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Dear Vancouver,

You have been great to me. I am sad to be saying good bye after this 11 week affair. I will be trading your city lights for a quiet life in middle America. I will miss the mountains and the ocean, the sunsets and (recently) the sunrises. You have shown me a good time, but I know I will return. I will return to this place that doesn’t always seem real but somehow is. This place that is a paradox between city and nature. Good bye Vancouver, keep on keeping on.

Cheers!

Ben

Museum of Anthropology

There’s a Whale in the Room

More of the Chan Center

We got to tour the Chan Center, along with a few other great buildings on the UBC campus. Apparently Stargate Atlantis has scenes filmed in the atrium of this building…crazy but cool.

More from UBC building tours to follow.

The Grouse Grind

2,800 feet of elevation gain in just under two miles, the Grouse Grind is a wall. Making it to the top of Grouse mountain, we were met with free beer and a gospel choir. Again, I have to ask myself, “is this real life?”

It still blows my mind that in a city as large as Vancouver, I can hop on a city bus and find my self hiking up a mountain in under an hour.

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Looking Towards Grouse Mountain

Tomorrow we are going to hike up that mountain looming behind the West End skyline… The Grouse Grind. The hike covers 2,800 feet of elevation gain in just 1.8 miles. Basically it is a wall. Photos from the trek will follow.

Looking Up: Coal Harbour

Emily Carr Degree Show

Walking through the halls of Emily Carr today I was reminded of the recent grad show as students were taking down their work. The show was quite the event, on opening night it seemed as if the entire city was present. Thousands of people attended the event, beer and coffee were served, mingling was had, and art was consumed. As the art was being taken down after a week on the walls I took some snapshots of some of the pieces that most intrigued me. Enjoy…

Emily Carr University of Art and Design

This place makes going to class pretty easy.

More Great Architecture at UBC

UBC is littered with great Architecture. Pictured are the First Nations House of Learning, The Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, and the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts.

The Millennial Time Machine at UBC

A perfectly detailed folly on UBC’s Main Mall. The pavillion houses Rodney Graham’s mobile camera obscura, built into a restored 19th century Laundau carriage. When open, visitors can sit in the carriage and view the projected image of the young sequoia tree that the camera is capturing.

Low Tide at Spanish Banks Beach

Today, Andrew and I hopped on our bicycles and pedaled out to UBC. Along the way we stopped at the various beaches littering the Kitsilano shore line. The low tide at the Spanish Banks Beach was mind numbing. As far as the eye could see, sand was exposed by the receding water. People walk along the horizon as the water is pulled away from shore. Tricks of the eye make the mammoth tankers appear grounded. The effect was surreal. Life in this city is surreal. Everyday I find myself asking, “is this real?”

More from the bike ride to follow.

Coal Harbour and Devonian Harbour Park

Vancouver is a dichotomous city. Looking one direction you are in a forrest. Looking another direction you are in a metropolis. This is what I love about the city. At every instant you are surrounded by a bloom of trees and buildings. A modernist integration of the tower and the forest.

The Daily Crossing

Everyday I bike across the Burrard Street Bridge on my way to and from school. I decided to stop last night and catch a view of the Super Moon as it passed over Granville Island.