Day 1 Vancouver

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We slept like logs on the 12th floor of the Pan Pacific. We had booked an Alaska Cruise Package for 3 nights which cost $1308CAD. It includes breakfast each morning, luggage transfer to the cruise ship and 2pm checkout. Mostly it is convenient if a bit pricey. The room is comfortable and a nice size. Down side is the keyed minibar. Coolest feature is what Clay described as a "dual-purpose bathroom door." It closes the bathroom off from the entry hall swung one way and it is hinged to close off the toilet room in the bathroom when swung the other way. I am not sure I appreciate the functionality but I do appreciate the design and engineering and thought behind it. Celebrity Millenium was docked on our side of the hotel this morning and a Royal Caribbean ship on the other side of the hotel. The Cruise Terminal is in the basement of this building under the convention center. It is a convenient and bustling location. The buffet was good and extensive but we wouldn't have paid the $37CAD they were charging. The coffee was surprising bad and capuccino was an extra charge I suppose you could argue we have but I don't know what the room went for without it. It is convenient anyway and we skipped lunch after the huge breakfasts we ate.

We were planning to take self-guided walking tours today since the chances of rain are higher on Saturday than today, Friday. It poured rain as we ate breakfast and watched people leave their cruises. It was still raining lightly off and on all morning as we made a half-assed walking tour attempt. When we hatched this plan, Clay told me he had downloaded an app to his phone that had 2 offline GPS only self-guided walking tours nearby Pan Pacific to Gastown and Chinatown. I never saw them, I still haven't. Before breakfast, he asked me if I had printed anything out about the walking tours. No because there was nothing to print out... He didn't have an app. He couldn't find an app. He vaguely remembered saying he'd taken care of it. It was business as usual. Our plan for the day is we have no plan now. We asked at the concierge desk and got a map and Clay found some online maps with descriptions of highlights between those and the maps and signs on the streets and buildings we saw most of Gastown and some of Chinatown. Neither were very photogenic today. It is overcast with low visibility due to smoke from wildfires. It was only supposed to be a high of 71F today but it was really muggy and felt a lot hotter. We both were dressed to warmly today given the humidity or else it got a lot warmer than predicted with no sun all day. The coolest thing we saw was the steamclock which had cool works moving balls around inside a glass case and a calliope-sounding steam whistle out the top every 15 minutes. Worth the walk.

Tomorrow we plan to take one of the HOHOs in town. There are 2 here and both are about the same. We can't pick a clear winner. Tomorrow will tell probably by the first bus to appear in front of us with seats.

We ate a red bean bun and a Portuguese egg custard tart from a Chinatown market for a midday snack. Clay had a gelato for Bella Gelaterio nearby. It is supposed to be the best gelato in North America. I didn't have any and I think he wouldn't go that far though he said it was good and creamy.

We did our beer and wine shopping for our 28-day cruise today complicated by the fact that Canada has strict alcohol sales laws. But we went to the state run BC Liquor Store across from the Water Front Station nearby for a 3-L box of Riesling-Gerwurztraminer wine for us. Clay got 4 beers at the Steamworks Brewery across the street. If we like them, they will be excellent values for us versus Oceania drink prices. Clay paid $10.59CAD for his beers and $36.99 for the wine.

Clay had 3 places picked for our dinner. I picked up a brochure with menu for one, De Dutch. It closes at 4pm, so that leaves 2 places. Lucky as we have 2 dinners to eat here. One is Mahoney and Sons, a pub, and the other is Hapa Izakaya, a Japanese place. Both are nearby. When we walked out of the Pan Pacific to watch the Celebrity Millenium sail away and then to dinner, Clay announced he'd left his phone in the room. Since we didn't know the address of Mahoney but we'd walked by Hapa and gone in to see the menu earlier that is where we knew where to go and went. We got there during happy hour as Clay had planned but apparently it wasn't clear what that actually meant or else he misunderstood. They had 1 draft beer at $2 off and 1 white and 1 red wine at a couple dollars off. Neither of us would drink anything on special. Clay bought his choice of $6 regular price beers and I had a glass of ice water. The dinner menu was not available until after happy hour was over after 5:30pm. There was a limited Japanese tapas menu available until then. We ordered and ate cold Edamame beans, hot cream cheese spring rolls, 2 chicken tacos and 1 fish taco. The tortillas of all tacos were burned. It was not a satisfying meal. The restaurant was extremely noisy. Neither of us would ever recommend Hapa Izakaya or return there. It's been done. We walked down to Tim Horton's after for something to treat ourselves. We waited in a long line. We walked to a convenience store to get Clay a Coke Zero after. I thought the coffe and tea making supplies in the room were complimentary and had said I would have coffee in the room after this morning's nasty buffet coffee, but as Clay and I reread the card by the ice bucket and kettle we failed to find any language indicating that it was included or complimentary but in fact discussed the minibar at the same time implying it was for sale but the supplies were not listed on the minibar price list. In the absence of a firm statement that coffee/tea was complimentary, I will just have to do with the nasty buffet coffee in the morning. 'Til then.

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