We arrived at our destination in the Robson Area at 1:00 am. The next morning we took to the streets. The Robson area is Vancouver's busiest shopping and dining area. Vancouver is a very international city with an incredible number of shops and restaurants from nearly every part of the globe.
We caught the 044 bus on Burrard Street to the Museum of Anthropology located on the University of British Columbia campus. This museum contains one of the largest collections of Northwest Coast First Nations art. Native art is not my favorite, but there was a vast collection of work from the late Bill Reid, a Haida (HIGH-dah) artist. The Haida are indigenous people from the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America from Canada through Alaska. They were a fishing community that relied heavily on salmon. Many of the dugout canoes, woven baskets, and bentwood boxes for which they are known were on display. Tribal art from other parts of the world were on exhibit as well. Photos were permitted, and the museum provides free guided tours.
Touring the museum took a large part of the afternoon but on the way back to Robson area we stopped at Point Grey to see the oldest building in Vancouver, the Hastings Mill Store. It was closed!! I was really disappointed. Apparently it contains more tribal relics and some historical logging photographs. At least I got to see a beautiful view of the Strait of Georgia.
We headed back to the shopping district to try some food and sample some Canadian microbrews. We stopped at the nearby Winking Judge Pub and sampled the Devil's Elbow IPA (Howe Sound Inn & Brewing Company, 5.7% ABV, 68 IBUs). The actual brewery is in Squamish, BC which is about 45 minutes north of Vancouver. We also sampled Scandal Ale, an organic beer brewed by Scandal Brewing Company located in Prince George, BC 8.5 hours north of Vancouver (5% ABV, 17 IBUs). Afterwards, we settled on a small Asian noodle bowl restaurant and found it very delicious.
The next day, we decided to check out the Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver Police Museum, and walk around the Chinatown and Gastown areas. The art gallery was interesting but many of the "modern" art exhibits were from the 70s. I felt that it was a little dated and needed some fresh (more current) exhibits. No photos permitted of course. We moved on to the Vancouver Police Museum and found it very interesting. The museum was located in the old coroner's building and contained a wide display of contraband (weapons, drugs, etc.), evidence from murder scenes, historical police uniforms, and other intriguing artifacts from Vancouver's criminal underworld.
After completing the tour, we headed over to Chinatown. It was interesting to check out all of the unique foods and souvenirs for sale in the markets. After a stroll through the 2 x 4 block area, we headed to Gastown, a national historical site in Vancouver. This was my favorite area.
Gastown was Vancouver's oldest neighborhood established in 1867. The architecture and layout of the area was beautiful. I am not surprised it was named 4th Most Stylish Neighbourhood in the World in 2012. There is a faux steam-powered clock, restored for tourism. The Gastown Steam Clock is located on the corner of Cambie and Water Street and was originally built to cover a steam grate. It was built to harness the steam and to prevent street people from sleeping on the spot in cold weather.
This trip was short and we were at the end of our last day. We decided to get out of the rain and sample some more Canadian microbrews. First stop was Yale Town Brewing Company where we sampled Yale Town beers. Here's the list:
Yale Town Warehouse Stout on nitro (4.5% ABV)
Yale Town Brick & Beam IPA (5.8% ABV, IBUs?)
Yale Town Downtown Brown, English Brown Ale on nitro
Yale Town Nagila Pale Ale (5% ABV)
At another pub, we sampled beers from Granville Island Brewing Company and Driftwood Brewery including:
Granville Island English Pale Ale (5% ABV, 18 IBUs)
Driftwood Fat Tug IPA (7% ABV, 80 IBUs)
Onward to Steamworks Brewing Company! Wow, writing this down, I can't believe we drank all this beer.
Heroica Oatmeal Stout (5% ABV, 35 IBUs)
Empress IPA (5% ABV, IBUs?)
We stopped in another pub where we were lucky enough to catch the end to the Arkansas/Auburn football game. We sampled from Parallel 49 Brewing, Red Truck Brewery, and Russell Brewing Company.
Parallel 49 Milk Stout (ABV 4.2%, 14 IBUs)
Red Truck Ale (5.2% ABV, IBUs?)
Red Truck Cask Strength Ale
Russell Wee Angry Scotch Ale (6.5% ABV, 30 IBUs)
We tasted the Belgian Delirium Tremens, Belgian Blond Ale (8.5% ABV)
The next day was all travel, leaving Vancouver at 6:00 am. It was a great trip!
