Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Return from Vancouver



We'll get the movie out of the way first. Here's Bruce going on a stool ride in The Lennox Bar, Vancouver!

DaveP, his wife Sheri, Laura, Cristina, Bruce, Shaun and I all went to Vancouver, B.C. over the weekend. It's taken me this long to get my act together to post a report! On Thursday Bruce, Shaun, Dave and Joel went to Übers Tavern near Dave's house for quite a lot of beer. They have a great selection there, I was impressed. The three of us UK guys crashed at Daves as we had to catch the early (and only) train to Vancouver!

On Friday morning, Cristina and Laura met Dave, Sheri, Bruce, Shaun and I at Kings Street Station in Seattle where we had to pick up our tickets. Seat reservations are given out on a first come first served basis; so if you want to sit in a group you all have to get there at the same time. As we were in a group of seven Bruce drew the short straw and sat next to an elderly gentleman who within ten minutes of our company, turned his hearing aide off. The train departed at 7.30am and the journey lasted 4 hours, crawling along the coastline between Seattle and VA at around 40mph. This allowed plenty of time to sample the Gin and Tonics from the lounge cart.

When we arrived at Vancouver we made our way straight to the hotel. It was a good job we booked in advance as there was a fun run on Sunday which packed out most hotels and restaurants for the weekend.


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We wondered out downtown to go shopping. Laura got a tattoo while the rest of us mulled over where we'd have Betty Boop put on our arms. We got coffee instead. Within an hour, us guys had ended up in our new favourite establishment, The Lennox Pub, much to the disappointment of the girls. We propped ourselves up at the bar and enjoyed the Canadian bar scene for a few hours. After maybe one too many drinks I went back to the hotel for a power nap and the guys met up with the girls in Doolan's bar on Granville Street. Bruce tried to get me out of bed a while after that but it wasn't happening. I eventually caught up with the Cristina, Laura, Shaun and Bruce in the girls room for the post night party. We were all up relatively early the next morning for breakfast in the hotel restaurant. The waiter was a bit odd and Bruce found a hair in his hash brown. 'Nuff said.

We went to Granville Island (It's a peninsula!!) to browse the market in the afternoon. We got there on a little ferry, using strange Canadian money which even has Lizzy-baby's head on one side! On arriving back on the south coast, it wasn't 30 minutes before we were back in the Lennox. On Friday, Bruce had spent a considerable effort convincing the barmaid, Mallory, to let him ride the ladder behind the bar (the type for reaching obscure strains of alcohol stored up high). Naturally he never got to, so on our next visit on Saturday he told Kelly that Mallory had given him express permission to ride the ladder. This also didn't fly however she did offer to drag his stool around the bar in compensation. Hence the video above!

That evening went on from The Lennox to a few other bars and clubs of which photos exist and are yet to be screened for public viewing. Sunday morning gave us a last chance to see some of Vancouver's sunnier side. We explored down 'Sunset Beach' (flavoured false advertising) for a few hours before making our way back to the hotel to pick up our stuff and get the train back home in the evening. On the way back, we have to pass through US Customs (again) where Bruce realised that he had entered Canada on a different passport to the one he had entered the U.S. with! He now holds an office record for blagging his way through US Customs without the correct passport. This also adds to his record as he blagged his way in to the back entrance of a busy club and convinced the bouncer to check his coat in to the cloak room for him. That's not bad going by anyone's standards.

We arrived back to Seattle just after 10pm where Bruce, Shaun and I got a cab back to the apartment eventually. It was back to work as usual on Monday to re-tell tales of Canadian exploits.

Tomorrow night is Absinthe Night. We'll report back after that!