This morning I woke up at about 8:30 AM and traveled by Skytrain to Spokes Bicycle Rentals in Downtown Vancouver. I rented a bicycle from Spokes for the entire day and proceeded on a lengthy bicycle tour of the city.
From Spokes, I biked a couple of blocks to meet up with the Seawall Trail. From there, I followed the Seawall trail into Stanley Park.
The first stop in Stanley Park were the totem poles. Like many parts of the West Coast, the area of Vancouver was originally settled by Native Americans whose presence and culture has mostly disappeared from their land. The totem poles in Stanley Park bring awareness and understanding to the Native American culture by explaining the significance and meaning behind the Totem Pole design. From what I understood, each of the totem poles is comprised of anywhere from 3-10 sections. Each of the sections includes a semblance of an animal or human face. The animal or human face is meant to symbolize pride, appreciation, values, or other ideas that the creators want to publically display.
A few miles into cycling the Seawall, I noticed a side-trail heading into the interior of Stanley Park to Beaver Lake. Almost immediately the trail was surrounded by greenery and a creek. After about five minutes of walking, I arrived at Beaver Lake. Beaver Lake is a rapidly disappearing lake, which is predicted to naturally disappear as early as 2020 without human intervention. Apparently, it is very common for forest lakes to be overtaken by the forest, especially if they have shallow water levels. It was interesting to be able to visually see the forest overtaking the lake in a relatively short amount of geological time. The trees, vegetation, and weeds at the edge of the forest were slowly growing throughout the lake, and it seemed like just a matter of time before
We hear about oceans that once covered large parts of continents, Seas which used to encompass huge areas of California, modern-day desert landscapes which were previously rainforests, and other large-scale natural transitions which have occurred over millions of years. Due to the enormous scale of these transitions, it can often be difficult to fully grasp and understand the processes due to the large amount of time in which they happen. For that reason, it was nice to experience Beaver Lake where the process is occurring relatively quickly.
Much of the architecture throughout Vancouver is stunning, and seems to do a great job at incorporating nature into their designs. Below is a building I passed while cycling through Vancouver. It was so beautiful and unique that I just had to stop to take a photo. The entire building is 48,000 SF, consisting of 16 approximately 3,000 SF units. More information about the building can be accessed via the following link: http://www.condopedia.com/wiki/Eugenia_Place
Along the Seawall trail, the city has installed “open air museums,” which contain publicly-accessible art exhibits which add to the experience of local residents and tourists. My favorite of these “open air museums” was “A-Maze-Ing” laughter. This exhibit consists of 10-15 figures of a hysterically laughing person. The purpose of the art is to create dialogue among people experiencing the art and to get them to think.
Vancouver is one of the top cities I’ve visited so far. While cycling along False Creek, I began thinking about what makes Vancouver so special. In doing so, I came up with the following things Vancouver has done and is doing right:
- Architecture
- The city of Vancouver understands that buildings are not simply investments or homes, they become permanent parts of our natural environment. When a building is beautiful, unique, or creative it serves to inspire and bring pleasure to every single person who lives in the city and passes by that building. So many of the high-rise buildings in Vancouver are stunning and can only be described as works of art. Also, almost all of the office buildings have come sort of over-the-top water feature incorporated into the publicly-visible common areas of the building
- Green spaces
- Vancouver has done an excellent job at creating and maintaining green areas throughout the city. Stanley Park is like Vancouver’s version of Central Park, and provides residents and tourists with an opportunity to experience solitude and get lost in nature, all while being within a few minutes of Downtown.
- Density
- Vancouver has caught on to the idea that high density is a good thing, instead of a bad thing. The benefits of high density include walkability, less expensive to buid infrastructure/public transporation because it’s a smaller area, more amenities within a shorter distance,
- Public transportation
- Vancouver built the Sky Train which is a phenomenal public transportation line. This public transportation system is the reason that Vancouver can build high-density residential and commercial projects throughout Vancouver.
But then again, are there more factors at play in Vancouver’s success. Here is an article about the vast amount of Asian wealth which has been entering Vancouver during the past few years. This may be one of the reasons why these high-rise residential projects are economically feasible.
After cycling for about 4 hours, I arrived at Granville Island, which is located across the bay/river from Downtown Vancouver. Granville Island is a hip, high-pedestrian-traffic area which includes a university, art studios/workshops, boutiques, restaurants, and the Granville Public Market.
Granville Island made a perfect spot to grab lunch, walk around the Island, and rest from the last few hours of cycling. I walked through Granville Public Market and came across a nice cafe with healthy-looking, vegetarian options. I ordered a beet salad, broccoli salad, and broccoli quiche, all of which were flavorful and amazing.
From Granville Island, I continued along the coast to Kits Beach, one of the most popular beaches in Vancouver. I redeemed the Groupon I purchased last night, and went kayaking out on the water for a couple hours. It was a difficult workout, especially following 4 hours of cycling in the heat. During the kayaking trip, there were beautiful views of the Vancouver skyline and Stanley Park. After kayaking, I backtracked on the coastal cycling trail for a few miles before taking a bridge across the river to return to Downtown Vancouver.
After returning the bicycle, I ate at a vietnamese restaurant and headed back to New Westminster to spend the night at the AirBNB.
