We spent all day Saturday in Vancouver, mostly in Stanley Park, which is where the next couple of pictures were taken.
We had said that while we were in Vancouver we'd eat either some fresh seafood or authentic Chinese, since we have neither in Utah. So we stopped at what turned out to be a Vietnamese BBQ and were subjected to some of the foulest food we've ever experienced. The sweet couple who owned the place were standing about 8" from our faces so we tried to be polite and choke it down. But come on, the chicken was cold and had skin with hair attached. I'm dry heaving a little just thinking about it. As soon as they went into the back we high-tailed it out of there and ate at Taco Del Mar.
It was cool to be in the midst of so many skyscrapers while we were at port. None of our ports in Hawaii were in a big city. The pools were heated, by the way. We weren't sure how swimming on an Alaskan cruise would go over.
Used this room exactly once.
Which is more than we used this room.
And I wish it was more than we used this room. We sat through the most hideous musical - Pan Cirque I believe - and I sincerely wish I could get that hour & a half of my life back. I won't go into detail, because it's too painful, but suffice it to say it was vomit-inducing.
We used this room a couple of times. You could check out all the books behind glass, and there was also a shelf full of people's personal books that they left there when finished. I read a few Reader's Digests (who knew there was a Canadian version?). They also had daily puzzles and sudoku and trivia and stuff like that.
They had a game room full of tons of games, but after I slaughtered Lance so horrifically at Scrabble we mysteriously never made it back.
This was our room, which they had upgraded for free. Although the crampitude didn't bother us in Hawaii, I have to admit that it was nice to have a bit more room.
That couch folds out into a double, and that thing above it folds down into a single, so technically you could fit 5 people in there. Not that I'm inviting 3 of you to get all up in our biz on our next cruise.
This was as we were pulling out of Vancouver, taken through a dirty window. I won't let it happen again. Just kidding, I did it during the whole trip.
It was cool to see Stanley Park, where we'd spent the previous day. Even through the gross window.
This was pretty much what it looked like everywhere we went. Like the ship wasn't quite going to fit through the opening ahead. But don't worry - we made it.
Chuck Liddell's brother on the left.
After we woke up feeling like humans we left for a day of sightseeing with Lance's bosses, Collis and Cyan. Melbourne is a really big, cool city, and there's a ton of stuff to do. We started with pancakes at a cute little outdoor cafe. Australian pancakes are much better than American pancakes (although I may have been influenced by the scoop of ice cream on the top). When I asked for water, the waiter looked at me funny, and acted like he'd have to go out of his way, and that it might take a minute. I thought he was being sarcastic, because my request had been so simple, but then it really did take him awhile to bring me some water, and it was in a wine bottle. I'd always heard that the water situation was funky in different countries, so who knows?
There was an Indonesian festival going on, so there were lots of performers, and crafts, and yummy foods all around.
The Yarrow River winds through the city, and they have little sightseeing boats everywhere. There are a lot of trees and flowers and gardens and parks everywhere, and the air tastes delicious.
Collis and Cyan are even cooler than we expected, and we had a fun day hanging out with them.
There are tons of cool buildings around the city, and lots of different churches - all of them old and cool.
The highlight, though, might have been the fist-sized truffle that we got at this delicious little chocolate shop. It was exactly what I imagine heaven tasting like. Totally worth the $10 we paid for it.
The pancakes and chocolate may be better here, but their pizza...not so much. :) Unfortunately, it was the only thing we could bring ourselves to buy last night, after finding out that a (1) burrito would set us back $19. Tonight we'll try to find a grocery store so we can afford to eat when we get back. The picture, by the way, is of the bottle that the tap water comes in.
