Tourist bonanza: Space Centre

We had an evening visit to the Space Centre, which again, is a 15 minute walk from our apartment.

I'd already been here once before; it was David's first visit.

However, it was great for me because they were doing a specific, one-off talk (that I hadn't seen before) about 'Who made the constellations?' 

And actually - turns out that what we learnt in school was wrong. It wasn't the Greeks; it was the Minoans. You learn something new every day.

We then went to its observatory where you can star-gaze using the most enormous telescope I've ever seen:

 

Interesting & surprisingly educational evening.

CS

Tourist bonanza: Vancouver aquarium

I'd been looking forward to visiting Vancouver's aquarium - and I wasn't disappointed.

What I hadn't expected to see what such a wide range of sea life.

They had beluga whales, which are startlingly white:

They also had a tonne of other gorgeous wildlife to admire. Here are some of my favourites - a sea turtle:

Jelly fish - they're pretty to look at, not so nice to touch:

Blue parrots:

Sea otter:

CS

Tourist bonanza: Habour cruise

Our next venture was with Habour Cruises - an hour long boat ride off the coast of Downtown Vancouver.

This was our mode of transport - a steam boat called The Constitution:

The tour included an excellent guide that told stories about Vancouver along the way. For us, it was nice to see our beautiful city from another perspective.

We also visited Canada Place - one of the city's iconic buildings - to earn another stamp.

To recap our challenge, we've been given a 'passport' which contains many tourist attractions which we can visit for free in the next six weeks. Each time we visit one, we get a stamp. If you get 15 stamps, we get free access into all attractions for the rest of the year - an incredible deal!

Let the game continue!


CS

Tourist bonanza: Hall of Fame

Our next stop: BC Hall of Fame, a sports museum in BC Place, the main sports stadium in Vancouver.

We got a sneak peak of the stadium from the museum. Check it out:

The best thing about the Hall of Fame? You can get involved in the sports - here is David scoring a goal against a computer-generated goalie:

David also re-lived his ice-hockey days:

Meanwhile, I tested myself against the clock on the running track (I went so fast the camera couldn't keep up!):

A fun time & definitely worth a visit for sports fans.

CS

Tourist bonanza: Science World

We ventured to Science World - a fantastic place for kids and also for Charlotte & David as it turns out.

The museum is designed to teach kids about science; we used it to play games against each other.

My favourite was the Hamster Wheel where you had to run as fast as you can to generate energy:

Meanwhile, David was having a blast on a giant size computer that senses your motion:

We then went head-to-head on a few competitions:

• Who was the calmest? I won, despite us both thinking David would
• Who had the strongest grip? David won, but only by a point - it was close!
• Who was the bendiest? I won, not a surprise
• Who could jump the highest? David won, predictable given he's a foot taller than me
• Who had the quickest reaction? I won twice - delighted with that!
• Who had the strongest arm strength? I won the first game and David was adamant that the machine must be broken. So we swapped sides and he was right; he won the second game by a long way...

We then went to the Leonardo Da Vinci exhibition, which is only on for a short time at Science World. It was inspiring - incredible that one person could be an artist, scientist and inventor in only one lifetime.

CS

Tourist bonanza: Maritime Museum

The next part of our 'be a tourist for a month' adventure took us to the Maritime Museum, which is only a ten minute walk from our house.

Phil in New Zealand - if you're reading this, then we spent a lot of time talking and you and your museum while walking round!

We were surprised to be greeted by an enormous boat on entry:

David's favourite part was undoubtedly the old maps - showing how the city has changed over the last century. The city barely existed over 100 years ago and it's now the most densely populated city in Canada. Crazy.

The museum also had an Inukshuk - a Canadian symbol to help travellers find their way. Inukshuks are every here - people love them! This is what they look like:

We then jumped on a False Creek Ferry to get to the next part of our adventure. The ferry was so cute & the people were friendly:

CS

Snow shoe grind

Good Friday night activity; the snow shoe grind on Grouse Mountain.

This essentially means walking up the side of a mountain with snow shoes on - and it was much harder than I thought it was going to be. You have to dig in your toes so you don't slip.

Check us out on the move:

It only takes an hour but it's worth it. Check out the views from the top:

Going down was funnier; it's difficult not to slip so we both resorted to sliding on our bottoms down the hill. Very time efficient and easier than using snow shoes.

Our reward at the end? 'Sliders' - a Canadian treat meaning mini burgers - in Altitude, a bistro on top of Grouse Mountain. Delicious! We pictured them next to a salt and pepper pot to give a perspective on size:

CS