Today I saw a little bit of Vancouver. It was obvious that we were gonig somewhere, but nobody would say where.
We started off at the Architectural Institute, where we parked. They have a small gallery.
This looks like a normal bench, but it's made enturely of wood, even the cushions.
This is Victory Square, Vancouver's war memorial.
Across the street they were getting ready to film a movie in the alley next to Abby's mom's work. The alley has been used in many movies (the only one that comes to Abby's mind is the chase scene in Air Bud), but is also the poster child for homelessness and drug use in Vancouver. We were able to walk through the set twice (they weren't filming), but we didn't have time to stop and take a picture down the alley.
Far off down the street you can see the beginning of Chinatown. The orange structure is the Gate of Thousands' Happiness, which was built in 2000. On the right, the building with the copper roof is the old Sun Building. It was originally owned by the Vancouver Sun, the local newspaper. When it was built it was the tallest building in Vancouver. The offices were up top and the printing presses were down below. There are nine statues of women around the building, symbolizing the nine Muses of Greek mythology, and the roof is made of copper. It has been climbed by Harry the Human Fly and Houdini escaped from a straightjacket suspended from the roof.
This is Vancouver's main sorting station for Canada Post. All the mail for BC goes through here. The last time I was here I was in an envelope. A little known fact about this distribution centre, is that there is a tunnel leading from here to the waterfront. Back when the mail arrived on trains it was the easiest way to get the mail to the building.
This is the main branch of the Vancouver Public Library. The architecturue was influenced by the Roman Colliseum.
Finally we reached our destination...
SPAMALOT!
Obviously there wwas no picture taking allowed, but I can assure you that it was very funny.
During the intermission, Abby bought a new toy.
Eek!
Will it ever become a ToyVoyager? Abby says no, because she wouldn't want to lose it. Shame.
After the show, we went for dinner, and who did we see there? Esther Stilwell, the Lady of the Lake in Spamalot. She agreed to have her picture taken with us.