Travelog for: Mausi

today was my last day in graz.
i packed all my things and said good bye to my dear friend Galaxy Bear.



then i had to go into this little envelope... not that confortable, but when i go out of it again i'm in CANADA!!! so that's worth it.



please wish me luck that it won't take to long till i arrive!
hugs,
Mausi

Hi mom!  I'm in Canada!  Abby didn't arrive home from school until late, so I had to stay in her mailbox for a few hours, but another TV, Dolly, arrived in the mailbox the same time I did, so we talked about where we were from and our travels so far until we were rescued out of the mailbox.

Upon arriving we were immediately greeted by one of Abby's cats.



But then we both felt a little tired from our travels, so we decided to hop into bed.



Then Abby's cat decided that we needed some more insulation...



That's all for tonight.  I'm ready for bed.  Goodnight mom :]

Today I went to school with Abby.



We studied some biology.



Abby gave us money to go buy lunch.



And then back to studying

After school, I went to Abby's rugby game.  She had her friend take pictures, but they didn't get any with me in them.

Her team is the blue team.  She's not in this picture



This is where I stayed, safe from the carnage :P

Thank goodness I packed my overalls, because today was Jeans Day in BC.  You wear denim and buy a Jeans Day button in support of BC Children's Hospital.  Abby couldn't find her button, or else she would have taken my picture with it.

Today I voted for this year's valedictorian at Abby's school.



The person we wanted to win didn't win, but oh well, we liked all of the choices.

Afterwards, we went to Dairy Queen.  I helped Abby eat the new tin roof brownie blizzard.  Mmmm.

I took the train home today.





I hoped we wouldn't run into these people



To pass the time, Dolly and I played hacky sack.



I got my own seat on the train.

Today it is sunny out, so I explored Abby's front garden.

Today we went to Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver.  It's a big market with lots of little stores and booths, and lots of ethnic foods.  It's right across the inlet from downtown Vancouver.

I decided to check out a few of the stores.

This store sold things with native designs on them



This store sold things made out of alpaca wool.  These animals and slippers were very soft





The store sold these dolls as well.



This was just in case I forgot where I was.



This picture is kind of blurry, but if you look in the centre, but towards the right, there's a yellow arrow that points to where we are.



A mosaic on the floor of the market



In the food court.  We didn't eat one of these, but they're a very Canadian thing.  Big flat pastry things with various toppings' the most popular is cinnamon and sugar.



In front of the market





Near the water we were able to read about ship spotting.





So, I decided to take a look.





There's one!  Behind it is downtown Vancouver.



A paddlewheeler paddled by as Dolly and I were posing.



I decided to respect this sign.





Look at the name of this restaurant!



We ended up eating there, but everyone ate fish and chips and there was no cheese to be found

Later we went higher to try to get a better view.

There were some trees in the way.



Vancouver's down there...somewhere, but it wasn't a very good day for picture taking.



Kind of a blurry picture at night.

I don't know if you can see if very well, but there is a rainbow above my head.

Today was Abby's mom's birthday, so we surprised her with dinner.  We were so busy eating that we forgot to take pictures, but Abby wandered outside after dessert to show us Gastown.

Gastown is one of the oldest parts of Vancouver.  Most of it was destroyed in a fire at one point, but there are a lot of really cool old buildings around; most of them are now tourist shops.

The most famous part of Gastown is the steam clock, the only one in the world.









Up and down the street.  They're giving that one building a facelift.





See all the tourist shops?



This was on the building that our restaurant was in.





Here you can see some of the mountains to the north of Vancouver.  The red things in front are part of Port Vancouver, at the shipyards.



The building with the sails is called Canada Place.  Under the sails are large rooms that are used for grad dinner/dances and conventions.  There is a hotel attached.  At night they light up the sails with coloured lights.



In the distance you can see the back of Waterfront Station, where the daily commuter train stops.  I heard the front is impressive, but I didn't get to see it.  Hopefully I'll be able to see it before I leave.



In the distance (sorry the picture is so dark, the sun was beginning to set), you can see Harbour Centre,.  The thing that looks like a spaceship on top is a revolving restaurant, but most of the building is owned by a local university, and their communications department has classes there.



One of the nearby buildings.  Abby doesn't know the history of this one, but on the bottom floor/basement there's a Mexican restaurant that sells real Mexican food.



One of the many alleys in Vancouver.  Gastown is on the edge of the famous downtown East Side, which is known for its homeless and drug users, which is why we didn't go down any of these alleys.  I wasn't scared while wandering around the area though, because I had my host's family protecting me :]  You can see Harbour Centre again in the background.



This picture was taken in the car, which is why there is a reflection.  This place is called Victory Square; Vancouver's war memorial is the big concrete block, and a ceremony is celebrated here on Remembrance Day, November 11, every year.  Dolly's reflection kind of obscures the wreaths in front of the memorial, which were placed there last week to commemmorate all the work'related deaths in British Columbia in the past year.

Today I took a bus ride.  Abby didn't have the chance to take any pictures of me on the bus,

but she snapped a few while we were waiting.



The bus loop is brand new and it was everyone's first time using it.



Across the parking lot is Maple Ridge's theatre, the ACT.

I thought it was about time for a shot with the flags in Abby's front yard.

Today Abby's mom took me to see Chinatown on her lunch break.

This is the Gate of Thousand's Happiness, built to commemorate the new millenium.



One of these lions sits on each side of the gate.  They are the protectors of the gate.  They each have a ball in their mouth which symbolizes prosperity.



This building holds the world record for the narrowest building in the world.  It was built by a man known to Vancouverites as Sam Kee.  At one point he owned more land in the area, but the city demolished his building to widen the road, leaving him with a strip of land just under five feet in width.  Rather than sell what remained of his property for practically nothing, Sam had another building built, one that fit into the strip of land.  For years the building belonged to a silk merchant, but now it's leased by an insurance company. 





This bell, called the West Han Dynasty Bell, is in Chinatown to commemorate Chinese history in Vancouver and marks the first Chinese settlement in the area.  It was a gift from Vancouver's sister city, Guangzhou in China, and it was modelled after a bell found in Guangzhou.

Today a new TV arrived, Desmond, from the Netherlands.