Through My Lens: Kits Pool
It’s summer ― though you wouldn’t know it by the temperature outside. No, I’m not talking about today’s weather, but the date.
Today is the first day of the May Long Weekend, officially known as the Victoria Day weekend. It’s the weekend when Canadians traditionally open up the cottage or go off on their first camping weekend of the summer.
In Vancouver, it’s also opening weekend for our collection of outdoor swimming pools. Which is why I’m posting a photo of Kitsilano Pool.
Kits Pool is 137.5 m long, making it the longest pool in Canada, and is the only salt-water pool in Vancouver. It’s located alongside Kitsilano Beach.
Cruising Season
Yup, it’s that time of year. The cruising season is upon us here in Vancouver.
A cruise ship sails out of Vancouver’s Burrard Inlet, with Washington’s Mount Baker in the distance.
The first ship arrived on April 18, but the season didn’t really kick into high gear until this week with the arrival and departure of 13 ships in eight days. From now until the end of September, between five and seven ships will dock in Vancouver every week, with each ship staying just long enough to offload its passengers and get the next bunch safely on board.
It’s rush hour — three cruise ships leave Canada Place within an hour of each other.
A total of 17 cruise ships will be based in Vancouver this season, setting sail each week for Alaska. Their route takes them through the Inside Passage along BC’s coast. Later this afternoon, I’ll be boarding one of those ships, but my destination is nowhere near as exotic as Alaska. I’m headed south — to Seattle.
Holland America has five ships based in Vancouver this season.
Dishing: Bitter Tasting Room
Many years ago (too many to share with you), I was backpacking around Europe with a friend. One hot, sunny afternoon in late September, we climbed 509 stairs to the top of Cologne’s beautiful cathedral. Once back on terra firma, we headed straight to McDonald’s for some lunch. (I know, I know … but what can I say? We were students on a tight budget.)
When I saw beer on the menu, I ordered one, despite the fact that I didn’t actually like beer and had never managed to swallow more than a sip or two. But hey ― it was a really hot day and I had just climbed up and down the equivalent of a 30-storey building. And yeah, I did think it was pretty cool that I could buy a beer at McDonald’s.
You know what? It was the best beer I had ever tasted. I became an instant and committed convert to the beverage. My theory is that, until that point in my (then) young life, I had simply not been introduced to the right kind of beer. It took a German beer ― in McDonald’s no less, but German nonetheless ― to get me hooked on the stuff. I’ve enjoyed many a cold one since.
Why do I have beer on the brain, you ask? It’s because this past weekend was the first of the year that we Vancouverites enjoyed summer-like temperatures. And so, I thought, what better time to introduce my readers to one of the best craft beer taprooms in the city.
Bitter Tasting Room is located near the corner of Hastings and Carroll in what is actually more Downtown Eastside than Gastown. I’ve been here a couple of times ― the first time, ironically, at the suggestion of a friend who doesn’t herself drink much beer (so I knew it must be good if she was willing to go), and the last time with my sister just last night.
Bitter offers a selection of more than 60 bottled beers from North America or Europe, with a particularly strong selection of Belgium beers. 
You can also order a pint of draught from a choice of about eight local craft beers. Or you can order a flight of beers, and sample three at once.
The food is typical German and English pub fare — sausages, Scotch eggs, and a killer kale Caesar salad are a few examples. In wintertime, I enjoyed a tasty dish of cassoulet, a slow-cooked stew made with duck confit, pork belly, sausage, and braised beans that comes from the Languedoc region of France.
Bitter is part of the Heather Hospitality Group and I have yet to be disappointed by an evening spent in one of their establishments.
Through My Lens: Nitobe Memorial Garden
I took this photo last Friday in the beautiful Nitobe Memorial Garden. This garden is located at the opposite corner of the UBC campus from my office ― which makes for a nice walk when I’m on my lunch break. As I’ve noted before, I think UBC is a beautiful campus. The Nitobe Memorial Garden only reaffirms my belief.
Great Blue Herons
The herons are back!
A sure sign of spring for me ― even more than crocuses or cherry blossoms in bloom ― is when the Pacific Great Blue Herons return to Stanley Park. They arrived a few weeks ago. This is the thirteenth consecutive year they’re nesting in what is one of the largest urban Great Blue Heron colonies in North America. Last year, the Stanley Park heronry hosted 86 mating pairs, which produced 169 fledglings.
The heronry is fenced off to keep people from walking beneath the nests, and metal flashing placed around the base of the trees keeps the raccoons from climbing the trees. The eggs are at risk from bald eagles, though, which also live in the park.
The Pacific Great Blue Heron is the largest heron native to North America.
Joe Fortes
I wanted to publish this post last month, but I had to wait for a break in the rain so I could take the photo. And … well … I had to wait quite awhile. I finally got my chance last weekend.
This photo is of a fountain in Alexandra Park that stands facing English Bay Beach. The fountain was erected in honour of Joe Fortes. There’s also a popular downtown restaurant named after Joe Fortes, and the local branch of the Vancouver Public Library is named after him. If you live in Vancouver’s West End, eventually you’re going to ask (as I did), “Who’s this Joe Fortes guy they keep naming things after?”
Joe Fortes was born in Trinidad and Tobago in 1863, and he arrived in Vancouver, via England, in 1885. He first started up a shoeshine business, then worked as a bartender and a porter.
When he wasn’t working, he hung out at English Bay, acting as a volunteer lifeguard. In 1897, the city of Vancouver made his volunteer position official when he was put on the payroll as the city’s first lifeguard. He lived in a little cottage just above the beach on Bidwell Street, and is credited with saving more than a hundred people from drowning, and with teaching thousands of children how to swim.
When Joe Fortes died in 1922, his funeral was attended by the mayor, the chief of police, and thousands of Vancouver citizens ― the largest public funeral Vancouver had ever seen. There was also a moment of silence held in the city’s schools.
On February 1, 2013 (which is why I wanted to publish this post a month ago), Canada Post issued a stamp featuring Joe Fortes to commemorate Black History Month. Joe Fortes is an appropriate choice for this year’s stamp as 2013 is the 150th anniversary of the year of his birth.
Vancouver’s 93rd Annual Polar Bear Swim
I can’t believe I’ve lived in this neighbourhood for 14 winters, and today was the first time I witnessed the annual New Year’s Day Polar Bear Swim. My reaction? They’re all nuts.
Vancouver’s Polar Bear Swim has been going on since 1920, and is one of the largest in the world. There are more than 2000 registered swimmers, but estimates of how many actually go into the water are as high as 10,000.
I’ll let the photos speak for themselves. (Note the guys in beaver hats enjoying their Timmy’s coffee and Timbits.)
Dishing: Monk McQueens
Last night was one night I regretted showing up late to the party. Monk McQueens at Stamps Landing on the south side of False Creek has been a Vancouver landmark ever since it opened during Expo 86. And yet, I’d never been. The announcement that it was shutting its doors for the last time on December 31 of this year was what finally motivated me to experience this famous fresh seafood and oyster bar for myself.
I made an occasion of it by reserving a table for the same night a friend from Boston was going to be in town. And so, five of us gathered last night to enjoy a leisurely dinner and a bit of a catch-up. Our table in one of the corner windows gave us a terrific view of False Creek.
The food was delicious. My Bostonian friend and I shared a half dozen oysters on the half shell. For our mains, our party of five sampled almost every type of seafood on the menu: halibut, sea bass, sablefish, lobster, and scallops. We washed it all down with a very nice bottle of wine, and finished with coffee, brown sugar vanilla bean cheesecake, and Calvados. I can’t think of a nicer way to spend four hours with good friends on one of the last nights of the year.
Mahony & Sons Public House is moving in after Monk’s vacates the premises and will open sometime next summer. As much as I enjoy a good public house, it won’t be the same. Last night was proof that just because an establishment has been around since the Dark Ages (aka the 1980s) doesn’t mean it should be taken for granted. Pity I did.
Merry Christmas!
St. Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver
Through My Lens: Snow on the Mountains
Every once in a while, this time of year, the rain stops for a day, and you get a peek at what all that precipitation has done to the local mountains. I took this photo two days ago.
There and Back Again 