What happens in Vancouver, stays in Vancouver.....

It's hard to say, but our time in Vancouver has almost come to an end.. And boy oh boy, did we have an amazing time so far!! But before I'll elaborate on that, let's first look back on my last few days in the Okanagan Valley. 

Unfortunately the temperature dropped and occasional clouds and rain led to alternative activities instead of the canal float and the dragon boat. On Sunday, we enjoyed yet another great wine tasting at a very special vineyard; the Dirty Laundry Winery. They all had great names for their produced wines and we could fill pick nick baskets with little dishes so that we could have an early dinner at the patio, with a nice view on the vineyards and the KVR. The next day, I still wanted to do something active, so to decided to hike Giant's Head Mountain. Quite a hike, but the view was definitely worth it. But the way down was the scariest part, as I brought the bike with me. So by the end of the day, my hands are more sore than my legs, because I had to brake all the time so that I wouldn't go down too fast.. Quite the experience and the surprised look on other people's faces was also definitely worth remembering! Those crazy Dutch.. The next few days I mostly spent packing and arranging everything around my departure and next stop, and on Wednesday I had a delicious and healthy 'goodbye' dinner at Nick and Teresa's place.

On Thursday the 7th of July, my Summerland adventure came to an end unfortunately, and I departed to Vancouver by bus. The bus was extremely packed, but quite comfortable, so I arrived in Vamcouver 6 hours later. Such a difference between the city and Summerland! But the excitement and thrill for new adventures never left me! Actually, the next adventure was to figure out the public transport of Vancouver in order to get to my cousin Liza, Ben and their 4 kids in Richmond, where they had sushi waiting for me. Eventually everything worked out pretty well and I was extremely happy with the sight of the amount of delicious sushi's!! Ben's brother Adam and his girlfriend Jocelyn offered to take me to the airport, where my cousin Zoran would be arriving from Curaçao-Miami-Dallas. It was so great to see him again after such a long time!! So we spend the taxi ride to the first hostel catching up.! Our bunkbed was located at the end of a mixed dorm room which we had to share with 12 others, mainly snoring and smelling Asian looking ones, so the first night was quite short, but comfortable enough. The next day we walked all the way from Jericho Beach to Downtown Vancouver (+/- 15km) where we discovers that we could only visit the Dutch Consulate to fix an international driver's license before 12h15, so instead we spend the afternoon creating a day-to-day plan and drinking cocktails during happy hour at the Cactus Club. Around 7pm we left for a musical fundraiser where Jocelyn invited us for. After getting lost and an eventual bus ride with a very friendly bus driver (who only charged us 63cts, because that's all we had in coins and we didn't know we were only able to get tickets with coins), we arrived at location and it was great to hang out with the locals! Back at the hostels Zoran prepared himself some hotdogs in the shared kitchen, where we started talking with 2 girls from Australia and England, so that was also quite nice. 

The next day, my cousin Karla and her 2 adorable kids Drew and Annika picked us up from the hostel for an exciting day! We started at Granville Island, a small island south of  downtown Vancouver, where it felt as if you were in a completely different world. A lot of art and smaller shops, and a massive public market, where they literally sold everything you could think of. We continued our trip to the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park, which's main attraction was the 150m long bridge over a wild river, simply breathtaking. So there we were, walking with 138 other people over a very wobbly bridge at 70m high, from one part of the rainforest to the other part.. But it was an amazing experience! We ended our day with a small tour through Stanley Park, after which Karla dropped us off at the beginning of 4th Avenue, where the yearly Kahtsalano street festival was held. 

Zoran wanted a beer, so we stopped at the first beer garden we saw and started talking to 2 guys, Derek and Cody. After a while, they invited us to come to a pub with them to meet up with some friends of them. As it was only the beginning of the street festival and I wanted to see a little bit more of it, we parted ways and continued strolling the festival. But when we ran in to them again with their 2 friends, Ashley and Dylan, and they again invited us to come for a drink with them, we joined them and had a super fun evening eating, drinking and laughing at 'the Kitchen Table'. Then the plan became to pass by a liquor store and Dylan her house, before going to the beach. But we never reached Dylan's house because we were soon invited to join some random but very friendly strangers to join them on their rooftop houseparty! Seriously, we had the best night, and the best view on the Vancity skyline  after hopping over some other rooftops. A night to never forget. Eventually we did pass by Dylan's amazing mansion before heading to the beach, where we swam in the freezing cold sea. But we had so much fun!! Less fun when I discovered that something sharp wounded my foot, but it was too great a night to actually realize the pain, so to speak.. 

The next day we had to check out from Jericho and checked in at the Vancouver Central hostel, in the middle of downtown Vancouver. Zoran and I paid a visit to the Thai festival there and enjoyed a pretty good massage. Without happy ending fortunately!! After resting a bit at the hostel, we had a great and cheap dinner at the Warehouse (everything on the menu for $4,95) and explored the city a little bit better by having a few drinks at Gastown, a beautiful and cozy part of Vancouver. Yesterday we had a real Chinese lunch at Chinatown and enjoyed the beautiful view over Vancouver from the Tower over Vancouver. We then did some groceries before heading to Liza and Ben's place, where we prepared a 'build your own handmade burger' dinner, where Zoran really outperformed himself once again as chef hamburger. 

And today we met up with my cousin Erica, with whom we had a delicious brunch at 'Steam Works'. After that, we visited the 'FlyOver Canada', an iMax  4D cinema where we were able to experience the beauties of all parts of Canada whilst flying over it. Tru -ly ah-ma-zing... Around 5:30pm we were expected for dinner at Karla and David's place. And wow, they sure know how to prepare a Michelin star rated dinner.. Had a really great time!!!

So that's it for now folks! Tomorrow we will be traveling to a place called Whistler,  we'll go to Seattle from 14-16 July and will visit Portland from 16-18 July, before heading to Vancouver Island on July 18th. So quite an exciting trip ahead of us, and we're enjoying every single second of this adventure!!!!

Lots of love