• Please refer to Vancouver - official web site for information on hotels in Vancouver, dining and things to do in Vancouver and City of Vancouver, Information for Visitors.

• Vancouver is the largest city in the province of British Columbia. It's surrounded by water on three sides and is nestled alongside the Coast Mountain Range. Vancouver is home to spectacular natural scenery and a bustling metropolitan core, and boasts one of the mildest climates in Canada. The Greater Vancouver region is home to more than two million people in 21 municipalities, making it the third largest metropolitan area in Canada.

• * Stanley Park is recognized around the globe as one of the great parks of the world! Vancouver's first park and one of the city's main tourist attractions, Stanley Park is an evergreen oasis of 400 hectares (1,000 acres) close to the downtown core. Its natural west coast atmosphere offering a back drop of majestic cedar, hemlock and fir trees embraces visitors and transports them to an environment rich in tranquility. The park abounds in wildlife and its features appeal to the naturalist, the plant lover or one who would do nothing more than relax in beautiful surroundings. World famous landmarks in the park include Lost Lagoon, Siwash Rock, Prospect Point, Beaver Lake, totem poles, the Nine O'clock Gun, various monuments and sculptures, and the 8.8 km (5.5 mi) seawall which encircles the entire park.
  * Gastown is the historic center of Vancouver. Once a ragtag settlement, Gastown and adjoining land were incorporated as the City of Vancouver in 1886. During the city's boom years, it attracted wholesalers and warehouses to its location near the wharves and railroad tracks. But after the 1920s, Gastown became a quiet backwater of deteriorating buildings. It wasn’t until the 1960s that the public began to appreciate Gastown's distinctive architecture and role in the city's history, and undertook to revitalize the area. This guide will introduce you to historic Gastown. Gastown's beginnings sound like a salty tall tale. In 1867 garrulous Captain John "Gassy Jack" Deighton floated a barrel of whiskey ashore on the south side of Burrard Inlet. He persuaded workers in the nearby sawmill to build a saloon for him, and days later he was in business. The village of Gastown, as it became known, was officially surveyed as "Granville" townsite in 1870. Its hotels, saloons and shops served workers at the nearby Hastings Sawmill. Then, in 1884, the small village received word that the Canadian Pacific Railway would extend its tracks to the townsite. The railroad promised a grand future for Gastown, and real estate speculators were determined to cash in on it. Speculation forced land prices to increase threefold as lots that sold for $300 in March 1886 fetched $900 in May of the same year. In 1887, when the first CPR trains reached Vancouver, travellers and investors found a thriving city. Gastown's many hotels were crowded with speculators and lumberjacks, miners and would-be millionaires. By the 1890s, settlers were moving on to the Canadian prairies, and miners heading to the Kootenays and the Klondike. Vancouver's boom began in earnest as towns and mining camps provided new markets for goods.With little pressure for new development, street after street of brick and stone buildings from Vancouver's early years survived into the 1960s.
  * Canada Place: Built as the Canada Pavilion for Expo '86, Canada Place was converted to a mixed-use commercial facility that now houses a convention center, a hotel, cruise ship terminals, an IMAX theatre, and offices. Following a nautical design theme, the convention center's roofline calls t mind a series of sails.

Sheraton Hotel, stayed	Skyscraper of Vancouver	Canada Place	St. Andrews Wesley Church
The Westin Bayshore Resort & Marina		Skyscraper in opposite	Yachts of the Marina
Lions Gate Bridge	Skyscraper from the Stanley Park		Seawall, 10km around
Seven totem poles	KAKASO'LAS	THUNDERBIRD HOUSE POST	CHIEF WAKAS POLE
Girl image of wet suit	Prow of Empress of Japan	Lions Gate Bridge	Harbor Air Terminal
Gastown, antique street lamps and stone-paved road recall appearance at that time			Steam clock
Northern Canada Place looked from Harbor Center Lookout		Eastern Gastown, highest in Vancouver or 167m high
South		West : Robson street direction

2007/10/01