Granville Island Public Market 3

The strawberry picture, with my hand placed next to the strawberries, at the same depth of field (no optical illusion here), will not be a reason I will like this market....

Granville Island Public Market 2

So then, that was the first time I felt like I liked Vancouver - previously the best I had felt is that maybe I can learn to like this place...

Granville Island Public Market 1

Went to Granville Island Public Market today, with my cynical goggles on - I mean it can not possibly be better than Marché Jean-Talon, right? Wrong, it turned out.

The island, upon entrance, reminded me of Îles-de-la-Madeleine - so obviously I was in love already. Yeah it is also touristy, but well, so is Îles-de-la-Madeleine... There was this street performer, yep, those that make me stop and gape in wonderment. He was doing one of those chain-me-and-I’ll-unchain-myself trick which is also cool, but what gets me most is their wit... And as fate had it, one of the audiences that he called upon, happened to be a Montréaler... So here I am already crying... And I walk into the market itself... whoa... I immediately noticed the fresh fish selection much much better than in Montréal, obviously, and the pasta and chacuterie almost as good as or better than ours, not so obviously... The Vancouverite who sat next to me in the plane on my way here said at some point “the food is better in Vancouver, than Montréal”, to which I gasped, “really????”, sensing I must be offended, he immediately said “well just a notch”, to which I thought “pfft..”. I am having second thoughts about the “pffft...” now... The chesee I think Montréal might win - I have mentioned before that Montréal has excellent cheese?

Stunning views of downtown, and rich yachts on False Creek (so called because it is really not a creek, but an extension of the ocean itself)... Me thinks me is sold...

Oh also they had a big sign for a fisherman’s wharf.... mmm mmmmm... I can nit wait t get my own place...

Semi trip

took a half hour ride in a 40-foot long trailer, with a dog... and a man (a Quebecois man may I add, who spoke with a non-urban Quebecois accent, which most of my Montréaler friends do not have... but since I would hear it like 25% of the time when I was there, it made for a nostalgic trip down memory lane...) Also my first half hour of French conversation in two weeks...

TRIUMF Guest House

Advertised as a 'boutique hotel in Vancouver'... it was truly a very nice house... I felt not too happy during my time there for a lot of reasons like I was sick the first week, then it was raining quite a bit, I missed my friends, and... the UBC campus where the house was, is soooo sooo desolate... On the one side mountains, on the other side the ocean, and trees in between... Later, one of my friends would ask, what's not to like about that? And for a long time I had thought if I had a house on the beach, I would need nothing else... But there's a difference between 'on the beach with the waves breaking withing earshot' and far enough from the beach that you don't hear them... And then add to that there is almost no life... Oh and also I went there during reading week (the spring break equivalent), so... They have state of the art buildings and all, but really UBC got no character... It might have been named one of the most beautiful campuses in the world but it is so bleh....

First Beer in Vancouver

From a microbrasserie around here... Can not hold a candle to Montréal beer... man I miss Montréal beer... a couple days later I would be chatting to someone still in Montréal, a Vancouver wannabe, who would start talking about all the wonders of BC, and in the midst she says "the beer is so much better in BC" to which I say "no no and no... there might be somethings I am yet to discover in BC, but it is not that beer is better"... she laughs... and says to me "well the next time I come, I will bring you a Fin du Monde"... That is not one of the best beers we have... I felt kinda sorry for her - she's all BC wannabe, but she doesn't know what she's missing in Montréal!!!

First sublet Vancouver

Tonight I went to see a sublet, that I think I might take. It snowed like 5mm here and the buses were like half an hour late and they were going about super slowly... hee heh...
But, like any true Montréaler would have, I braved the tiny ice crystals pricking my face and went to see the place...

It is a 2br/2bathroom apartment and a little over my budget, but I guess I am going to take it. So he was like one of like 20-30 places I contacted, but when he wrote back, he included his website and it turned out he is a semi major musician and he looked cute (!!! I know... but sometimes it is how I roll) so I agreed to see his place. Pretty soon he added me as a friend on facebook; when I actually had the chance to go through his profile, under religious views he listed ‘love’ under political views he listed ‘love’ and I was thinking oh god damn opinion-less people!!! It reminded me of this conversation I once had with a friend, he claimed hippies were not cool, cos they never really fight for anything and they are always like oh so peaceful and all. And at that time I was kinda disappointed to hear that, cos I identified myself as a hippie (a neo-hippie, to borrow from another friend) but didn’t like opinion-less people. Punks are certainly not this way he said, they do something about things. And today he said well you are a mixture of both hippy and punk... I am not sure the punks will welcome me into their ranks... the hippies probably will (maybe also because they are opinion-less)!!!

Anyway to get back, so as expected he was a total hippy... But like I said to some people, better chill than mean, so... But he did seem to be a bit pushy... he is going to shove the parking spot down my throat and I really don’t wanna pay another $50 for parking when I can very well park on the street. So we shall see... I said yes to him... partly because I felt obligated, somehow he talked as if I promised to stay there (he didn’t say this outright, which made it hard for me to be totally pissed and walk away) and he started calling me ‘love’ in his texts and e-mails and what not - now if that’s not hippy I don’t know what is!!! So I said ok, for one month... and the first thing I did when I got home was to look for sublets for April...

Also this past week, two people told me how Vancouverites are laid back, they said this as a plus point, but I do not like people who don’t have opinions, really! So we shall see if I will find nice opinionated people in Vancouver!

Peace man!