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Post by lola on Sept 29, 2009 15:19:23 GMT
We're going to the Pacific NW in a couple of weeks for a wedding weekend in Bellingham, and will buzz up to Vancouver for Fri afternoon through Saturday noonish. Any tips for artsy types and 17 yo to sample to local flavor?
My husband plays gypsy jazz, has heard there's a good local scene.
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Post by imec on Sept 29, 2009 17:01:40 GMT
Not really familiar with the arts scene but my favorite restaurant is Raincity Grill. Vij's is very popular but I've never had the patience for the queue - maybe the hype has died down a bit now. There are a couple of cool old venues which may be worth checking to see who's playing... OrpheumCommodore Ballroom!!! I just noticed Aimee Mann is playing at the Commodore !!!! She's still on my must see (but haven't yet) list |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2009 17:22:13 GMT
I can't say what I was up to in Vancouver.
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Post by imec on Sept 29, 2009 17:24:40 GMT
Of course, there is that...
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Post by fumobici on Sept 29, 2009 17:44:52 GMT
I love the VanDusen garden and eartly October can be quite nice (or not!) around here. If plants are your thing. I'm hardly ever sure what to do in Vansterdam, but I like just walking around.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2009 18:04:56 GMT
My friends from Singapore who live there call it Van Kong.
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Post by lola on Sept 29, 2009 18:41:51 GMT
Oh, nice. Thanks, imec and fumobici. Is that your neck of the woods? Kerouac, I will respect your (semi) silence on the subj.
Van Kong? As in Little Hong Kong?
The Commodore is right around the corner from our hotel, the Westin Grand. I like that tune from A. Mann, and driving her off in a police car at the end is a fun touch. That is the night we'll be there.
I love the Raincity Tomato Tasting menu, $91 with wine. The early prix fixe looks closer to our budget, though.
We enjoy botanical gardens; my daughter and I just got back from strolling through ours, in fact. VanDusen looks handy to downtown, too.
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Post by imec on Sept 29, 2009 18:47:05 GMT
The early prix fixe looks closer to our budget, though. Earlier is probably better at that time of year - the light will be beautriful. They have a massive winelist of ALL PNW wines. They serve interesting wine "flights" (small servings of several wines). |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2009 18:58:42 GMT
Yes, when Hong Kong stopped being a British possession, so many people from Hong Kong moved to Vancouver that it changed the city forever.
My Singaporean friends are "real Canadians" and embraced the Canadian way of life, even sending their daughter to a French school so that she would be completely bilingual. They regret very much that so many of the Asians remain only in their own community.
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Post by fumobici on Sept 29, 2009 21:33:07 GMT
Yes when HK reverted back to the PRC there was a huge influx of fleeing "refugees" to Vancouver. I've put the term in quotations because one condition the government put on the immigrants was they had to be able to prove themselves in possession of a large sum of cash- so these "refugees" were almost exclusively very well-to-do. Not your usual economic migrants.
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Post by imec on Sept 29, 2009 21:46:09 GMT
Do artsy types like the Blues? If so, you might consider The Yale - not exactly a dive, but a relaxed, no attitude type place that often has great music and relatively cheap drinks. I like The Yale. |
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Post by lola on Sept 29, 2009 23:09:51 GMT
I appreciate it, imec. I'm forwarding this info to the Hard to Please one-third of our party. Yale looks like fun. I wouldn't mind seeing Maria Muldaur.
Does a 17 yo get carded when entering bars and such with obvious parental types?
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Post by imec on Sept 29, 2009 23:42:49 GMT
Does a 17 yo get carded when entering bars and such with obvious parental types? Hard to say, depends partially on the establishment's policy and partially on how busy it is. (Have you been to Van before? Do you know about Granville Island?) |
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Post by lola on Sept 30, 2009 16:22:15 GMT
No. None of has even been to PNW. Vancouver is a side trip from the weekend wedding festivities, since we weren't invited to the bachelor party and want to stay out of the bride's hair. My daughter and I will be driving up from Tacoma, where she's visiting U of Puget Sound, and we'll rendezvous downtown with my brother, his wife and my husband coming up from SEA.
So we won't have time to do the city anything like justice. (Maybe in future if Hannah likes UPS, though.) Is Granville Island something we could check out on a Sat morning? We have to be back in Bellingham for the rehearsal dinner Sat evening.
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Post by imec on Sept 30, 2009 17:01:46 GMT
Yes, Granville Island is a 10 minute drive from your hotel just across False Creek. It's a reclaimed industrial area which is now home to a public marker as well as shops, artist studios, restaurants etc. It would be a great place to spend a Saturday morning. (We spent a Sunday morning there while on a surprise trip I planned for our for our 20th anniversary. We stocked up on food to take to a beach house I rented for us on the Sunshine Coast). If you go, be sure to check out the locally made goat's cheese and of course, the various versions of smoked salmon.
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 30, 2009 17:25:10 GMT
Re: being carded. Have your daughter take along an i.d. of her older sister. They aren't going to look that closely.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 30, 2009 21:38:12 GMT
I can't say what I was up to in Vancouver. haha....kerouac I can only guess! Probably what I was up to, having fun down on the East Side! (sorry lola). Vancouver is a lovely city, it's a pleasure even just walking around some of the areas. My step-daughter and an aunt and Uncle live right in Vancouver, makes me want to be there. |
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Post by lola on Sept 30, 2009 22:20:53 GMT
Note to any law enforcement authorities monitoring this site: Bixa is just kidding, and of course we would never dream of trying her jesting suggestion.
Thanks, deyana. We are looking forward to it.
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Post by lola on Oct 7, 2009 3:54:09 GMT
Update: 2 days before we're supposed to leave, my husband realizes he has mislaid his passport. So:
A. He finds it and everything procedes as planned.
or
B. We skip the Canadian portion, losing the price of the hotel scored on Hotwire, and remain in the good ol USA.
or
C. Girls' night out in Vancouver for my daughter and me, and deal with husbandly pouting.
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Post by imec on Oct 7, 2009 3:58:36 GMT
Not touching that one.
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Post by lola on Oct 7, 2009 4:34:58 GMT
I'll look for the passport tomorrow. Luckily he knows it's his own fault.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 7, 2009 14:23:37 GMT
Yes. I imagine that was carefully explained to him.
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Post by lola on Oct 7, 2009 14:38:06 GMT
Ha. It was in the scanner. Vancouver ho.
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Post by fumobici on Oct 7, 2009 15:57:41 GMT
Looks like you're OK on the weather, it's been mostly sunny and mild and it isn't supposed to turn wet until Monday or Tuesday. Of course that is all subject to change around here in October!
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Post by imec on Oct 7, 2009 16:15:54 GMT
What?! You mean he's going by himself?  |
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