28th Nov 2008 (Friday)
As part of our SeeVancouver tourism card, there is a free day trip to Whistler! So of course we must go for it.. else it wld be very difficult to make our way there ourself..
But.. the sky was not cooperating with us. Woke up to a dark rainy morning.. sadded..
The tour company picked us up from our hostel and from there we headed to Whistler, with some stops at various attractions along the way. But guess it is just not our day. Our bus broke down!!! just as we were leaving downtown Vancouver, passing by Stanley Park -_-'' I think water got into the engine or something like that.. But lucky that the bus broke down then and not some out of the way place. So the driver manage to drive the bus into Stanley Park, where we waited 45 mins for a replacement bus.
Took some photos from the bus while the driver was getting the bus into Stanley Park.
(Due to the rain, and thus the wet windows, the photos taken are not very nice :( )
Finally the replacement bus came and we are on our way for our day trip!
View of Downtown Vancouver:
And some islands along the way.. if only the sky was clear.. the view
wld have been spectacular!
We stop at this place (which i have no idea where is it... :p was sleeping in the bus.. but i think it was
Britania Beach) where there was a little small
souvenir shop. Think we could have walk to some attraction if the weather was good.
Next stop was Shannon Falls!! One of the tallest waterfall in North America..
(big red umbrellas provided by the tour company!)
Then it was Eagle Run, a place with a viewing dyke that was designed and built for people to come, observe and take photos of bald eagles between Nov to Jan. The eagles are mainly in this area because lots of salmon swim up the river to reproduce during this time of the year and the salmon would die after that, becoming food for the eagles.
Didn't manage to see a lot of bald eagles though, only a few..
See the white dot in the middle of all the trees? That's a bald eagle!!
After that, we headed to Whistler. AND.. the rain became snow!!!
At first it was wet snow and then it was really snowing!! the surroundings just started to get whiter and whiter! the whole landscape just became so beautiful!
By the time we reach Whistler Village, it was already covered with snow, and the tour guide drove the bus round the village to show us the main buildings and places. After that it was free and easy~
One small part of Whistler Village:
See the snow falling on us!
We decided to take the gondola all the way to the top of Whistler Mountain since we were already at Whistler.. :D
But.. one way trip up takes 20 mins!! so we had a lot of time to take photos from the gondola! (until we felt it was a little too much time..lol)
We were zi pai-ing, sticking our hands out of the window to take nicer photos of the surroundings, helping each other to take photos.. until in the end, because the trip was so long, we ended up just sitting in the gondola and waiting for it to reach the top..lol
And there was my fav Inuksuk on the slopes of Whistler!!
(that's also the symbol for the Winter Olympics 2010 that wld be held in Whistler and Vancouver)
Inukshuk, the singular of inuksuit, means "in the likeness of a human"
in the Inuit language. They are monuments made of unworked stones that are used by the Inuit for communication and survival. The traditional meaning of the
inukshuk is "Someone was here" or "You are on the right path."
The Inuit make inuksuit in different forms for a variety of purposes: as navigation or directional aids, to mark a place of respect or memorial for a beloved person, or to indicate migration routes or places where fish can be found.
An inukshuk (also known as inuksuk) is often venerated as symbolizing an ancestor who knew how to survive on the land in the traditional way. A familiar inukshuk is a welcome sight to a traveler on a featureless and forbidding landscape.
Finally we reached the top of Whistler! Lots of skiers and lots of snow!! the snow was practically being blown into our eyes..
After some photo-taking, we headed indoors to eat our lunch at the dining area.
Then we went to the observation deck, which was covered with ankle deep snow, to take photos!
My toes by then was freezing cause i was wearing my sneakers and water (snow) could enter through the small holes on my sneakers.. but it was alright.. just had to endure the cold... :p
Went back out into the open area and we found ice sculptures! and there was Inukshuk again!
Then we started realising that all the skiers were starting to head towards the gondola and a long queue was starting to form.. As it took 20 mins to go back down and it was almost time to head back to join our tour group, we quickly faster join in the line.. by then we realised that all the ski slope have close.. no wonder everyone was heading down.. :p
See the long line of skiers..
The whistler staff were very good.. they provided hot coco for everyone that was in the queue.. just the thing we needed *yummy!*
By the time we were back at the bottom, we only had abt 15mins left. So we went hunting for souvenir shops to grab some souvenirs, walk around a bit before heading back to the bus. By then the sky was already starting to darken.. only 4pm :(
Slept all the way for the ride home since everywhere was so dark and nothing could be seen from the bus. By the time we reach back to downtown it was already 6 plus close to 7 (due to the delay in the morning)
We requested the guide to drop us off near Vancouver lookout so we could walk to the convention center to catch a IMAX show! (included in the tourism card too!)
Inside the convention center cum hotel.. pretty!
We went to claim our tickets and headed to find some food. We ended up eating some snacks from MacDonalds. With some time left, we went out in the light drizzle to take photos!
Beautiful night scene of Downtown Vancouver and the famous 'sails' of the convention center..
The movie that we were watching at IMAX was the nutcracker..
Our conclusion of the movie.. it was not very good.. the gal couldn't act and it was not the really according to the nutcracker storyline.. but at least it was a lead up to the nutcracker ballet that i wld be watching back in Seattle :)
After the movie, we walk all the way back to our hostel and we happen to walk along the street with lots of christmas lightings! *beautiful!*
Even the cranes are lighted up!
- End of Day 2 :):) -
At the customs at the US-Canada Border, while in line, we met a fellow Singaporean! hee.. she (Ann-Marie) was in front of us and spotted my red passport while i was taking it out from the cover! so qiao! and she was staying at the same hostel as us! woo~ the world is so small.. we did chat with her for a while before returning to our seat..
After checking in, Ann-Marie went off to settle some stuff and the 3 of us set off to grab some late lunch and get the tourism card that we had booked in advance. With this tourism card that we had paid a lump sum for, we would be able to have access to various attractions and tours over 3 days. (very worth the money)
Then we walked back to the hostel, stopping along the way at some shops where Cynthea and Noon bought some stuff.
