Trip 6: CANADIAN HOLIDAY in May 2008 …. Granville Island in Vancouver … After our return to Vancouver: Post 9

See the previous post:

Trip 4: CANADIAN HOLIDAY in May 2008 …. Glacier Bay in Alaska … Our return to Vancouver: Post 9

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NOTE: I would like to share with you through these few words, photographs and hyperlinked websites, a 3 Dimensional experience as though you were actually there with us. Click on any photograph and it should enlarge to a different size ….. at least half screen or size full screen. It will be clearer in detail than the photo on the post. It will be as if you were really there looking at the actual scene. You are an arm chair traveller with us.

If you would also like to see the post in a larger or smaller size, I suggest you follow this procedure: If you right-handed, with your left hand, press down continuously on the Control Function Key with your left hand and with your right hand, move the little cursor wheel either forwards or backwards to make the text in the post larger or smaller.

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We had a wonderful time up in Alaska by cruising to Alaska for a week in our ship the Veendam. Now we came down the coast and back to our starting point in Vancouver. We had a day in Vancouver before we flew to Toronto then drove to Niagara Falls and the rest of our Canadian Holiday in May 2008.

We spent a day in Grandville Island after catching a taxi from our ship. Granville Island which is a Public Market. As the website says:

Go on, you deserve a little temptation.

If Granville Island is the king of Vancouver destinations, then the Public Market is the jewel in the Island’s crown. A fascinating assortment of colourful stalls, showcasing unique homemade products and the very finest in gastronomic delights. All fresh from the ocean, the oven or the field. Try closing your eyes right now and imagine the rich aromas permeating from the lavish displays. Shimmering seafood, warm baked goods, plump fruit.

Okay, stop. That’s enough torture. Come and browse for yourself and see just why words don’t begin to describe it

We had a wonderful time at Grandville Island ….. it was a very cosmopolitan and full of life. There were beautifully arranged foods in fresh fruit and vegetables, freshly made products from the oven, wonderful arrangements of flowers. There was a total air of curiosity ….. what is around the corner?

From this website: http://www.tourismvancouver.com/vancouver/neighbourhoods/granville-island/

Overview

In the early 1900s, Granville Island was home to factories, plants and sawmills. Things are a little different today—Granville Island is both a locals’ favorite and a huge draw for visitors. Technically a sandspit and not an island, the neighborhood sits just south of the downtown peninsula, right under the Granville Bridge. The Granville Island Public Market acts as a hub of activity, but it’s also one of the city’s most important cultural districts with theaters, artisan workshops and craft studios.

As you walk in you, you are greeted by a small fountain splashing water in a small pond.

It is not place of DOING but of BEING. You do not go there to buy some food as in a supermarket and then go to do something else. You do go there to relax and unwind in the creative atmosphere. Wandering along and seeing the myriad stalls. You come upon some of these things:

fresh asparagus in big cream or green spears
fresh fruit like grapes carefully stacked vertically in little pyramids to 200 mm high in small 150 mm square containers
strawberries in little clear plastic bags ready for you to take away
mulberries in their own take away containers
fresh from the oven, exotic bread shapes with or without a covering of large exotic seeds …. where do you start and stop?
a man busking with his guitar near an opened stall
smoked animal bones of lamb, pig and veal …… for soups ??
salmon on ice ready to eat
The myriads of people wandering among the many stalls …. These really create the atmosphere of curiosity

This intriguing atmosphere was counterbalanced by the location on the water of the bay. Some of these features are:

A nice sitting area to enjoy a coffee or tea with others overlooking the water
There was SUCH abundance of food !!

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…. As you walk in you, you are greeted by a small fountain splashing water in a small pond ….

…. fresh asparagus in big cream or green spears …..

…. fresh fruit like grapes carefully stacked vertically in little pyramids to 200 mm high in small 150 mm square containers, strawberries in little clear plastic bags ready for you to take away, mulberries in their own containers, many fruits you not have seen …..