What to do in Vancouver

WEBVTT

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And Marshalsusportivos, Oh Matti Blocs,
Marcus Marshals, Delutiones, Mas Marcus Mascia,

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Mas de la Gueno Marshals Diva Delueno. Travel is back. I'm Johnny

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Mac. Every week I tell you
about a place I've been in, what

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I like to do when I'm there. This week a city. Every now

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and then there's a city that I
hit. Then I'm like, can I

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just move here? Melbourne, Australia
is one of those. I'll eventually get

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to the Australia episodes. I'm waiting
on those until you can actually go to

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Australia. But one place you can
get to and a place I seriously looked

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into moving too, because it's so
beautiful. Vancouver. It is gorgeous.

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The terrain remind me of San Francisco. But if you built San Francisco one

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hundred years later, like it's got
a twenty first century vibe rather than an

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early nineteen hundreds vibe. But love
San Francisco. Great city. I'm gonna

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cover that eventually, but Vancouver is
beautiful. And here's what we're gonna do.

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We are gonna rent a bike and
we are going to hang out in

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Stanley Park. Trip Advisor did a
survey. Vancouver's Stanley Park beat out New

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York's Central Park, the Luxembourg Gardens
in Paris, and Chicago's Millennium Park as

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the world's best park. Now,
I haven't been to the one in Paris,

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and I was in Paris. Why
didn't I go there? But Chicago

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Millennium Park is great. Central Park
is great, But Stanley Park in Vancouver

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blows them away. Why is it
so great? You can cycle all the

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way around in a forest, you
can visit ancient Aboriginal village sites, you

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can get a tan at the beach
as a rose garden, and there's an

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aquarium. Do I not mention aquariums
in every episode? So right by the

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edge of the park you'll find a
bunch of places that will rent to a

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bicycle. I really when I came
back, I had a man crush on

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this bike shop for probably a few
years. I wanted to buy the thing,

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but I'm an American, not a
Canadian citizen. Not so easy to

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do. I just wanted to buy
this bike shop, move to Vancouver,

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hang out in the bike shop.
Have some teenagers rent bikes while I'm the

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adult sulpervision, just kind of hanging
around. That's how nice Vancouver is.

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Stanley Park is at the north end
of Vancouver by the West End District.

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It covers almost as much land as
the downtown area. It's surrounded by a

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nine kilometer sea wall. Allow yourself
an hour to bike around the Stanley Park

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sea Wall, two plus hours to
walk or longer if you take one of

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the detours and you're going to want
to from the sea wall, you'll be

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treated to endless epic views of the
harbor and the city from every angle.

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Yeah, as you're walking around,
you look back to all the new construction

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again, very very modern looking city, and you're looking across the harbor there.

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It is gorgeous. Don't miss the
brightly colored totemball collection in Brockton Point

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that. That's the eastern point of
Stanley Park on warmer days, hanging at

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one of the beaches. Here are
the names of the beaches. First beach,

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second beach, and can you guess
what the third beach is called?

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That's right, third Beach. Are
you hungry? There's a tea house in

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Stanley Park if you want a fancy
meal, or there's a bunch of concession

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stands and stuff. Again, you're
not that far away from the city.

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Well you could be two our wild
dominging out far you go. It's also

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a great place to run. Before
I kind of destroyed my knees, I

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went out for a couple morning runs
along the sea wall there. Oh it

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was so great. I love Stanley
Park so much and I love Vancouver so

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much. Up in Stanley Park you'll
find Vancouver Aquarium. It's a self supporting

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nonprofit society dedicated to the conservation of
aquatic life. It's the largest aquarium in

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Canada. Now I'm thinking about the
rankings of aquariums I've been to. I

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want to say Baltimore Harbor's number one
and Vancouver's number two. Boston is number

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three, and definitely number three,
and I don't mean that in a bad

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way. Boston Aquarium is awesome.
Go back and listen to the Travelers Back

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episode about Boston. Now that I'm
dusting off the memories, maybe Vancouver is

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better than Baltimore, and they're both
just tremendous. I had a great time

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at the Vancouver Aquarium. I remember
spending a lot of time with the seals

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or sea lions. I don't know
what they were so or sea lion seals

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guys. But you guys were cool
and I have a lot of pictures of

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you. I remember the tanks were
like really big. You can walk around

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and just like you know, just
big, giant vistas and lots of places

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to see all sorts of marine life. The Vancouver a Quarium. You definitely

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want to spend time there. So
when we leave Stanley Park, we're over

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by Vancouver Harbor, you know the
drill walk or bike along the harbor with

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its modern high rises. Continue down
the waterfront to the iconic Canada Place building.

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I remember that place. Yeah.
Once you've had enough of the waterfront

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views, wander through downtown Vancouver.
You might want to check out Vancouver Chinatown,

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which features the Jack Chow Building,
said to be the narrowest building in

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the world six feet wide and there's
a tiny second floor mezzanine in the building

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if you want to check that out. I have not been to this,

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but a lot of people will seem
to like the Doctor Sun yat Send Garden,

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which is a traditional Chinese style garden. In the evening, head over

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to Vancouver's oldest neighborhood. It's called
gastown. You're gonna hang out on Water

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Street. It's lined with old building, strings of lights at one end,

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the steam clock the other end,
the Gassy Jack statue, trendy bars restaurants,

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Tacofino Taco Bar for cheap tacos,
and Margarita's Six Acres if you want

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pup style tapas. And how about
Grandville Island description I saw here. I

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like a lot one of those places
that seems purposely built for tourists high but

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it's equally popular with locals. The
highlights the Granville Island Public Market, which

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houses food stalls, craft shops,
fresh produce, Grab some lunch there,

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walk around the stalls, check out
Grandville Island Brewing or the Liberty Distillery.

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Now there's different ways you can get
there. The way you should go is

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there's an aquabus boat. It's like
a little ferry that takes a couple minutes

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across the water. I did this
with my son and we had a ball.

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Granville Island itself is free. Public
transports to the island. Call a

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few bucks. Definitely do that.
Let's take a break and we come back.

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We're gonna do some nature stuff.
If you listen every week, you

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know I'd love to be outside.
Let's make our way to the Capilano Suspension

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Bridge, a one hundred and thirty
seven meter long suspension bridge. It always

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kind of sways a little. At
seventy meters above the river, It's tucked

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inside a dense forest filled with towering
trees. It overlooks a river with a

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mountain backdrop. I like this description
here. It's a pretty regular role view

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in Canada. Yeah. I did
the Vancouver and Alaska Triple Table at Alaska

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at some point, and boy,
looking out at forest and mountains never gets

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old. I mean never gets old. Other than the Capellano Suspension Bridge itself.

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Here in Capellano Suspension Bridge Park,
there are other short trails and boardwalks

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winding their way through the forest,
totaling around two kilometers. Take the Treetop's

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Adventure walk through the top of trees. Yeah, pretty cool for bird's eye

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view of the forest. Wander along
the Nature's Edge boardwalk through the forest,

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and walk around the cliff walk that
juts out from the side of the cliff

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with sweeping views. You'll find the
Capalano Suspension Bridge in North Vancouver. It's

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about twenty minutes from downtown Vancouver.
There's a free shuttle bus from downtown.

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Another place you might want to check
out as Grouse Mountain, some of the

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most spectacular views over Vancouver. In
the summer, hike the trails, visit

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the resident bear and watch the bird
show. In winter, goes skiing,

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snowboarding, ice skating, or snowshoeing. If you don't want to snowshoe,

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you can put on some ice cleats
and go for a walk on the snowshoe

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trail. Sounds like a great time. I was not there in the winter,

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I was there in the summer.
Now. If you want to go

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up to the top of Grouse Mountain, the skyride Gondala coss around sixty bucks.

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Now. If you don't want to
spend sixty bucks, you can hike

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up the trail up Grouse Mountain is
affectionately known as the Grouse Grind, which

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is a two point nine kilometer sent
eight hundred and fifty three meters of elevation

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and two thousand, eight hundred and
thirty steps. Maybe spend the sixty bucks,

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you know. How about the Sea
two Sky Highway, Rated as one

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of the most beautiful drys in the
world. The Sea to Skycarter takes visitors

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on an hour and a half long
journey from the heart of downtown to the

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world class key town of Whistler.
Waterfalls, jaw dropping vistas, a cultural

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center, a suspension bridge along the
way. You want to pack a lunch

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and gas and a camera. That's
the Sea to Sky Highway. Let's head

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back into the city Queen Elizabeth Park. If you're staying downtown. You get

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some of the best views in the
city from Queen Elizabeth Park. Then you

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can head east, make your way
down Main Street through South Maine and the

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Mount Pleasant neighborhoods. Main Street is
filled with hipster cafes, bars and shops,

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and it's a good place to stop
for coffee. Once you reach East

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Broadway, turn left, wander for
a few blocks, and then head down

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to the waterfront suburb of Fairview.
Fairview is a harbor front suburb with nineteen

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seventies era low rise apartments and great
views. A lot of walkers, running

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cyclists, and cute dogs. You'll
find there if you want to kayak,

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and I almost always do. I
think I'm going kayaking tomorrow, which is

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yesterday to you. I recorded this
on Saturday, not in Vancouver home in

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New Jersey, but Falls Creek in
Vancouver has very calm waters and offers some

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incredible views of Vancouver City, including
the stadium. You might see some seals,

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which makes me think I saw some
seals at the aquarium and not sea

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lions. And and make yourself over
to the West End around sunset so you

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can see sunset. Wander down Denman
Street, find a good spot, sit

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down, find a bench that overlooks
English Bay and watch as mother Nature puts

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a rap on our day. If
I had one day in Vancouver, here's

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what I'd do. I would get
up early and I'd go for a run

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in Stanley Park. I'd go back
to the hotel room, I'd shower.

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Is that, I'd rent a bike
and head back to Stanley Park and I

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would bike the whole circuit. Then
I would go back to the hotel room

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and shower. Then I would head
back to Stanley Park and hit the aquarium.

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Yeah, I love Stanley Park.
It is great. What time of

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day is it now, I don't
know, it's probably mid afternoon. Let

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me make my way over to Granville
Island and tourist it up. Then I'm

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gonna make sure I'm over by English
Bay and I'll watch the on set and

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if there's any energy left, Ali
the first place that I see, I

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think when I was there, I
got Daily Clean Travel is Back. Follow

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I threw in in Iceland, In
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Diego, Princeton, New Jersey,
which is where I'm going kayaking. Travel

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