On day nine, we toured Vancouver on a hop-on, hop-off bus.
If you love the packed, high-energy chaos of Manhattan, you’d love it here. For me, it was just too much congestion and too many people. Massive apartment buildings lined the streets, towering so high they literally blocked out the sky.
Sitting on a bus trapped in midtown-level traffic, 3,000 miles away from Broadway, was not my idea of a good time. As we walked through the streets the city’s darker side came into view looking a lot like the rundown areas of Manhattan, Brooklyn, or most US cities for that matter. There weren’t the massive tent encampments you see in some places but rather pockets of displaced and ill people wandering the sidewalks. It was sobering and depressing to see that same struggle here in another country. It’s a heavy reminder that homelessness is everywhere.
The saving grace of the city was its landscaping. Because Vancouver is in a rainforest region, lush, vibrant greenery is abundant. Nearly every high-rise apartment featured beautifully maintained front courtyards where the concrete was broken up by rich outdoor plantings and varied floral gardens. Many of these gardens included a water feature which helped drown out the city noise and made traveling through the gridlock much more enjoyable.
The city tour was a mixed bag but the real turnaround is next. We are finally stepping on board the Disney Magic for our cruise to Alaska. I am looking forward to the clean air and the total change of scenery from the crowded streets of Vancouver. The next leg of the journey is about to begin
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