Dishing: Paul
After the upheaval of the past few years, I am still marvelling at what a treat it is to be able to meet up with friends in restaurants again. Such a little thing, really. And yet such a big thing.
And so it was that I found myself on Robson Street for a lunch date yesterday. Paul is as ubiquitous in Paris as Starbucks is in Vancouver and I was thrilled when I heard that a location of this longtime French institution was coming to my home city.
Paul in the Jardin des Tuileries
The bakery and café’s Vancouver location — the only one in all of Canada — has been open since 2021, but yesterday was my first visit (because, you know, pandemic).
Paul on Robson Street
You have to suspend disbelief to think you are in Paris, though. Although my crêpe aux champignons et aux épinards (mushroom and spinach crepe) was excellent, the size of the pastries we perused in the display case on our way out were supersized, not small and delicate the way they are in French bakeries. And the seating area was light and airy with tables quite far apart, not squished together as they are in Parisian cafés.
But the service was very Canadian and it was a wonderful way to while away a couple of hours with a friend. I will be back.
The Beginning of the End?
Look who’s back!
Yesterday, Vancouver welcomed its first cruise ship in 891 days. Holland America’s Koningsdam stopped for a day at Canada Place, after spending Saturday in Victoria. If ever there was a sign that we are past the pandemic, I’m thinking this is it.
Except we’re not past it. Not really. A sixth wave is on its way and those of us who are immune-compromised or work in health care or have friends or family who are immune-compromised or work in health care or are not yet eligible for vaccines (think babies) know there are still lots of risks. There has been an awful lot of talk about how we have to learn how to live with Covid, which doesn’t seem to give much consideration to those still at high risk of dying of Covid.
That aside, tourism is a billion-dollar industry in Vancouver, and those of us who work in tourism and hospitality welcome the news that our city is once again a safe destination for anyone who wants to visit. The Port of Vancouver has offered shore power to cruise ships since 2009, which means that 60 percent of the ships that dock here can run on lower-emission electrical power while in port instead of their diesel-powered auxiliary engines.
While I was taking this photo, a so-called Freedom Rally was gathering behind me to protest vaccines. I’m not sure what their issue is at this point since all of BC’s remaining restrictions concerning Covid-19 were lifted last week.
As I watched the protestors for a moment, a young man walked past me, wearing a black sweatshirt with the word “Ukraine” in large blue and yellow letters. The irony of the moment made my head spin.
Pandemic Murals
Midday on a Saturday afternoon about six weeks ago, I went for a walk through downtown Vancouver to see what it looked like during a pandemic lockdown.
It was heart breaking.
There was no traffic to speak of. Tables and chairs on outdoor patios were covered in a thick layer of dust. All the stores were shuttered and most of them boarded up with plywood to discourage break-ins.
That was the day when it hit me what this pandemic is doing to our society.
A few weeks later, I heard that many of the boarded-up stores had hired artists to paint murals. So I went back for another look.
Many of the murals are rather uplifting. They certainly made me feel much more cheerful.
This week, British Columbia began Phase 2 of its pandemic lockdown. And so I took yet another walk to see the transformation.
Traffic levels were what you’d expect for a sunny afternoon. Many of the stores — which were never ordered closed, but they closed anyways — are open again with all physical-distancing measures in place.
It still doesn’t look like Vancouver of three months ago, but it’s a glimpse of what our new normal will be.
For now, at any rate.
Happy Birthday, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra!
I went to a birthday party today. And oh, what a party. The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra hosted 100 free musical performances to mark 100 years since its first-ever concert on January 26, 1919. For 12 hours today, 1000 musicians performed across 10 stages, including several at the Orpheum Theatre, the symphony’s home since 1977.
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra dress rehearsal, January 26, 2019
That’s where my friend and I headed early this morning. We wanted to catch the orchestra during its last rehearsal before tonight’s concert. I was thrilled — despite the occasional flashback to my sometimes tedious high-school band practices — to watch the symphony’s new (as of July 2018) Music Director Otto Tausk lead his musicians through a dress rehearsal of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition and Grieg’s Peer Gynt.
Maestro Bramwell Tovey’s last performance as Music Director of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, June 18, 2018
After a leisurely lunch, my friend and I returned for the afternoon and I was taken aback by how the crowds had grown since the morning. The lobby and auditorium were now filled to capacity. The most heart-warming sight were the dozens of strollers parked outside the box office; scores of parents had brought their toddlers to the Orpheum to introduce them to symphonic music. (Although we didn’t check out it out, there was also an Instrument Petting Zoo for the children.)
Vancouver is world famous for its natural beauty — which is a good enough reason to visit, no doubt. But culture? Not so much. That’s not what attracts the millions of tourists who visit Vancouver every year.
Even so, I personally think that the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra is the cultural jewel of this city and it is the arts organization I frequent the most.
Happy birthday, VSO!
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra performs Verdi’s Requiem, November 12, 2016
Through My Lens: Christmas Moose
Is this not the most Canadian holiday display ever?
This moose is lighting up the North Point of Canada Place, where the cruise ships dock every summer. The pier does a good job of cleaning up for the holidays; every year it puts up a number of window and light displays, which it calls Christmas at Canada Place.
Some friends and I went out for drinks the other night at one of the hotel bars near the waterfront. When we finished imbibing, we took a walk along Canada Place to check out the light displays and so I could take some photos. That’s an almost-full moon just to the left of the moose’s antlers.
Vancouver is so pretty this time of year.
Expo Lands
When Expo 86 closed its gates 30 years ago today, it finished as a far more successful world’s fair than it ever expected to be. Sure, Vancouver had high hopes for the fair and saw it as a great way to celebrate its 100th birthday, as well as the 100th anniversary of the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway that brought British Columbia into Confederation. A total of 38 countries participated, but it was getting the United States, the Soviet Union, China, and Cuba to all participate that was the real coup. And the number of visitors was far greater than predicted. Most British Columbians credit Expo with bringing the province out of one of its worst recessions.
On October 14, 1986, the question on everyone’s mind was: what happens to the fairgrounds? Prior to Expo 86, the 90-hectare site was an industrial wasteland. Sawmills and railway lands had been expropriated to make room for the fairgrounds (it boggles my mind that Vancouver had working sawmills in its downtown core in my lifetime), but with rezoning came all sorts of possibilities.
In the end, what came to be known as the Expo lands was sold to a single Chinese developer. The price was controversial, but in return for a good deal on the land, the developer agreed to build child-care centres, playgrounds, a community centre, and a school. Furthermore, the condos had to include a certain percentage of family-size units and affordable housing.
The result? A slow and careful development of a entirely new inner-city neighbourhood that, once populated, doubled the number of people living in Vancouver’s downtown core. It’s not completely finished; the last section still remains a parking lot while awaiting the demolishment of the Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaducts ― the remnants of the freeway into downtown Vancouver that never saw completion.
Vancouver is consistently rated as one of the most livable cities in the world and the development of the Expo lands has a lot to do with that rating. Today, the area is covered in condo towers. Agreed, they are not the most creative architecturally. But you only have to take a walk through the neighbourhood and marvel that, only 30 years ago, there was nothing there but a wide swath of empty land.
Through My Lens: Float Planes
There was a wee bit of excitement in Vancouver today about a couple of visitors. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are in British Columbia for an eight-day visit and today was their whistle-stop tour of Vancouver.
What I find amusing about the media coverage of the Royal Tour is how every story highlights that the Royals are being flown around the province by float plane. Float planes are, to put it mildly, a way of life in coastal BC. For some communities, it’s the only way in or out.
I took this photo of the planes docked at the Vancouver Harbour Flight Centre (aka Downtown Vancouver’s seaplane terminal) last summer. The Duke and Duchess arrived here from Victoria this morning ― by float plane.
Through My Lens: Granville Lights
I have no particular reason for posting this photo, except that I think it’s kind of cool. Granville Street is the heart of Vancouver’s entertainment district and it can get a little zany at night ― especially on weekends.
Those white vertical lights you see in the photo were installed to dress up the street for the 2010 Winter Olympics, as a nod to its neon past. At one time, Granville Street was said to have the highest concentration of neon in the world.
Canada Place
There’s been some big-time reminiscing going on this month in the Vancouver media about Expo 86. Yup, it’s been 30 years since the World’s Fair came to town.
More than 22 million people checked out Expo 86 between May 2 and October 13, 1986. That’s an awful lot of people and Expo has long been considered a turning point in our city’s history. According to Wikipedia, Vancouver went from being “a sleepy provincial backwater to a city with global clout.” A tad excessive on both counts, I’d say, but that’s Wikipedia for you. At any rate, you get the idea. Expo 86 was a really, really big deal for Vancouver.
I wasn’t living here at the time, so my Expo experience was limited to three days at the height of summer when I made a visit home to my parents. I remember some phenomenal pavilions and, yes, a lot of time spent standing in line to get into those pavilions.
The Canada Pavilion was located at what is today known as Canada Place. One of the better legacies of Expo 86 and now an iconic Vancouver landmark, Canada Place is home to the Vancouver Convention Centre, the Pan Pacific Hotel, and Vancouver’s cruise ship terminal.
One other fun bit are the Heritage Horns located on the roof of the Pan Pacific Hotel. Every day at noon, the ten horns sound the first four notes of “O Canada.”
Depending on which way the wind is blowing, I can hear them from my place, more than two kilometres away.
Through My Lens: Robson Square Ice Rink
Robson Square Ice Rink was looking mighty festive tonight. I wasn’t the only one who thought so ― check out the line of people on the left side of the photo. They’re all waiting for their turn on the ice.
There and Back Again 