How cold?!

Well it is cheap accommodation!
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Finally arrived in Vancouver after a nightmare journey - cancelled flights, delayed flights.... we arrived about ten hours after we were due,  and about  20 hours after we departed Brisbane.

Our first thoughts of Vancouver were how cold it was, although everyone kept telling us that it wasn't cold (I think it was about 7 degrees when we arrived). Of course if I had just come from England I would agree that it wasn't cold, but after three months at 30 degrees, I'm sorry but 7 degrees is cold!

Smallest ever Cathedral?
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We got to our hostel and were both suffering from jet lag - decided there was no point even trying to go to sleep, so we went for a wander around the city. It looks a little like Vegas by night, with all the streets lit up, and although there are a large number of homeless people sleeping on the streets, it still feels very safe.  They will ask you for money (or if you want to buy drugs!) but if you ignore them, or just say 'no' they will leave you alone straight away.

We had a great time exploring Vancouver.  One of the highlights has to have been our visit to the Police Museum.  They have a fantastic set up there, the first part is all about the history of the British Columbia police force, how & when it was set up, when women were allowed to join etc etc.  The next bit shows lots of nasty, home maade weapons that have been confiscated over the years (some of these were really nasty - knuckle dusters, guns, knives, various implements that you would use to beat people etc).  This section also has three computer terminals where you are shown a picture of a suspected criminal, then you have to use their photo-fit software to put together a picture of the wanted person!

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After that it starts to get a bit gruesome! The next section shows photos of real crime scenes, some which still contain the bodies of the deceased, and the stories behind the crimes, some of which are still unsolved.

The last part is exceptionally yucky (the school party who were going around at the time weren't allowed in there!).  It's set up in the original morgue (into which Errol Flynn was taken when he died, fact fans), and along with examples of the tools of the trade, the room contains actual human body parts.  These include examples of how a healthy organ should look, then other organs in various states of sickness, including tumours and all sorts of other nasties.  This was quite intriguing!

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After this we decided we needed something a little nicer to look at, so we headed off to the Chinese Gardens. Unfortuantely they had decided to close these to the public on that day, so we thought we would go and get some lunch.  This was where our second yucky surprise of the day occured.

We were in China Town, so we headed off to a Chinese restaurant. I ordered something nice and safe (so much so I can't even remember what it was now) and Rob ordered the 'Chef's Special Shredded Chicken'.  We found out by accident about five minutes later that this was a cold dish, but Rob decided that didn't matter, and he'd eat it anyway. When it came out it looked good, lots of chicken, shredded carrot, celery, sesame seeds, sesame oil, and something that we couldn't identify. It looked a little like the jelly you get from a cooked chicken, but when we tried it, it didn't taste like that, it was a little slimey but it had a bit of a crunch to it.  We wondered if it was some sort of preserved cabbage, but whatever it was, neither of us liked it so it just got left on the side of the plate. We ummed and ahhed as to whether we should ask what it was (ignorance is bliss and all that) but I am too inquisitive and just had to ask. Wish I hadn't. It was jellyfish.  The ladies in the restaurant were very surprised that we didn't like it, as apparently it is a delicacy.  As far as I am concerned it is just gross and wrong - why would anyone want to eat jellyfish?!?!?!?! Oh well, at least we know for next time.

We didn't really get up to much else in Vancouver, apart from a visit to the art gallery (not to our taste) and to the cathedral (which was small but beautiful) and a lot of shopping for warm clothes. Although we like Vancouver, it's not really the real reason we came to Canada, which is for the snow, wildlife and countryside.