3 to 12 August 2015

Last Monday, I entered Canada (after rigorous questioning by the immigration officer. Although after the U.S. Border last month, I was fully prepared for the “how much money do you have for this trip”, “do you know anyone in Canada? Where are they from? How do you know them? Do they know you are coming?”) and I will leave again tomorrow. Not enough time obviously.

My friend Heni, who I went to high school with, had sent me a detailed list and lively description of her favourite places in British Columbia. She had lived there and is married to a guy from BC. I therefore had the best intention to tick everything off her list.

I did very well on day 1: barely arrived in Squamish, I ran up the Chief and enjoyed the beautiful panorama, I then sprang into the clear waters at Brohm Lake and finally had Nachos at the Shady Tree Pub.

During the next three days at Whistler, however, I was not brave enough to hire a mountain bike and enjoy the best mountain bike park in the world. I did sat down at the pub opposite the park though and watched the mountain bikers because Heni had also promised me good view of the hottest mountain bikers in the world from this spot…

Whistler highlight was the hiking for me: Alice Lake, Joffre Lake and Mt. Whistler.

Alice Lake was on a four lake trail on a rainy day. This turned out lovely as I was pretty much alone on the trail. It also gave the lush green and rain forestry scenery something mystical and enchanted.

Joffre Lake was a fairly steep incline after the first lake to the second and third lake. The colour of the second lake took my breath away, I have not seen a lake with this colour before! The third lake had a similar colour against a backdrop of a glacier and waterfall.

Mt Whistler had the advantage of being accessible by Gondola, so I did the a 8mile high point trail at the top with great views of Cheakamus Lake and Black Tusk Peak. Seeing all the ski lifts and signs for the ski slopes, it also made me want to come back in Winter.

In Vancouver, I pretty much failed Heni’s list as I hardly did any sightseeing nor went to any of the restaurants she recommended.

First, I had a major shock as I returned to where I had parked my car two hours earlier in the soughtafter Kitsilano neighbourhood in Vancouver to find the lot empty! For the following 30min I was already thinking about blog headlines like: “coming home” “in need of a job” “please bear with us whilst http://www.lisaimwunderland.com is undergoing important maintenance work”. Turns out though that you are not allowed to park in front of fire hydrants… I picked up my car at the towing company and paid a nice sum for this gap in knowledge of North American parking rules. I was over the moon though that the car had not been stolen.

After this I had a great time, thanks to Vero Kreuels, her boyfriend Chris, his friend Gilles and my Air Bnb host Julie.

It was so nice to see Vero again after such a long time. We also went to high school together (together with Heni) and think that we last saw each other at the graduation ball. We therefore spent a lot of time catching up on our lives since then. I am happy to see her doing very well in her life in Vancouver working designing and building highrise apartment blocks in Vancouver in her profession as architect. Together with Chris and Gilles (both FELLOW Brits and Big 4 graduates), we also enjoyed three lovely and relaxed evenings on their roof terrace with view of the Vancouver beach and skyline. I particularly liked the British/German BBQ with sausage and salad and Banoffee Pie.

Julie, my Canadian Vancouver Air Bnb host, and I took the sea bus and walked up Lynn Valley Peak with a great view of Vancouver on Monday. It gave us lots of time to chat and I heard many interesting stories and experiences from her.

Altogether, I had three Air Bnb bookings in Canada and had a good experience in all of them. It is nice to stay and talk with local Canadians and get a glimpse into their lives. In general, I found the Canadians extremely friendly, relaxed and good humoured. I was most impressed with the highest level of queuing: at a bus stop at rush hour in downtown Vancouver!