Postcard 3.2: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Photo courtesy: postcardwish

Even though I’d seen Vancouver in passing, I never got the opportunity to explore it until recently. In May, I took a short trip up to Seattle to visit my college friends. My college roommate Lilly was kind enough to host me during my stay and she, her boyfriend and I took a road trip up to Vancouver from Seattle one of the days I was there. They had recently taken a road trip there a few weeks before, so they were comfortable with guiding me around the city. Thanks to the two of them, I got to see the best of Vancouver and visited some memorable sites that I’m proud to share with you.

Food
Shabusen Yakiniku House

Lunch is ready! Photo courtesy: nep

After driving nearly three hours with no pit stops other than the Canadian border, we were hungry. So unquestionably, we were on a mission to fill our empty, growling stomachs. Our first stop in Vancouver was Shabusen Yakiniku House to partake in some Japanese food. For an all-you-can-eat lunch price of $13 and high-quality Asian food, this place was well worth the wait! The ordering process begins by selecting your food choices via a paper menu. The food is prepared yakiniku style, so you start by ordering what kind of meat you want. The meat will be served raw and you prepare it yourself by using the grill in the middle of your table. If you don’t want any meat, the menu offers a wide variety of exceptional sushi to choose from. If I had to sum up Shabusen in five words, I would say “great price, even better food!”

Fritz European Fry House

Three forks for three hungry folks.

Lilly and Anthony introduced me to poutine (pronounced “pooh-teen”), a diner staple that originated in Quebec and is now prevalent across Canada. Poutine is a delicious mixture of french fries, fresh cheese curds and gravy. Although it sounds like an odd combination, believe me when I say that once you try one cheese-oozed, gravy-dipped fry, there’s no going back. Our final stop of the day was Fritz European Fry House where we devoured poutine to our heart’s content. Needless to say, we left Vancouver full but happy.

Shopping
Robson Street

Photo courtesy: vancouver.ca

Shoppers will want to hit up Robson Street for clothes, souvenirs and food. Robson Street is a main thoroughfare in downtown Vancouver and includes shops such as Banana Republic and my favorite Canadian brand, Roots! Celebrities like Taylor Lautner, Nikki Reed and Kristen Stewart are often photographed shopping on Robson Street.

Chinatown

Photo courtesy: EsslingerBrian

Vancouver’s Chinatown is one of North America’s largest and most historic Chinatowns. The district includes a wide variety of Asian shops, bakeries and restaurants. We didn’t spend a lot of time here, but this is definitely a landmark you’ll want to check out when you’re in Vancouver.

Granville Island

My sweet tooth pulled me toward the cookies on display at the Granville Public Market

Granville Island is a peninsula and shopping district in Vancouver. If you like farmers markets, you’ll enjoy the public market on Granville Island. Like Pike Place Market in Seattle, this public market offers fresh produce, flowers, baked goods and more. The atmosphere has a serene old town feeling to it.

Sight-seeing
Vancouver Lookout

This is how I will always remember Vancouver.

I’m one of those people who won’t leave a travel destination without capturing at least one photo that showcases the exquisite beauty of the place. So I was willing to spend $15 to catch an elevator to the top of the Vancouver Lookout to get my 360 degree aerial view of Vancouver. While at the top of the lookout, you’ll get a sense of the beauty that Vancouver exudes with remarkable views of high rise buildings, the Pacific Ocean, North Shore and Olympic Peninsula Mountains.

Although I wish I had more than just a day to explore Vancouver, we ended up seeing and doing so much in that one day, that it felt like my trip had been divided up into a few days! I urge you to visit Vancouver and see for yourself how wonderful of a city it is.

Canadian maple cookies