Adelaide's Travel Notes - Canada

Canada
Vancouver

Vancouver is Canada's third largest city, with a population of almost 2 million in the metropolitan area. The city is named after George Vancouver, a British captain that spent three years surveying the coast of the American Northwest.
	This is a very modern city. SkyTrain - an automated train with no driver - runs as a subway downtown and as a light train at the suburbs. Harbour Centre Mall (seen above in the right portion of the image) is the tallest building in British Columbia. From its 167m-high observation deck we can have a view of the entire city.
Living between the mountains that reach heights above 3000m and the sea - the city is between Burrard Inlet and Fraser River - Vancouverities like boats and watersports. Vancouver is the most important port in North America's Pacific coast.
	Stanley Park is always crowded on Sundays. In the zoo, we saw penguins diving in glass-walled tanks. There are some totem poles in the park. Contrary to a common belief, they are not religious icons, but instead they are history books of the native people of the Northwest Pacific coast.
Gastown is where the city was founded in 1867. After being destroyed by a fire a few years later, it was rebuilt to what we see today, with tiled buildings and cobblestone streets. Today it houses antique shops and restaurants, Vancouver's Chinatown - second-largest in North America - is next to it.
	One of the attractions of Gastown is the steam clock. This 5m high clock was built to cover a steam vent and is also powered by it. Its pendulum is plated with gold. Chimes sign every full hour.
Robson Square is a public office building of the Provincial Government and is connected to the Law Courts building. Built partially underground, it is located at Robson Street, one of the cities' most important shopping areas
Crossing Capilano Suspension bridge, which spans for almost 140m and 70m above the Capilano River, was quite fun. Reactions to the bridge's sway vary though.

Links
The City of Vancouver
Discover Vancouver
Tourism Vancouver
Travel Information about Vancouver, by Found Locally
Vancouver, by Tourism British Columbia