Farnsniente

Karen checking out some orchids in the conservatory in the Queen's Garden

Stopping and smelling the flowers

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in
📍 Vancouver

Photos

Trip index

Summary

Visit to the beautiful VanDusen Botanical Garden. The place is huge with lots of things in bloom: “a 55-acre oasis in the heart of Vancouver with over 7500 plant species and varieties from around the world”. From there we walked to Queen Elizabeth Park for excellent views over the city and distant mountains as well as colorful gardens planted in old quarries. Scouted out the eateries at the brand new Time Out Market Vancouver food hall but, sadly, weren’t hungry enough to be tempted. Good seafood dinner at the long-serving restaurant Joe Fortes.

Details

We wake and it’s 5:30 am. It’s already light out. We’d like to have slept later but then again that is 7:30 am body time, so not bad (compared to usual). We’re OK with that. We’ll adjust. 

We hang in the room and read the news. I do some online financial work. We socialize with friends and family online. Later Karen exercises while I chop and sauté all of the pepper, onion and mushrooms we bought yesterday. I reserve half in the fridge for tomorrow and Karen cooks a delicious three egg omelette with ham, cheese and the veggies. We have a leisurely breakfast outside with coffee in the cool Pacific Northwest morning. We could get used to this. We gather, though, their weather isn’t like this year-round. 

As the clock approaches 11 am, we head out and Uber over to the Vancouver’s botanical garden, the VanDusen. We’ve heard good things. On the way our quiet drive is disturbed by the siren of some emergency vehicle going by. We realize it’s the first we’ve heard since we got to Vancouver. Not like Austin. 

The botanical garden truly is nice. World class. It’s enormous, well laid out and well maintained. Lots of different niches of plants. We’re a bit nervous when we see the sign instructing us on what we should do should we encounter a coyote while in the park. What? We didn’t sign up for that. In the end we’re wandering the park for over an hour and a half (including a beer/water break). Before we head out we make one last stop to see a traditional multi-person canoe, hand hewn from a single tree. Very impressive.  

We hoof it the short 20 minute walk over to nearby Queen Elizabeth Park. It’s big, with lots of lawn and trees. Alas there’s a pretty bad drought going on here, so it’s not as green as lush as it might have been. There’s also a  conservatory and two sunken gardens here and we check out all three. The big glass domed conservatory has A/C at the entrance blowing oodles of cold air and we think we’ve found heaven. The rest of the interior, alas, isn’t as chill. There are lots of amazing plants and many dozens of flowering plants, many of them orchids. There are cockatoos and the like all around, some very old. Each has its own parasol to keep off the sun, unrelenting even at this latitude.  

From there we hike on to the newly opened Time Out Market Vancouver. It’s in a very upscale mall in a huge development with soaring towers, 98% of which aren’t done yet. The juxtaposition is jarring. It’s 3 pm and we’re hungry for neither lunch nor dinner, so we take an Uber back to our hotel to chill. We plan on an early dinner. 

While Karen chills in the room I shop at a nearby pharmacy for stuff I’ve forgotten or that we can’t get “back in the states”. A razor, special sun block, foot bunion fixer. The nice lady behind the counter gives me a sample of some free sun block and some men’s perfume. OK, thanks. I guess. 

We take one of Vancouver’s convenient buses to dinner. OpenTable said no tables were available tonight  where we want to eat (Joe Fortes). The kind gentleman at the door said otherwise and we were shown to a lovely table. It’s a big, storied steak and seafood restaurant. To us it looks like one of the big, old brasseries in Paris. We have salmon (spring aka chinook) and halibut. All good. We walk home in the cool air and eventually crash. Good day. 

Photos

Leisurely morning in the room, not being very productive but I did chop up all the veggies we bought yesterday and sautéed them for an omelette. Half were saved for tomorrow.
Due to the configuration of our room versus others (and the window to the hallway) we have to be careful when we wander the room not fully clothed.
Karen does do her exercises and works out on bands she brought with her.
Omelette made we retire outside for a cool, delicious breakfast with lots of coffee.
After Ubering over to the VanDusen Botanical Garden we started getting our exercise. It’s huge! And it’s filled with lots of blooming flowers, like these hydrangeas.
Some of the blooms were passed, like the rhododendrons and azaleas, but some were just riot.
We saw not only flowers but some animals, like this humming bird, having a meal.
A nod to Lily Tomlin’s character Edith Ann.
There was a bride a groom having pictures taken, or so we thought. It turns out the actual wedding was going on there, complete with lots of guests. Alas this meant a portion of the gardens were off limits to us.
We did get to see the giant redwoods, always a treat.
Down the street aways is the Queens Park which includes the highest point in Vancouver. That, understandably, has one of the best views of the downtown. This group of statues makes light of tourists arranging themselves for a good picture with the city skyline in the background.
The conservatory in the park is warm in the cool winters, but also warm at this time of year.
Inside the orchids and other flowers like the warm, moist environment.
The conservatory is home to many birds, including cockatiels and cockatoos. Some are pretty old.
Walking on from the Queen’s Park we visit the recently opened TimeOut Market Vancouver. Very impressive, but we weren’t hungry or thirsty so we just Ubered back to our room and chilled.
At dinner time we bused over to Joe Fortes, a formidable presence on the restaurant scene of Vancouver for a while. It reminded us of the big, old brasseries in Paris. Very good food and service.
Good seafood up here in Vancouver.
On the walk back to our room we got to see some wild architecture. Vancouver is famous for not having memorable architecture. This building may beg to differ.
We couldn’t resist, on our walk home, checking out some cute, tasty cakes.