little bit more of Vancouver.  Today we saw Gastown and the waterfront.

This is the steam clock, the only steam-powered clock in thw world.  It's a big tourist attraction.  It chimes every fifteen minutes and emits a ton of steam, but you can't really see it in photos and this picture wasn't taken while it was chiming.


This is the only picture Abby's mom took of me of Gastown.  You can't really tell, but it's a very historical, picturesque place.


Gastown also has a lot of tourist shops.  In front of one shop were these fine Canadians:




This is a convention centre being built in time for the Olympics.


A view of the mountains across Burrard Inlet.


This place is called Canada Place and it's right on the water.  At night the sails are lit up by coloured lights.  Inside are many large rooms that are used for conventions and proms and similar things.  On the other side of Canada Place there is a 3-D theatre.


Vancouver shipyards


Abby's mom takes the train home from work, just like Abby does from school.  This station is called Waterfront Station and it has been around for quite a long time.  Trains are not the only type of public transportation that uses the building anymore; buses, the Skytrain and the Seabus also depart from Waterfront Station.


Inside the main hall


Before we left today, Abby's mom gave me a souvenier to remember my trip to Chinatown.


It's a small replica of a Chinese gold ingot.  They are generally given out on Chinese New Year and are believed to be lucky.  Abby said that it will bring me luck during my travels.  It fits nicely in my back pocket :]

Abby says that I'm leaving soon for my next host.  I'm very eager to see more of the world.  She would also like to apologize for any spelling errors she made while helping me type this up.  She sprained a finger during her rugby game today.

Today I watched the Most Spirited Student Pageant at Abby's school.  The lights were out and Abby didn't want to take pictures with the flash, so you can only really see the outline of my head in most of the pictures.







In the background you can see the two hosts, Captain Moody and Clowny the Clown, who are the captains of the school's improv team.


This was taken as the rock band was playing.  They are right next to my head.  Underneath the word 'phoenix' you can see the senior jazz band, who were also very good.


The 'put on fake heads and try to knock the other person's head off with a foam stick' competition


At the very end of the pageant, as the lights were coming on.  Behind me you could see the hosts and contestants congradulating the winner.  The girl we were cheering for was runner-up.

I have arrived! I actually arrived yesterday, but my host mom decided to bring me to work and take my photo there. She even let me have some of her Tim Horton's coffee and home made muffin!   My host mom works at a big law firm and can't take too many pictures here... but there will be adventures everywhere else!

Last weekend my host mom took me with her down to Buffalo, New York! This is the room at the Indigo Hotel where we stayed. It was so neat!
Here I am on the bed, and in the closet!
 

AND! After that short visit, my host mom allowed me to go to MEXICO for a week! My host mom is writing this just to let you know that I'm okay and should be back tomorrow already! :-)

Hi mom!  I'm back at Abby's house in beautiful British Columbia!  I just wanted to let you know that I am safe and in good hands.

I have had a long trip and now it's off to bed for me!

It snowed yesterday, so today Abby took me onto the roof of her school to look at the mountains. (Abby goes to Simon Fraser University, which is on a mountain as well.)  If I look a little blurry, that's because I was shivering.  It was cold up there!



Look, the pond in the Academic Quadrangle is partially frozen!



Brr!  Time to get inside.

Today I went for a walk, despite it being -15 degrees celcius (5 degrees fahrenheit).



Today's walk was to the mouth of Kanaka Creek.  The area around Kanaka Creek is a protected wetland habitat, home to many different organisms.  It is also a very historical place, which I learned about as I walked.





Kanaka Creek meets up with the Fraser River, the largest River in Western Canada.



This is looking straight across the river:



To the east:



To the west:



What a beautiful view!



Walking along the path in the Dense Deciduous Forest, I saw a woodpecker.



Erin came along because she was geocaching.  This is her at the first one we found:



We came to a lookout with lots of information.









This is the view down the Fraser,



And here is the mouth of Kanaka Creek.



Here you can see the log booms that were mentioned in the information plaques.



Then, it was time to walk back.

Things are nearly ready for Christmas at Abby's household; all we need now is Santa to come visit.  Abby's family didn't have room for a real tree this year, but they had this nice toyvoyager-sized one!



Christmas isn't here yet, but it is back home, so Merry Christmas!

It's Christmas!  We got chocolate as a gift!



I also listened to the Queen's message at noon.