I woke up and panicked, not knowing where I was, then relaxed back into my fluffy pillows, remembering my good fortune. Sheldan was coming over at 9:30am to pick me up, so I had a shower, breakfast and organised some address changes at the breakfast bar while I waited. He arrived and we drove north to Mount Seymour, which is a ski resort in winter and very close to the city! At the top, we donned our backpacks and headed off to Dog Mountain. Only a short 5km round trip, but the trail was interesting, we were hopping over roots and rocks the whole time. Everyone we passed on the trail was smoking weed, except for the group of lady monks who were doing the whole thing in socks and sandals. We chatted the whole way, still catching up on old times and making plans for future travels for both Sheldan and me. At the end of the walk we emerged out onto a rocky part of the mountain to see all of Vancouver. It showed just how big the city is, with multiple built-up areas, all around the Pacific inlet.

It is a beautiful city. We ate a couple of bananas up there and took in the view, then started back. We were both hungry at this point, so picked up the pace as we neared the car. Back down the mountain, we aimed for Sheldan’s house, but made a detour to find Café Roundel, where the best eggs benny were to be had. Sheldan was not wrong, it was the best eggs benny I’d ever had. Came with roast potatoes and the eggs were cooked to perfection. Yum! Thoroughly stuffed, we went back to Sheldan’s place to drop the car, then walked a few blocks down the hill to the skytrain so we could head into the city. The public transport system is brilliant, no drivers on the trains because it’s all automatic and no schedules because trains come so often. With one train change, we were in downtown Vancouver, exiting at Canada Place. We started our wandering through downtown aiming for Stanley Park where we were going to walk the sea wall. Walking through downtown, I got the feeling that I was in Melbourne. Professional people dressed up walking around the streets, very flash cars and apartments all around, ala carte restaurants and bars on every corner and water all around. We saw the Olypmic cauldron, backed up by a digital whale (that one didn’t really make sense) then started our walk around Stanley Park.

Sheldan ate sunflower seeds the whole way, spitting out the shells anywhere and everywhere, he also put some music on his beatbox so we had a spring in our step. There were lots of walkers, cyclists and horse-drawn carriages doing the same thing as us. The walk did give a beautiful view of the city and the marina. I complained a lot about the temperature. In the sun it was only just warm enough to be in shorts, in the shade it was definitely not shorts weather. At one point we saw a sea lion just floating along by the walkway. He was lying on his back, his fins clasped together over his belly, just chillin’. Then he noticed us and flicked away. The other highlight was seeing two girls riding their bicycles, but one of them had no top on. I asked Sheldan if that was a thing in Vancouver, similar to the way naked people are normal in SF, but he said definitely not. She didn’t draw much attention though. Probably just wanted to work on her all-round tan! Towards the end of the walk, we hit some beaches, which many people were enjoying. The sandy part that is, not the water because it’s way too cold. I was impressed at the numerous logs that were lined up along each beach. At first I thought it was just big logs that had been left there, but they were so neatly arranged, that it’s clear they were intentionally put there. What a great idea! Everyone was using them as a backrest, or a seat, or to lean their bikes up against and place their stuff on them. Brilliant! This is on every beach in Vancouver according to my tour guide.

At the end, we both had very tired legs. Turned out we’d walked more than 10km. On the way to a well-deserved ice cream, there was a really cool collection of statues that were intended to bring joy to anyone who experiences them which were intriguing and I really enjoyed them. We ate our ice creams in the park facing the water, soaking up the last bit of warmth from the sun, then we hit a pub on a nearby corner for half price wings and a beer before happy hour ended at 6pm. I inadvertently ordered a blueberry wheat beer which I did not enjoy, but finished anyway, thankfully it was only $4. The wings were a perfect appetiser for our journey back to Sheldan’s place. We hopped on a bus to get to the sky train (not wanting to walk much further), then another bus to get close to Sheldan’s house. It was all seamless, though would have needed much more research had it just been me on my own. Back at Sheldan’s house we put our feet up and I chatted to his Mum for a while as we rested. Near 7pm, after a full day of adventure, Sheldan took me back to Johann’s place. We said our goodbyes, it was so great to catch up and to have my own personal tour guide.

At Johann’s place, I finished his left over pizza and we chatted the whole night away. We talked about Tesla, about his work in the mining industry, books, movies, travel, a lot we had in common. We finished off by doing a bit of research about riding in Whistler, to get me excited about the next step of my journey. By 11pm, both of our eyes were droopy, so off to bed. I wouldn’t see him in the morning, so I said my huge thank-yous and I hope we get to meet again at some point.