We were hungry after our three-hour Toonie Tours walking tour, so we headed to the closest restaurant to the old train station, a place called Steamworks Brew Pub. I have no plans to bore you with descriptions of all of our meals since most of our meals lean more towards sustenance than a destination. This place was so charming, though, we returned later in the week.
Our hostess sat us in the library. What more does a bibliophile like me needs to relax? The room was filled with dark wood bookcase, a stunning wide spiral staircase, and the most eye catching view of the mountains outside the the three large picture windows.
The ladies' room was located down that staircase, through a large room with even larger copper barrels I assume are filled with their local beers. It is accessed by pressing a series of buttons that lead in an area that feels like backstage at Disneyland, but with doors that lead to equally well decorated rooms including the ladies' room. On our second visit the table next to us was trying to figure out how to find the restrooms. I described the series of doors making you feel as if you are going in the wrong direction. When they came back, I asked what they thought of the ladies' room. My first impression was someone with better photography skills than I could set up an Instagram photoshoot using the mirrors to play off of each other. They agreed.
The food was reasonably priced (especially since the dollar was strong), and tasty, so we returned later in the week.
Once fortified, we walked around Gastown. Gastown is the gentrified part of town. Every other shop is a tourist shop boasting much the same items in a variety of prices. I used socks as my benchmark, especially when they were the same brands. They ranged from $10-$20 a pair ($7-$14US). They all tried to sell us maple syrup, smoked meats, socks, magnets, sweatshirts, etc. We did return to buy a magnet for Don that he wished he could find as a sticker instead:
We decided to saunter back to the hotel to regroup. We mistakenly thought we knew our way around the city. Silly us! We ended up walking through groups of homeless people. I thought they were waiting for a Community Center to open for the evening, Don was less convinced. Not one person looked at us or asked us for money. They kept to themselves. We kept to ourselves. Only worthy of noting because when we tell someone about our adventures, Don brings up this situation. As a white man, I'm surprised he is the one who was more uncomfortable with the situation.
Back our Hotel Burrard, we regrouped and had dinner at the restaurant connected to our hotel. This emphasized what the Erika, our tour guide said, the first floor of buildings is for the public. None of the hotel rooms were on the ground floor, instead that space was used for the lobby, a parking lot for the hotel, a café, and a restaurant.
From there we went to a hockey game.
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