Day 16 - Vancouver

 27 December 2025

With my sister joining me, I am having less time to write the blog so need to do a bit of catch up to the 1st January from here. 

After a bit of sleep in for everyone, we all headed off to explore a bit of Vancouver city. It was quite brisk outside and still very cloudy. We first wandered through China Town and into the Chinese garden. 

China Town was a smallish area, but somehow as we moved between there and Gas Town, an older part of Vancouver, we wandered through a couple of rough streets and had our first experience of the "Zombie" drug problems. 

We quickly moved through, watched the old steam clock and tourist shops before heading around the harbour for lunch. It was bitterly cold by the water so headed back into the shopping precinct to find a Pandora for the girls and a vintage clothing shop for Joshua. 

Joshua and Alexandria warming up by the fire in the pub.

My youngest niece, Eryn who had never seen snow, spent the day convinced that it would be snowing soon. While we did not have the same assurance, it was nice to be able to point out the snow capped mountains across the river making it feel all the more closer. 

Tonight we went to a NHL game at Rogers Arena, watching the Vancouver Canucks and San Jose Sharks. We didn't realise it at the time, but the Canucks were last on the NHL ladder. Although us novice watchers, who had no idea about the rules, could see that the Canucks were not on their A game. Regardless, the NHL games are a spectacle in themselves with projections onto the ice, entertainment throughout and so much energy from the crowd. Even the national anthem was a show. The contrast between the American National Anthem and the Canadian National Anthems was brilliant. The former was met with stone silence. The later was show in itself with the whole crowd involved and the massive Canucks and Canadian Flags being dragged across the crowds of both sides of the Arena. 

Even we got into the enthusiasm of the crowd when the Canucks got a brilliant and clean goal. Ultimately the Canucks lost, we had no idea what was going on, but we all really loved the game.