Resurfacing in Vancouver
After 5 years away, going back to Vancouver felt even more special than usual. After so long away, there was nothing to do other than go to my favourite places and hope they were still there. However, it’s easy to come across new places in this place; the more you walk, the more you find.
The view from the room is unrecognisable, from 5 years ago, never mind 25 years. It’s sad to see the community garden I’ve enjoyed for all these years on the corner earmarked for development although I spotted lots of other gardens pop up in the Davy Village neighbourhood.
A great memory is a new chandelier under Granville bridge which comes to life 3 times a day. This is my obsession this trip. This is a part of the deal to bring more accessible art to the city as it develops (and also becomes too expensive to live in). We managed to catch the chandelier in action a couple of times, once in the rain which simply added to the magic. It’s absolutely glorious!
One thing that never changes is the view of the sunset on English Bay, my forever happy place. Talking of happy places, grateful that Melriches and 49th St Parallel Coffee are still going strong. The former is more magical this time around while the latter is now an expanding coffee chain. For eating and views, the happy place is Sylvia’s, the oldest hotel in the city and it shows - beautifully. It’s still delightfully old school with a wonderfully comfortable restaurant with a view English Bay coupled with 5 star service. Worth every penny.
For a late November visit, it’s great to catch the stunning Autumnal reds and golds everywhere leading me to take more photos than strictly necessary of a city I’ve visited so frequently.
I don’t recall Little Italy being so decorated before and Little India - Punjab Market - was a joyous discovery. Of course I had to buy Indian sweets from the oldest place in the neighbourhood.
Another memorable moment came by chance. Each visit, I return to the Lonsdale market in N Vancouver hoping to spot the stand where I bought a print from in 2010. They are never there although I spotted a postcard of the print at a new Christmas market on Granville Island instead. On learning about my search, the stall holder directed me to the artist’s new gallery and so I got to meet Zak Sarwari and had to buy another piece from him. That makes me both a collector and privileged.
Newcomers Rocanini proved to provide the best coffee experience of the trip. I bought a large pink decoration they were selling on behalf of a crafter friend to go on our pink-themed tree this year to mark the occasion. New coffee places visited include Matchstick and the delightful Timbertrain. We discovered our local area has several new eating establishments on Davie Street with a distinctly Indian flavour. We enjoyed breakfast at Dosa and dinner at Kinara.
A trip at this time of year should include a trek to the end of the line to Lake Lafarge Lakereturn trip to see all these lights (most of the photos above). Even in the rain. Also a return trip to Portobello West, a Christmas crafter’s market that this year popped up in the downtown area so no train needed. This blew me away last time, to the point of overwhelming me. It felt smaller and easy to navigate this time.
The trip that started as one to Hong Kong in 2020 and 2 cancellations later eventually became the beloved’s birthday trip is a success.
See you soon Vancouver; stay good.
19-30 November 2022
