95/365 Tuesday, 04/05/2011

Our last day in Vancouver started off cool and rainy--we took it easy and enjoyed our delicious complimentary breakfast in the Regency lounge--where platinum Hyatt members (aka the other half..) often spend more time than you'd think...comfy chairs, free beverages and snacks all with a pretty nice view of Vancouver, make it a nice place to hang out or regroup.

Later on the weather got better and so we ventured out into what turned out to be quite the hike. We walked mid-afternoonish to English Bay where we went to the Boathouse restaurant for "linner"--a midafternoon dinner/lunch/happy hour type meal. (picture) Once we were full of food we decided to head on up the seawall that goes around Stanley Park--here's a nice map.We started out at English Bay, which is way down on the left-hand side of the map and then walked all the way up and beyond the Lion's Gate bridge. I didn't quite feel up to walking the whole way around (many people seem to bike it) so at some point beyond the bridge we went inland into the park. The first section was more woodsy than park-like and I started having visions of us doing our own ""Blair witch project" and getting lost and stranded here, since it was getting a bit late. In reality we had plenty of time and after some hiking the park actually became a park....and after a bit more walking we were at the Lost Lagoon and well on our way back into downtown and our hotel.

We were happy and tired when we got back and didn't do much except pack and veg for the rest of the day. We knew we'd have to be up bright and early to get to the airport in time for our 8:45am flight to Seattle where we would then have an over three hour lay-over before our flight to Detroit. The picture of the day was taken just after we passed Siwash Rock--if you go back to the map you'll see where that is. 

94/365 Monday, 04/04/2011

In case someone missed it--I also finished the entry for 93/265-- Sunday.

Today was very rainy and it dampened our sightseeing possibilities a bit. I was s till a bit sick so we decided to take it easy. We did what it turned out a lot of Vancouverites seem to do on a rainy day-- we went to the mall...

We walked around a bit, but I wasn't really in a shopping mood. The only thing we did buy was a nice beret-style hat for Bill that he found at H&M of all places! I was the one that dragged him there in search of a nice cheap scarf or other accessory--he had never set foot inside an H&M before. It was packed with young ladies shopping shopping shopping and the line to try things on stretched all through the store. Anyway I was glad he found something.

After that we ventured over to the big food court where we both ended up getting bowls of Japanese soup-mine had won-tons in it and his had some kind of meat. They were good. We then did something a bit odd, but it ended up being interesting. We took the underground train out to the airport on a test run-since we had splurged on a cab coming in and had then found out about the train. After a while the train went above ground so we got to see a bit of the city. I'm glad we did it - it made doing the same thing on Wednesday very early with our luggage seem less intimidating.

We walked home from the mall, which is where I took this shot and rested up in the hotel before going out to a delicious Indian dinner at a nearby restaurant. I had the lamb korma and it was so yummy I definitely overate!! All in all another good day.

93/365 Sunday, 04/03/2011

This is an actual picture from our actual seminar...taken on Sunday the last day--after we had all gotten to know each other and were pretty relaxed. It felt almost like a class--we were somewhat reluctant to leave. (Someone from the next panel walked in and we were all just sort of sitting there and chatting an he said: "wow you must really like each other!"...I think we did-we were a good group. Very interesting papers. I'm glad it all worked out as well as it did.

After the panel I walked home and Bill and I did a bit of sightseeing we went up the Harbor City Tower to grab a view of the city. The weather wasn't great but at least it wasn't rainy or foggy. We then went back to the first restaurant we had tried on Thursday for lunch--since we were hungry and we knew it was close. It was quite empty and so we got very good service (plus nice lunches).  Our waiter told us about two restaurants at English Bay (which is sort of where Stanley Park begins) that he would recommend, especially for their fish and chips. He wrote down the directions and we ended up going to one of them on Tuesday.  After our lunch, we felt a bit sleepy and the weather was not great so we just walked to the big bookstore called Chapters and hung-out there for a while. I was still feeling a bit under the weather so I thought I would buy a magazine or two and perhaps a book to cheer me up. When I'm sick I go for lighter fare than usual...it's callled "pampering" I guess...I got a copy of Oprah's magazine, a copy of Vanity Fair and a book by someone who I thought i might like: Philippa Gregory, who writes historical romances set in Britain. I bought her second latest book called "The White Queen", which takes place against the exciting backdrop of the Wars of the Roses and focuses (or has so far) on Elizabeth Woodville, the wife of Edward IV. It's is the perfect book to read while taking Hansi on his midday stroll through our yard.

That evening (I think after dinner, which was pizza and a salad at a nearby Italian restaurant) while reading "Oprah" I had an epiphany about my life. I'm not quite ready to talk about here though--at some point I will just not quite yet. I actually was not that impressed with the magazine--but perhaps I should have kept it because of what I have begun calling "the epiphany"...oh well...I did bring the Vanity fair back and I'm glad I did. I do enjoy reading the articles--all about Kate and William, JFK Junior etc etc...

92/365 Saturday 04/02/2011

Today was a fun day--and it was probably one of the best weather wise too! In the morning was day 2 of the conference. Fortunately even though I indeed had a cold I nevertheless felt better after a good night's sleep. The papers and discussions went well. After our panel I went to have coffee with a friend at the starbucks in our hotel. Because of my cold I ordered a Chai Latte which was very good. I sat and chatted with friend and a bunch of her friends (she knew quite a few people at the conference) until it was time to meet up the people on our panel who had agreed to follow the lead of a German PhD student at Univ. of British Columbia who was going to take us to his favorite Chinese restaurant located in an "interesting" part of town. About seven of us met up and we ventured forth by bus to the restaurant. The food was indeed very good and the prices very reasonable especially for Vancouver. Here's a picture. After finishing our lunch with yummy apple pastries we all walked back to our various hotels and plans. My plan was to...rest-up since I was feeling a bit tired. I hate to say it but I did very little for the rest of the day....I was sick after all! At some point Bill came back from having walk and walked and walked all around the city--or rather the seawall/edge of it. So he was equally tired. I won't even tell you'all where I got dinner. (Bill had had a late lunch and wasn't hungry for dinner). Hence this "view from our hotel room" picture...at least it was a pretty nice view!!

91/365 Friday, 04/01/2011

So during the first night in the hotel I started feeling a bit sick--the back of my throat felt scratchy and a bit sore--sure enough all the hectic of traveling had caught up with me in the form of a cold--so I spent the rest of the conference feeling sometimes more and sometimes less under the weather.  Everything still went well-I had a nice lunch with a graduate student from my former graduate institution and I still went to panels after our own (which had gone well) but I remember feeling more and more woozy and congested as the day wore on.

I did not want to roam far for dinner so we went to the Chinese restaurant in the mall that was adjacent to our hotel (you could get there without going outside) where I was able to order this fantastic bowl of delicious hot&sour soup, which was just what the doctor ordered! Then it was back to the hotel room for an early night--seeing as I had to be up and at 'em by 8am the next day!

90/365 Thursday, 03/31/2011

This is a statue of "Gassy Jack". No not THAT kind of gassy, but the windbag-likes to talk kind....it is to be found in what is today a touristy section of Vancouver called Gastown. Apparently it is where Vancouver "began"...

We had walked down and around the port of Vancouver (Burrard Inlet) and Canada place and then wandered over here. We then stopped for an early lunch at the Steamworks Brewing company. My seafood pizza was delish and Bill enjoyed his fish tacos.

After a bit more walking we went back to the hotel and rested a bit since we were still a bit tired from the flight. Eventually I went to register and to the welcome reception of the conference--where I was lucky enough to find everyone who had told me they would be there! It was fun. After that Bill and I found a nice Malaysian place where we had dinner. All in all a very nice first day.

89/365 Wednesday, 03/30/2011

This is the first picture from the trip to Vancouver. In a certain way it may prove to have been a fairly monumental trip (I had a personal epiphany while I was there and yes while reading a copy of "Oprah" of all things...more on that later!!)

Anyway this was taken on our short stopover at Salt Lake City. Flying west really through me off again time-wise--we got to Vancouver at about 5:30pm their time and we both felt jet-laggy. Our first meal was in the pretty pricey hotel restaurant-it was absolutely delicious, and we had a discount coupon -but the bill still came to $78 Canadian dollars.  (no appetizers, one glass of wine each and two entrees).
The good thing is that - since Bill is now staying at a Hyatt in Cambridge for work, he is a "diamond member" which, on top of paying for the room in "points" and not cash also entitled us to access to the lovely "Regency Club Lounge" which offered us free non-alcoholic drinks and goodies all day long...including a delicious breakfast buffet with excellent smoked salmon. We took full advantage of that!! And his Skymiles had paid for both of our tickets.

The haka

Here's a link showing an example of the haka as performed by the NZ National Rugby team: All Blacks

Updated 86/365

I finally got around to updating the entry for 86/365!

88/365 Tuesday, 03/29/2011

Today was a hectic day-I had an appointment in Ann Arbor so Bill had to drive me to Jackson where Adrienne would pick me up from work and we would both drive to Ann Arbor. (She had an appointment too). What made everything hectic was the fact that Bill could not find his passport and we were leaving for Vancouver, BC CANADA the next day. He started looking before we had to leave for Jackson. I got home at about 7 and we continued looking and looking but we also starting considering what we would do if we didn't find it. (I would have had to go to Vancouver on my own, which did not appeal to me one bit after being in Germany and on three campus visits on my own).

After a while I did find it --in his big many compartmented backpack and so all was well. I let Hansi out for a quick stroll which he did take advantage of by hiding under the stairs...Bill has bought materials with which to close off this area so that Hansi will not be able to do this anymore. We were busy packing and getting ready until fairly late--which seems to always be the way.