Cruise day minus 1. We had a very leisurely start to the day. Breakfast at our usual joint up the street (breakfast isn’t provided at the Auberge Hotel despite it being very up market …go figure) and then packed our stuff ready to transfer hotels. We’re now ensconced on the 30^th floor of the Hyatt Regency. The view of the city is spectacular, especially now that its dark.

We  had a tour on a hop-on-hop-off bus booked today. It’s a long weekend in Canada, Labour on Monday, so locals and tourists alike were out in force.  We had to wait more than 30 minutes to board the most uncomfortable bus ever, which took us to our preferred stop, No. 5,  Stanley Park which was, yes, you guessed it, choc-a-block full of people. Stanley Park is almost as big as Central Park in New York, with many cycling and walking tracks, ponds lakes and woodlands. It’s very beautiful, with dedicated areas such as the Rose Garden and totem pole exhibit.

Tall trees abound, one  particular tree had huge holes gouged out of the bark due to the activities of some enthusiastic woodpeckers.  There’s a horse-drawn carriage too, that will take you around the park, at a cost of course. Because of my hip we decided not to walk far and so it was off to the Aquarium.

We found it disappointing when compared to our own Melbourne Aquarium, but it did have  some  fascinating jellyfish displays and also colourful corals particular to the northern hemisphere. There were also some otters which were being fed by their keeper. Did you know that they roll onto their backs to receive their food on their bellies and eat it with their “hands” while upturned. They then do a couple of rolls in the water for a quick wash before presenting their bellies to the keeper for the next mouthful.

From there we walked to the totem pole display, through a couple of flocks of extremely  large ducks. I was ready to fight them off with my walking pole if they decided they didn’t like us!

Then back on the bus, this time a lovely comfy air conditioned double decker to complete our Cooks Tour, collect our luggage and walk to our new hotel for the night before a very very early (5.15 am) start to tomorrow for our flight to Nome (not Gnome).

Good night. See you in Alaska!

Ilze