Day Two - July 1 - Post-wedding activities

The ceremony/reception was about two hours of fun, then we changed clothes and hit the streets again for sightseeing. Tim's flight didn't leave until 7PM, so we got to see some more of Vancouver with him. First stop was a walk to Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, which is in Chinatown, a tranquil area in the heart of busy streets.

The entrance to the gardens.	Another tourist took a shot of the three of us seated in front of the reflecting pool.

It was extremely peaceful.	Shots from the pagoda.

We walked a really long way to get to Dim Sum at Pink Pearl Chinese Seafood Restaurant. This was Kate's first experience with Dim Sum, but she tried everything. :) The walk there from downtown was really interesting (Hastings Street), because it goes through what would be considered the seedy part of town. Hastings has many abandoned grand old movie theates and hotels along this route. You could imagine what a hip area this was 30-40 years ago. It's the kind of area that will probably come back, in time. This area is where street people congregate, but it wasn't unsafe at all, in fact, we had one person greet us with "Happy Canada Day". [Note: There was a lot more visible patriotism in Vancouver on this day than one could see back in Durham when we came back for July 4. People had Canada flag tattoos on their faces and were carrying little flags everywhere.]

The next stop after lunch was a walk through Strathcona, which includes the residential historic area near Chinatown, and is where the Apricot Cat B&B is located.

Intersection of the heart of the revived historic district.	Well-tended row houses.

Historic marker for the homes designated "Heritage Buildings".	More examples of restored and renovated homes.

On the way back to the B&B, we stopped to take pictures at Strathcona Park.

Tim's flight, as we said, was around 7PM, so we had a cool drink on the front porch and waited for his cab to come pick him up. We wished he could have stayed longer, but we had a great time celebrating and touring Vancouver with him. We went back out later to do more walking downtown in Davie Village, which is actually several blocks of Davie Street in the West End. This is considered the gay district of Vancouver, and they fly rainbow flags all over the place. The community bookstore there is Little Sisters.

The front of the B&B, which is on Union St.

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