Oh Canada....hanging out in Vancouver

Just a little bit of catching up to do before we get to Canada. On our second last day in Homer, Alaska we went to the local Farmer's Market, which was a small but interesting and quite charming affair. They had locals play some music, and much to our astonishment the band was comprised of all teenage boys (with some adults mixed in later). My theory was that at least they get to hit something :)

It was quite enjoyable to listen to and take in, and I enjoyed a serve of cod and chips with the show. Video below.

 Fog bank on our way back to from a walk.

Driving out of Homer, a pickup with a sofa and dog on the back.

The next day was basically just going back to Anchorage, cleaning the RV, dropping it off the following morning and then going to the airport to fly to Vancouver via Seattle. We arrived in Vancouver around 10pm on monday night.

Instead of hotels or motels, due to our length of stay here we had arranged to basically rent an appartment for 10 days before we move into the hotel where the convention is held. This works out a lot cheaper, we pay about $50 per night and we are sharing a house with locals Jeff and Nicole, their daughter, Finlay the dog and Lily the cat. The house is separated into two individual apartments, we have the one upstairs. We have a separate entrance which we can lock and we have bedroom, bathroom, lounge, kitchen and Lily. I just call her kitteh.

Kitteh has decided that I'm her bestest fwuent and she follows me around everywhere. She's very friendly and playful, and it seems she has learned that it's not cool to wake uncle Tim up at 6 in the morning by jumping onto him in the bed (Disclaimer: no animals were hurt when this first happened). Interestingly enough my allergies seem to be pretty much non-existant...I still take precautions though.

One late afternoon we went to Red Robin, and we enjoyed a delicious meal. The burger I had was really flavourful, we both were very happy with our choices. I had a mushroom burger with a side of Mac & Cheese.

 Dinner at Earl's in Yaletown. I just had two appetizers, the chicken wings and the baby calamari. Simone had the baked brie and chicken sandwich with apple slices. All very nice food and as an added bonus for me the waitresses were all very easy on the eye :)

The other day we did a long walk starting in Stanley Park. We walked through the rainforest part and then along the shore back to the mainland. Altogether I think Simone worked out we walked over 10km. The weather here is actual summer weather, so the temps are in the high 20s low 30s. But the sun here doesn't burn as harsh as it does back home, that's for sure. I guess having an ozone layer over your head does some good.

Granville Markets from the bridge.

Ok so in Canada they have something they call poutine. It's a dish originating in Quebec and basically the original is fries with gravy and cheese curds. They of course have all sorts of different variations but it's a popular dish, you can even get this at your local Burger King. So today whilst googling some eateries I came across Fritz European Fry House. They do fries with all kinds of sauces. And of course poutine. So I had to try it.

The small poutine. The gravy is served very hot so it actually starts melting the cheese curds. I have to say after tasting this, I'm a fan. This is the kind of food you have when you're craving something fatty and satisfying. Apparently this place is THE stop late nights when people leave the bars and clubs and want something quick to eat before falling into bed.

Jumbo serve of fries with Dutch Mayo (frittesauce). None of this ketchup business. Though they also have curry ketchup on the menu, which I guess you could use if you wanted pommes rot-weiss.

Simone had lunch from one of the food trucks she learned about on Twitter - Guanaco. She did her best to pronounce the name of the dish she wanted, and thankfully the server knew what she meant :)
This truck is quite popular and highly rated on sites like Urbanspoon. Simone had the Revueltas pork pupusa & yuca frita.

I bought this drawing from a homeless man for $6. At least he wasn't just begging like so many others here in Vancouver, and when he said that a meal would cost him $6 when I asked how much he wanted for it, I believed him.