Gadding about in Gastown

This afternoon we lunched and perused stores in Gastown and snapped shots of a couple of Vancouver’s instagrammable landmarks.

We enjoyed a much-needed sleep-in this morning, heading to Gastown around 1 pm for lunch and a peruse around the neighbourhood. According to the brochure I picked up at the hotel, Gastown is the birthplace of Vancouver and was founded in 1867. It has a lovely mix of historical brick buildings, with shopfronts filled with designer and souvenir stores.

Our first choice for lunch, Save On Meats, was closed for today’s Family Day public holiday, so we wandered down to Maple Tree Square. We checked out the menus of the pubs located on each corner and settled on Peckinpah – sharing a Fried Chicken Sandwich and Fully Loaded Cornbread, washed down with Angry Orchard Cider. Outside the restaurant stands a statue of Gassy Jack Deighton, the founding father of Gastown.

Our tummies once again full, we wandered further down Water Street, popping into a couple of souvenir shops and snapping shots the old shop fronts. Our destination was the Gastown Steam Clock – a well-known landmark in this part of Vancouver.

At the end of Gastown, we reached Vancouver’s Waterfront Station – another historical building still serving as a central transport hub.

We then wandered on, towards Canada Place – a convention centre designed to look like a huge cruise ship docked on Vancouver’s waterfront. Here we found The Drop, a towering blue droplet sculpture. I felt it needed a hug.

Along further, we found the Digital Orca, another landmark on Vancouver’s waterfront.

By now we were chilled to the bone and very grateful there’s a Starbucks on nearly every corner! Back in the warmth and sipping a hot coffee, we spent the time planning and booking restaurants for the next couple of evenings.

We decided on the Holy Crab for tonight – see next post for details.