Vancouver - BC hides its jewels in a cloud bank.

I arrived in Vancouver on a rainy day. Everyone said that weather was typical for the entire month of June! I poked around the city, taking a tour and seeing the sights between raindrops and under cool heavy cloud cover.

Wednesday afternoon the sun finally came out - it was glorious to see. The glass city glinted in the sunlight, people smiled and took off their jackets. Dear Rose, friend of Pat's took me on a tour of the north shore - including a hike through old growth forest and a walk over a fantastic suspension bridge. After a yummy Greek dinner, we went for a drive along the west shore where she showed me the lovely beaches and expansive university. She arrived in Vancouver as a young woman, and immediately "grew cement shoes", she wont ever consider leaving.

I was in Vancouver in 1986 for the Expo (yes, they had invented airplanes in 1986) - I remembered it as a green, clean city where it rained every day for an hour and once the rain stopped it was so magnificent that nobody remembered it had ever rained. While the city has more than quadrupled in size since I was there, it is still magnificent.

The architecture and layout remind me very much of Syndney Australia - designed to give the public easy access to both ocean and forest - lots of green space in the city core. The city has about 6 million people in the larger metropolitan area - very diverse, lots of languages everywhere. Excellent public transit - I had no trouble getting around by bus and my favorite... Sea Bus!

I could easily see this being a great place to make my forever home (immigration issues aside). Mountains, ocean, an active population, culture, beaches, forest, diverse neighborhoods. Perfection... well... except for the 200 days a year of rain.