Granville Island

Day 2 Vancouver saw me deciding to go to the other end of downtown in search of Granville Island (separated from the main part of the city by a major bridge) and the artists and farmers markets there. I decided to walk over, it wasn't more than 5 kilometres but I underestimated how high the bridge was, some 20 or more storeys in the air in exposed weather. Great views but I was a little tested on whether I had a fear of heights. I don't seem to, apart from a healthy respect for maintaining all my various appendages in their rightful places.

I arrived at Granville Island to find that being a Monday, the markets and most businesses were closed. I was disappointed as it was my last full day in Vancouver before Victoria.

I cheered myself up by popping into the famous Granville Island microbrewery for a stickybeak and decided that even though I was previously gluten-free, my affection for beer might justify finding out at least how one does make maple cream ale.

(Bribery will only get me so far, but Giles, if you're a very good guide, I'll bring some to Montreal for you and Kirsten). Such is the demand for Granville Island beer that they cannot supply it in BC and they do not supply it at all outside British Columbia.

It turned out that myself and two Canadian university students from Victoria BC were the only people on the tour. Stephanie was studying it for an environmental impact project (amazing what you can do at uni these days- fantastic) and her friend was along for the ride. They were great girls and were able to tell me all about Victoria, which I was going to the next day. Between us, we had the jolly atmosphere of being let out of school for the day to go to the pub and we rounded out the afternoon with some tastings of Maple Cream ale, Island Lager, Lion's Winter Ale and Scottish Cream Ale, which were all excellent.

The girls cheerfully waved me off on the ferry to make the crossing over "false creek", the river between Granville Island and downtown Vancouver in a colour striped ferry the size of an English bathtub at the end of the day.

In all, I spent fairly long periods of time in the first few days in solitude. I was content in my own thoughts, trying to absorb the strangeness of being transplanted out of space, season and time. Even the sunlight and the stars are not the same.

There is a calm that exists in being quiet and listening to the clamour of accents around you and not joining them. So in British Columbia I was quiet. I was happy just to listen and learn in silence.