Vancouver

Wow, what a gorgeous, fabulous city!! I can see why it is routinely voted as one of the top three cities in the world to live in. We met up with Keira at her flat on Friday evening and spent a wonderful weekend with her. So great to see my lovely, bubbly cousin again! She lives in a very nice flat downtown that is really central. We got to sleep on her bed; she on the floor. How's that for family spirit! She absolutely rocks as a guide and showed us all the sites with great relish. We had a fantastic time visiting Granville Island and Stanley Park and slogging up the "Grouse Grind." Also went shopping to capitalise on the power of the mighty pound in Canada - and had our first true "sushi" meal - a very fishy (and delicious) "all you can eat" affair.

Stanley Park

Stanley Park is a beautiful park just a stone's throw away from Keira's flat in downtown Vancouver. Its got it all: beautiful beaches, dense forest, a hidden lagoon and great rollerblading trails. Had a very refreshing swim and we hired blades - Keira is as fearless as me on two wheels so we passed a lot of cyclists on the way down the hills. The park also has some stunning "rock on rock" sculptures to add to the ambience. How the artist manages to get some of the rocks to balance I'll never know.