Downtown Vancouver is immediately adjacent to Canada’s most densely populated district, which also houses the largest gay community west of Toronto. The West End is roughly contained by Thurlow, Robson, Denman and Davie streets, the last three of which represent the focal points of a young and lively neighbourhood. The best streets for walking west to Stanley Park are Robson and Davie. The former starts off as Vancouver’s main shopping drag, the place to buy and then show off the latest hip designer wear, then is taken over by hotels and restaurants. The latter, like Denman, possesses a much more typical West End neighbourhood atmosphere. Their cafés and restaurants perpetually buzzing, these are prime streets for menu- browsing. Sunset Beach on English Bay is the one favoured by locals. SightsRoedde House Museum 1415 Barclay St, T 6847040, http://www.roeddehouse.org Admission by guided tour only. Phone to arrange. $5, $3 concessions. Bus No 5 to Broughton. Sadly, most of the West End’s traditional buildings were replaced during the development boom of the 1960s with over 200 high- rises. The best surviving block is Barclay Heritage Square, whose park-like setting contains nine historic houses built between 1890 and 1908. One 1893 home, built for GA Roedde, Vancouver’s first bookbinder, is furnished in Edwardian style and has been converted into Roedde House Museum, the West End’s only real ‘sight’. Stanley Park T 2578400, http://www.parks.vancouver.bc.ca The main access roads are: Georgia St/Stanley Park Causeway to the east, Robson St in the centre, and Davie St/Beach Av to the west. Bus No 135 daytime Mon-Sat, No 23 or 25 evening/Sun/ holidays. Vehicle traffic is one-way and anti- clockwise. Parking anywhere in the park is $1/2 hrs or $3 for all day. A free shuttle bus runs right round the park every 15 mins from Jun-mid-Sep. The bulk of this 400-ha evergreen oasis, Canada’s biggest urban park, has been allowed to remain largely undeveloped. Many of the lonely trails (best avoided after dark) that lead through giant cedar, hemlock and fir were once skid roads used by loggers to drag massive trees to the water with teams of oxen. An obvious highlight is the stump of one such giant, now known as the Hollow Tree. Near here, on the path towards Third Beach is a living cedar – almost 5 m in diameter and roughly 1,000 years old – believed by National Geographic to be one of the world’s largest trees and oldest cedars. To protect this semi-wilderness core from overuse, most of the park’s infrastructure and attractions are concentrated on a peninsula, jutting eastwards resembling a duck’s bill. Entering from Georgia Street, you’ll pass the Lost Lagoon, a haven for many birds including swans, geese and the odd blue heron. The Nature House, 0900-1900 except Tue, on its south shore offers ecological information and very useful maps. The Ecology Society, T 2578544, http://www.stanleyparkecology.ca, organizes Sunday Discovery Walks ($5), birding and various other free/cheap activities mainly for kids. Due east is the sheltered Coal Harbour. Next to Vancouver Rowing Club is an information booth and base of the one-hour horse-drawn tours that run round the park every 20-30 minutes, mid-May-Oct, $14.95, $9.95 concessions. To the north is a formal Rose Garden and the open-air Malkin Bowl, home in July and August to Theatre Under the Stars. Further on is a handful of attractions for kids and a Water Park. To the east on Avison Way is the Aquarium and main car park. Further round Coal Harbour is Deadman’s Island, where the Coast Salish buried their dead. On Brockton Point is a decent stand of Kwakiutl and Haida totem poles, a picturesque old light- house and a number of monuments celebrating characters like Queen Victoria and David Oppenheimer, and the lovely Girl in a Wetsuit. At the spit’s eastern point is the 9 O’Clock Gun, a cannon fired each evening at that hour. The tradition that began a century ago to signal the end of the day’s legal fishing has continued almost unbroken ever since. In summer, locals flock to the 9-km seawall which runs round the park’s perimeter offering sea and mountain views. It’s a first- class walk, jog, roller-blade or bike ride. Equipment can be hired from numerous stores at the north end of Denman Street. Cyclists and roller-bladers begin the circuit here, moving in an anti- clockwise direction. On a hot day though, you’ll want to join locals at the beaches and attractions around English Bay on the park’s west side. Surrounding the Fish House Restaurant are tennis courts, lawn bowling and an 18-hole pitch and putt golf course ($9.25, $7 concessions). Nearby is a Rhododendron Garden featuring many other ornamental trees, including azaleas, camellias and several species of magnolia. Second Beach is just north, with a heated oceanside swimming pool. Further round the seawall are Third Beach, the Teahouse Restaurant and several viewpoints, of which Prospect Point at the northern, most elevated, tip is the best. Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre Avison Way, T 6593474, http://www.vanaqua.org Daily 1000-1730, in summer 0930-1900. $14.95, $11.95 concessions, $8.95 children, under 3s free. Bus No 135 from Hastings. There’s also a free shuttle bus around the park in summer. One of Vancouver’s prime rainy-day activities, the Aquarium is even better when the sun shines, as most of the exciting animals are outside. Entertaining as they may be, the seals, dolphins and otters are all utterly upstaged by a pair of giant and graceful white beluga whales. These extraordinary beings are best admired from the vantage of the underwater viewing room down- stairs, where a wealth of background information includes a video of the female giving birth. The whales are best saved till last though, as the other 20,000 creatures from the world’s many seas tend to pale by comparison. Indoor highlights include the Treasures of the BC Coast gallery, with a giant Pacific octopus, coral, anemones and some eerily beautiful jellyfish. Next door is a large collection of handsome frogs. The Tropical and Amazon galleries are worth exploring: as well as colourful fish there are caymans, anaconda, lizards, snakes and even birds. Before even entering the Aquarium, look out for Bill Reid’s magnificent bronze sculpture of a killer whale, The Chief of the Undersea World (1984).
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