Seattle

We took our first trip away from Vancouver last month across the border to Seattle. It was a well needed break from serving coffee and flogging phones. We took the Greyhound for 4 hours, sweated at the border in case we'd forgotten about any contraband fruits we might have accidently packed, and arrived at another rainy city! The Greyhound was surprisingly OK, apart from the driver not really liking any talking on the bus(?). We stayed at the Seattle City Hostel and were greeted by an overly enthused Chinese woman who refused to shake Stella's hand because she would 'only shake hands with the women' (more on that from Stell, I'm sure). Apart from our confused greeting, the hostel was really great; they had lots of great recommendations, a library, and a comfortable bed. They also served a free breakfast daily, but we only managed it once. 

We spent the first day settling into the neighbourhood- Belltown and Pike Place Market. We stopped by a gorgeous map shop in the market and purchased a guide book that took us to the Steelhead diner for lunch. After which, we wondered through the market, making all the touristy pit stops; the first Starbucks, the fish counter where burley fisherman shout a lot and throw the fish over each other’s heads, and many a talented busker. My first port of call was to a Seattle roaster, of which there are many, and we found Fonte opposite the Seattle Art Museum. I had a delicious cappuccino and Stell was defeated by the punchy espresso. It was more like a wine bar, than a coffee shop, but it became a good starting point to what turned out to be a caffeine frenzied trip.

Market Walls

Beyond the market and out to the seafront we found a series of jetty's housing some tacky souvenir stores and old fashioned amusements. We played some air hockey, won a lolly pop and ogled at the large bibbed Americans cracking shellfish at the famous Crab Pot restaurant. We continued our wonderings and found a great strip of bars close to our hostel. The first of which was Shorty's, with $2.50 beers and a pinball room out the back, it was AWESOME. It began our tendency in Seattle to just stumble upon some great places. We stayed for a few cheap drinks, and a few games, and tried to ignore the only downside that was the wrestling gluing every punter to the TV screens. A few doors down we stopped by Rendezvous, which was a darkly lit bar with an old fashioned theatre inside. We had missed the start of tonight’s event, which turned out to be Karaoke Movie night, and were pretty pleased to be treated to some Disney numbers.

We were very tired by the evening and were happy to just wonder back to the hostel, when we came across a restaurant called the Black Bottle. The menu was similar to the Vancouver trend of 'small plates' which we've become accustomed to. We had some delicious breads, belly pork and the best broccoli I have EVER had. Great find.

Our second day began by missing the free hostel breakfast, but we quickly found a cutesy coffee shop for doorstep toast and fuss-free coffee. It was the kind of place where there was an old bicycle mounted on the wall just for the sake of it; and I'm always lapping that pretentious stuff up. We then took the walk up Pike Street all the way to Capitol Hill, which promised to be the must see area. We stopped by some more coffee at Bauhaus, which was a coffee shop come library. YES. Unfortunately it never seemed like we really found what all the fuss was about at 'Cap Hill', although we did find the Stumptown Coffee shop, where I got to sample what the coffee I make every day should taste like.

[Stumptown is the roaster where the Salty Tongue get their coffee beans. We are the only place in Vancouver that serves their coffee and just after our trip I had a training weekend with Stumptown, as they like to make sure that it's being served in the right way, and that we all know about where the beans come from, processes involved and about the direct trade with farmers.] 

So I'm pretty pumped on caffeine by this point so we take the walk back to downtown via Pine Street. A recommendation from the hostel convinced us that the famous Space Needle would be a little disappointing for the price, so we took their great tip to go to the Columbia building. This is actually the largest building in Seattle so it made sense to get the best views from here. Took some great pictures and sussed out where to take the ferry to the following day. We could see out all across Puget Sound, which is the ocean channel between Seattle and Olympic National Park and all the islands in between. We then continued our walk down to Pioneer Sqaure to admire the oldest part of the city. 

 
We were disappointed to find the famous Grand Central Bakery cleared out (it was Valentine’s day, I suppose), but we soon found another independent cafe for afternoon tea and cake. We sat for a while considering our options for Valentine's Day, which we assumed would be few as we hadn't thought to book anywhere. But Stella's new passion for secret bars took us to Bathtub Gin & Co. We found the rumoured back alley and almost missed the plaque on the door that led us into a dark and hidden cocktail bar. With around 50 gins to choose from and the best seat in the house, we were pretty smug by this point. It was, understandably, a little expensive to camp down in for the night. So we headed towards the market, which a night, is a maze of hidden bars and restaurants packed down the back alleys and underneath the market stalls. We found a bizarre British-style country pub, complete with dog, and settled for a pizza in the Alibi Room underneath the market itself. It turned out to be an unexpectedly great Valentine's Day. (Even though I'd forgotten to get Stella a card, and she MADE me one.)

My Valentine's Day Card

 
For our final day in Seattle, we decided to take the ferry trip out to Bainbridge Island. On our walk to the ferry terminal we stopped by the first Starbucks, to see what the fuss was about. The shop itself is just a shop, you can't sit in and have coffee, and it seems to have been maintained in its old style with wooden crates everywhere and the old fashioned signage. The coffee was, however, the same as anywhere else, which I'm sure is the idea. The ferry ride was much more impressive than the Vancouver Sea Bus. We could actually go up on deck and take amazing photos of the Seattle skyline. It was super cold, and soon the idea of fish and chips was planted in my mind, and I wished I was back home. 

We wondered through the small town on the Island, and did the waterfront trail down past the fishing boats and wonderful scenery. We even managed to find some famed Seattle fish and chips at the Harbour side pub. We also located an ice-creamery and took a walk back through the waterfront park. By late afternoon we'd exhausted all we could on the Island on foot, so we took the ferry back downtown. On the return we were treated to a faint view of Mt Ranier, which was frighteningly big, and impossible to capture on camera. 

On the way back up towards the hostel we went for a happy hour stop at Zig Zag Cafe where we had some more fancy cocktails, and we were ready for some more afternoon drinking to take advantage of happy hours. We decided to try the market brewery for some beer tasting, but were refused alcohol because we didn’t have passports with us, and the same thing happened in the next place too. Apparently its state law, yet we hadn't had this problem until now. The staff weren't particularly nice about it either. So we headed back to the hostel to dress up for our last night, and went for a late happy hour at Local 360 for some more small plates, and more excellently dressed greens. 

On the morning of our departure, we took another stroll round the market, and we were still finding bits of it we hadn't seen the first time. Then we headed back to the Greyhound station, and had a reasonably pleasant return journey too. There were a couple of overly friendly strangers, and not quite enough teeth to go round, but overall I would use it again. 

Got a bit sad to be leaving Seattle as we’d had such an amazing time. It was a lot cheaper than Vancouver, so we went to some lovely places without worrying about money, which was nice. I think we'll definitely return before the year is over.

GROUSE MOUNTAIN

 

 

Little Christmas Blog

Stella reading a letter from Nance in Six Acres

There’s been lots of beer so far. Last week I went out with work people, unintentionally ended up being gooseberry on a (‘non’) second date. Turns out I’m really good at going on other people’s dates, I had a great time. Me and Stell had our own date night exploring more of Gastown, including Six Acres, Salt and Bitter. We sampled cheese plates, found a scotch egg, and persevered with finding beer we really like. 

Done lots of shopping too. Took another trip to Granville Island Market for Christmas treats, and explored the artsy shops; I found another Japanese style stationers (Paper Ya) and drooled in there for a while. I even ventured as far as Dunbar for real Christmas cake and paxo stuffing. 

LOOK HOW HAPPY I AM

Stockings

Christmas Dinner

I was really pleased to be invited to a mulled wine evening, which, followed by a trip to the Irish Heather, began the Christmas season wonderfully. On Christmas Eve, Stell and I went to a Carol Service, which aside from a few tune variations and an embarrassing pop ballad style rendition of ‘Mary did you know?’ , was very cute and festive. Afterwards, we struggled to find somewhere to drink (most places close for the entire Christmas period). We ended up going to the Railway Club which was very quiet, but the two of us had a lovely evening reminiscing about Christmases at home. As we were about to leave, we stumbled upon a small guitar band doing a Christmas sing-a-long, which was the perfect end to the evening.

The view from Vancouver Lookout

Christmas morning was bursting full of Skype sessions and bucks fizz. A bottle of bubbles later, we began the mammoth task of cooking a full Christmas dinner without an oven thermostat. It shouldn’t have worked, and we definitely should have been poisoned, but somehow it did! We had an amazing dinner followed by gifts from all the family. Favourites included a stationary set and library date stamp, a wonderful food hamper, PERCY PIGS, and some fancy slippers. Thanks everyone.

Vancouver FOUR

It’s getting closer to Christmas, and although I’m feeling increasingly more settled, I’m missing the thought of the holidays at home. I wrote my Christmas cards last week, and Stella’s made a ‘Christmas at the Movies’ playlist and has already bought (and experimented with) a tub of mulling spices. Today we bought a Christmas tree, balls, lights and bells and have spent the afternoon bringing the ‘yuletide gay’ to our apartment. I mulled some wine and bought some satsumas (stems on), and have started the obligatory Christmas ‘goobie tray’.  We are also listening to the Glee Christmas album- yes I watch glee now. The list we have made for Christmas food shopping is insane as we’re trying to incorporate both our family’s funny traditions. That means ‘Some like it Hot’ and prawn cocktails, followed by white chocolate cheesecake and ‘Muppets Christmas Carol’. 

The biggest news these past few weeks is our housing drama. We had solved the mice problem and given up on relying on our landlady. But we had a visit from the building manager who was issuing a court order to evict our landlady from the property because she hadn’t been paying her rent. So she’d been taking our money, not paying her rent, and ultimately we were the ones dealing with the consequences. The bailiffs were on their way and we were set to be evicted. Luckily the manager was really sweet, and he’s now our friend. He’s letting us stay here anyway until the end of the month, and I think then we’ll be moving into an apartment downstairs. Phew. It still hasn’t put me completely at ease, and I’ve been relieved coming home each night to find the locks unchanged and our belongings still intact. We’ve had to laugh I suppose, but we can’t believe what a mess we’ve ended up in, and so close to Christmas. 

English Bay

We’ve been exploring a little more. We took a stroll along English bay, which is only a few minutes from our flat. Those familiar with Seaburn will be pleased to learn they have a Boxing Day ‘Polar Bear Swim’ where all the hardcore Vancouver oldies go for a dip. We have also started to frequent what is sure to become our local pub- the Fountainhead. Unfortunately the beer is crap and the use of the phrase ‘patio seating’ is questionable, but it’s super gay and the only thing that feels like a pub close to home. 

 I joined the library and have already ogled the amazing book and film collections. To structure my Vancouver reading I’ve joined a book club (yes a lesbian one), that meets in January. Still haven’t finished the book I came with, which I can’t believe I hadn’t finished the first time round, His Dark Materials (thank you, Karen Eastwood- perfect holiday book!)

These past weeks, we’ve been getting to know new people and working hard at our jobs. We’re doing close to full-time right now, in the hope for saving for a lavish Christmas dinner, and travelling in the New Year. I’ve even fashioned my first latte ‘rosetta’. I went for drinks with work people a few days ago and got taken to the most amazing bar called the Alibi Room, which I liked purely for the fact it reminded me of Friday nights being silly in Alibi, Sheffield. 

Winning Ticket

Oh, and have I mentioned my big bingo win?! We went to a bingo night at a gay club on Davie Street. It was massively cheesy, but great. I was so nervous about winning anything because I knew it would involve being on stage, getting the piss taken by some enormous drag queens. So obviously, that meant I won the jackpot prize. This included a Mini Cooper for a weekend of my choosing, $100, casino coupons, a bath robe, a Mini T-shirt, Umbrella, key rings, torch, thermos cup... As well as the win we had a great night and met some nice people and were introduced to a very trendy, darkly lit bar in the gay village (1181). 

We have managed to venture out of downtown once or twice, but it’s hard when there’s so much on our doorstep. We finally made it to Kitsilano, and the Museum of Anthropology. We learnt lots about the First Nations people and were very impressed by the foyer of Totem poles, which dwarfed the ones we’d seen before in Stanley Park. We also saw an exhibit of photographs taken of clothing that survived the Hiroshima bombing (Ishuchi Miyako). It had been on our to-do list since we arrived, but we felt it was lacking in information, which is definitely weird for a museum. Or at least it made me feel like I wanted to know much more about what happened to First Nations people, and how they live now. 

On another  cultural endeavour I’ve been trying to see some theatre, and finally satisfied this with a production of ‘The Tempermentals’ at the PAL. The venue was unusual in that it was a high rise of affordable housing for people who have dedicated their lives to the poorly paid arts, with a studio space at the top. It was very cute and obviously underfunded, but I really liked the mugs of tea and Kitkats served from a kitchenette in the studio entrance. The play was about a group of men in pre-Stonewall America, who founded the Mattachine Society and were the first people to acknowledge a gay civil rights movement. All these reasons made me really want to like it, but ultimately it was just OK.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Vancouver Three

We’ve found and started our jobs this week, and settled into the new apartment this weekend so we haven’t had much of a chance to be tourists anymore. This has been exciting though- because we have finally ticked off everything we needed to do! 

The apartment was awful when we arrived. The landlady had already called me at work a few days before to ask for our rent money to be deposited in her account early so there was bad feeling by the time we came to move in. As we walked into the bathroom and kitchen especially she tried to act like it was fine when it was clearly horrendous. We spent the whole weekend cleaning. Not the best start to our first apartment together- but I think we’ve got it looking really good now. We’re excited about getting a little Christmas tree and hanging fairy lights everywhere (because there aren’t actually any lights in the bedroom/living room!) 

I now work at the Salty Tongue in Gastown. It’s a trendy cafe/coffee shop in the historic part of Vancouver near the bay. It’s also the boozy part of town. They really make a lot of fuss about their coffee- I’m learning to calibrate my shots and I’m sure to be learning latte-art any day now. It’s really nice though that they make a big deal of it- I’m learning loads. My manager is a competitive barista so it’s a pretty high standard, I’m not even allowed to start serving the coffee yet! 

I had a couple more interviews last week, one was at a soup market on Granville Island- very cute and wholesome and I had to do a food quiz when I got there! Unfortunately I’d forgotten everything I’d learnt from Masterchef and a few Canadian-isms like mornay and arugula didn’t help. I got a trial shift but cancelled it because I got the other job. I also had an interview to work at a crisis shelter for young people. I was most excited about this and it sounded like the most rewarding but I ran into a sticky phone interview where they explained their catholic founder (which I was obviously fine with) and therefore their stance on pro-life and anti-contraception. I was in a bit of a moral dilemma, so I’m really glad some other jobs came up. 

I’ve also spent the last couple of weeks doing the odd shift at the American Apparel warehouse sale. This was supposed to be a form of trial shift with opportunities for full time employment in one of their stores, but so far it just seems like they needed bodies to pick up after rummaging shoppers! 

Last weekend we went to our fist gig in Vancouver- UH HUH HER- at the ‘Keep A Breast’ cancer awareness tour.  It was jam packed with hard core Lword fans, but they were actually really good in their own right and it was nice to do something that wasn’t the usual tourist stuff.  The same day I also had my trial shift at Salty and managed to spill my first latte all down myself in front of my manager and the other new staff member- the embarrassment there continues. 

On one of our frequent rainy days when we can’t decide what to do (of which there are many), we visited Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park. As much as I’m not a huge fan of this kind of rainy day activity, weaving amongst hundreds of school kids and mommies with prams, we actually had a great time! It was really interesting because all the weird sea creatures weren’t from some far off exotic place, but from along the coast all over BC.

Points for an Lword spot!

I’m just off to meet Stell from work and go for a drink. We’re just starting to explore our new neighbourhood.

Vancouver Two

Last Thursday we moved to West Vancouver to stay with the Cobbs & Rogers. On the drive over here we went over the Lions Gate bridge to the North shore and up into West Van. We left the garish delights of the city and are now over the bay in a temperate rainforest. MORE RAIN. It’s been nice to have some comfort and home cooked meals though. We arrived here just after we’d managed to find a house we like! It’s a studio apartment in the west end, close to the beach and Stanley Park and it’s on a pretty tree-lined street. After the trauma of shared accommodation we decided to throw money at the problem and get our own place- let’s hope we get jobs soon! We move in on 13^th. 

Last week we took the boat trip to Granville Island. We were needlessly excited about the boat. It held about 7 people and took about 45 seconds. But it was a nice way to see the city and the mountains beyond. The island is a reclaimed rubbish dump, and now has a brewery, university and the best food market I have ever seen. We went for fish and chips Vancouver style, which just means the fish was superb. We explored the small streets, which makes a nice change for Vancouver, and pottered in and out of markets, and artsy boutiques. The Granville Island Brewery was also an obvious pit-stop. We had samples of all the beers on offer- which was all we could have. They must have strange licensing laws here because some bars make you have food before you can order a 2^nd or 3^rd round of drinks, and even at the brewery we were only allowed to have 12oz of beer each. 

On Saturday we went down Main street to the Regional Assembly of Text, which is a stationary store with a reading room full of self published books and zines. Spent ages ogling everything- shame you weren’t there to loiter around the entrance for me dad! After, we took our first trip to Gastown, which is the cool bars and restaurants area. It made a nice change from the Granville strip, and we peered in at plenty of exposed brick work and fancy tasting platters. A little expensive for us, we stayed for a few drinks then headed off for a ‘cheap eat’ downtown. We went to the diner I mentioned in the first blog, we never made it because we were exhausted, and it was worth the wait. We had local beers and enormous burgers in a booth with a mini juke box- and it was even nicer that we weren’t outside with the rest of Vancouver who were all halloween’d up to the eyeballs and stumbling around the streets. They are mad on Halloween here- every porch step has at least 5 pumpkins on it. And cobwebs. And blood. And huge inflatable ghosts....

The start of this week was time for serious job-hunting. I suppose we don’t really need to start looking yet, but I think it’s going to be good for meeting people and settling into life as a Vancouverite. Applied for lots, and dropped into the gay and lesbian community centre to offer our volunteering services. I’m also thinking about getting involved with teaching English as a foreign language. 

By Tuesday Stell already has a job interview. Swot. At Vancouver’s technology shop catered to the LGBTQA community (i.e. selling gay phones). After we went for a post interview hot dog with a Japanese twist-as you do. See Stell’s food blog for more on how we nearly died in the aftermath. 

On Wednesday the job hunt continued with an interview with a temp agency, set up by SWAP, which was a big waste of time- pretty sure we won’t get jobs as a result. After, we went to explore Yaletown, another district of fancy bars and coffee shops. We sampled some more local beer, which is lovely, but we’re feeling a pang for a pub- which we are yet to find. Then we headed to Chinatown in hope of finding lots of choices of teatime destinations. It wasn’t quite what we expected, a little rough around the edges and the restaurants had what looked to be patio furniture in them- and no people. But then we found the most amazing candlelit Chinese-tapas style eatery, Bao Bei. It was the most unlikely of places to find in those surroundings, and inevitably involved more dim sum. Yum. 

I also got a JOB INTERVIEW and a trial shift on Saturday. It’s as a Barista in a super trendy cafe in Gastown, where there’s just one long table where everyone sits and eats meat cured on the premises. YES. I overdressed for the interview, and was overly conscious of my accent, but otherwise I’m hoping it went well. 

We’re having a lovely time being looked after at Sandi & Steve’s but are itching to get back into the city to move into our new home. It’s bear country out here, and people die on the mountains not far from the house! We’re yet to see a bear but we like to sing a ‘go away bears’ song we made up on the walk up the driveway. 

Here are some pictures...

Gastown steam clock. Lots of bars around, and my job interview was for a place just round the corner. 

Stell at the Diner.

Me at the Diner.

Stell in a cutesy dowtown sandwich shop. 

My first Vancouver beer.

Chinese garden in the middle of the city. The blocks in the water read Earth reflects the heavens but they float so don't always  say the same thing.

This was written on the side of a cafe we have noted to visit at some point on the trip. It seems to be a popular ethos with much of Vancouver. 

This is THE view from Stanley park. 

First Nations totem pole

A view from Commercial drive, just outside the city. The lights are from the Canucks ice hockey stadium.

Street Dog.

Our tasting flight of Granville beers.

View from boat to Granville Island.

This is our new house- where we don't quite live yet.