Susanne Stanley Park is Vancouver’s famous urban paradise and I knew weeks in advance that I would need to explore it in detail, preferably on a bike. So this afternoon at about 1:30 pm I set off from the UBC Campus, and navigated my way downtown by bus, taking 3 buses to get to the eastern edge of Stanley Park. This was my first chance to glance at the city of Vancouver. It is a relatively new city and according to some accounts, its origins date back to 1792 , the year when Captain George Vancouver explored this region. Most buildings downtown west of Granville Avenue were built relatively recently as Vancouver has experienced a huge building boom over the last few years. A large part of downtown is covered by modern residential skyscrapers and Vancouver’s building frenzy continues unabated. It’s evident everywhere that this is a very popular place to live.
Rowing Club at the entrance to Stanley Park
My rental bicycle was waiting for me at a place called Spokes Bicycle Rentals, a place that had been mentioned to me several weeks ago by the Vancouver’s Visitors Association. I met one of their managers, a young sporty guy named Phil who was extremely helpful in helping me lay out my itinerary for this discovery on two wheels. We started chatting and I found out that Phil is originally from Montreal and moved to Vancouver 3 years ago. He loves the outdoors and has gotten involved in snowboarding, mountainbiking and diving and he mentioned that Vancouver is among the world’s top dive sites.
Phil from Spokes Bicycle Rentals
