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We experienced a most excellent trip to Vancouver this past weekend which involved everything from James Bond to the Rolling Stones and plenty of things in between.

Thursday

We were up early to catch our morning flight to Vancouver. However, during the nite a snowstorm descended upon Calgary which make for a slow drive to the airport in morning rush hour traffic and snow. We left in plenty of time and arrived well before our flight was to depart. Our flight left on time and we were in Vancouver by 11:00am.

After a quick lunch at Harvey’s in the airport, we ventured out into the rain to take the bus to Sean and Julie’s place. This took just over an hour and we reunited with the Sullivan’s who we hadn’t seen since their wedding in July.

For supper, we all went out to a Cuban/Mexican-style restaurant on the Drive and our nite entertainment came in the form of going to the new James Bond movie. It was showing in a old movie theatre just down the street and we watched it from the balcony which is something that neither Caitlin nor I had ever done before.

Friday

On Friday morning, Caitlin and I headed out to Granville Island and visited some of the small shops, the market, and had a great lunch at Sammy J. Peppers.

After lunch, we headed across the Lion’s Gate Bridge to West Vancouver for a walk on the Sea Wall and to visit Caitlin’s grandfather. Then we headed back to downtown Vancouver in the evening rush hour to catch the SkyTrain back to Sean and Julie’s place. For supper, we headed to Memphis Blues BBQ which is now a traditional supper spot to celebrate my new jobs (I’ll explain more in my next post…). After eating our fill of meat, we headed back to play some Halo before calling it a night.

Saturday

After breakfast on Saturday morning, we all headed out to Science World for the Body Worlds exhibit which was both fascinating and a bit gruesome at the same time. The exhibit involved over 200 real body specimens which displayed how muscles, nerves, organs, etc all work together. It was definitely an eye-opener and quite interesting. It was a bit unnerving to realize that you were actually looking at a skeleton of a real person and not something made out of plastic.

After taking the Body Worlds tour, we headed further downtown for a late lunch at Milestones. By this time, it was already starting to snow with a few flurries and we headed back to the house to wait for the concert!

Shortly after 6:00pm, we headed down to BC Place for the Rolling Stones concert. It was just a short ride on the SkyTrain but there were huge lines waiting to get in as security was a bit tight. We finally got into the stadium at around 7:30 and could hear Bonnie Rait finishing up her opening set as we ventured to our seats.

We finally got to our 5th row seats just after 8:00 and had a bit of a wait for the Stones to come on. As time ticked by, the seats kept filling up and by 8:50 the place was packed with 51,000 fans. At 8:50, the lights went out and the Stones intro video started on the massive screen. With a blast of fireworks and bright lights, Keith appeared on stage and started right into Jumpin’ Jack Flash. The following two hours consisted on a high-intense show as the Stones wrapped up their Bigger Bang Tour in Vancouver (also the highest grossing tour in history!). Mick was full of energy as were Keith, Ron, and Charlie as they went through their 20 song set. The setlist, along with some pictures can be found at IORR and more pictures taken by other fans can be found at flickr.

After the concert, we made our way back through the slushy snow and huge lineups to meet Sean and Julie at the SkyTrain station and then had some pizza.

Sunday

We woke up to a blanket of snow on the ground which is quite rare for Vancouver. As it continued to snow outside, we stayed in and had a pancake breakfast and played some Halo as we stayed close to the fireplace. For lunch, we ventured out to a Thai restaurant and had some very tasty curry.

Shortly after 2:00pm, we said our ‘goodbyes’ to the Sullivans and headed downtown where we would be staying at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver for the night. We trudged along with our suitcases in the wet, slushy snow and finally made it to the hotel.

During our check-in, the woman checking us in said that she was also from New Brunswick and that she wanted to treat us well. She upgraded our room from a basic room to a deluxe suite which came with a kitchen, huge living room, huge bathroom, and king-size bed. After marveling at our nice room, we ordered room service since it was still quite nasty outside and we wanted to enjoy the room to it’s full potential.

Monday

We were up early to catch the bus back to the airport for our early afternoon flight back to Calgary. Most of the Air Canada flights were cancelled, but our WestJet flight was only delayed by an hour. We arrived back into Calgary where it was -39 with the windchill… quite a change from the warmer Vancouver weather. Surprisingly, our car started fine and we arrived back home just before 8:00pm, after a terrific trip to Vancouver!

Leaving for the Stones concert:

Walking the SeaWall: