For many years after colonization, the future park with its abundant resources would also be home to nonaboriginal settlers. The land was later turned into Vancouver's first park when the city incorporated in 1886. It was named after Lord Stanley, a British politician who had recently been appointed governor general.
We walked around the park taking in the beauty then moved on to Brockton Point to see the First Nation's Totems.
The view beyond one of the huge gateways to the park.
Lions Gate Bridge in the distance
On our way through the park to Prospect Point and Lowden's Lookout this 600 year old Cedar tree was pointed out to us.
Chinatown,
Built in 1985-1986. The outer park was designed by architects Joe Wai and Donal Vaughan, while the inner garden was conceived by Wang Zu-Xin as the chief architect, with the help of experts from the Landscape Architecture Company of Suzhou, China. Funding for the project came from the Chinese and Canadian governments, the local Chinese community, and other public and private sector sources, and it opened on April 24, 1986, in time for Expo 86.
Built to cover a steam grate, part of Vancouver's distributed steam-heating system, the clock was built as a way to harness the steam and to prevent street people from sleeping on the spot in cold weather. Its original design was faulty and it had to be powered by electricity after a breakdown. The steam mechanism was completely restored with the financial support of local businesses as it had become a major tourist attraction, and is promoted as a heritage feature although it is of modern invention. The steam used is low pressure downtown-wide steam heating network (from a plant adjacent to the Georgia Viaduct) that powers a miniature steam engine in its base, in turn driving a chain lift. The chain lift moves steel balls upward, where they are unloaded and roll to a descending chain. The weight of the balls on the descending chain drives a conventional pendulum clock escapement, geared to the hands on the four faces. The steam also powers the clock's sound production as Whistles used instead of bells to produce the Westminster "chime" and to signal the time.
After lunch in one of the many pubs/restaurants/bars we made our way to Harbour Centre. I'm not very good with heights but agreed to go up in with MWM as it promised spectacular views of the city. The Vancouver Lookout located atop the Harbour Centre business building, was officially opened on August 13, 1977 by Neil Armstrong, whose footprint was imprinted onto cement and was on display on the viewing/observation deck until it was lost (or stolen) during renovations. Glass elevators whisk visitors 168 meters (553 feet) skyward from street level to the Observation Deck in 40 seconds, you can see them in the video below which we took before going in. Before you ask, the beeping you can hear is the sound of the pedestrian crossing where we were standing to take the video.
The views are magnificent, though I tried not to look down and left the filming to MWM.
After all that excitement we called in a Costa for a coffee before heading back to our hotel for a short rest before freshening up to go out to eat. We didn't want to go to far so we did a quick search online and found a restaurant/bar nearby with a decent menu where we didn't need to book. When we arrived at the bar we were told it was $10 each to come in as they were showing live cage fighting on the big screens! We told them we only wanted to eat and have a few drinks and promised not to the watch the TV and they let us in. Once inside we understood why they were charging people to come in because a lot of people were neither eating or drinking, they were just watching the screens. Anyway we enjoyed our food and a few beers and (don't tell them) the cage fighting! LOL
I hope you'll join me for Canada Part 7 when we go to Victoria, Vancouver Island, for a two night stay.
