Granville Island and English Bay

Before arriving in Vancouver, I had no idea how integral the waterfront was to life in this city.  Stanley Park, and the Seawall are beautiful, but there are many great neighbourhoods that sit right at the water's edge. 

This is Yaletown, a trendy (re:expensive) neighbourhood on the south side of downtown Vancouver with lots of restaurants and pubs, and a vibrant nightlife...

The body of water is called False Creek (which appropriately enough is not a creek, but an inlet).  You can travel to several places on False Creek by taking a ferry or an Aquabus.  On the south shore of False Creek is Granville Island (which inappropriately enough is not actually an island, but a peninsula). 

Here's a shot from Granville Island looking back at Yaletown across False Creek.  You can see the Aquabus in the foreground...

Granville Island is one of Vancouver's top tourist attractions, but I really wasn't that impressed.  There are a number of artisan studios, a large public market, and a bunch of shops selling tacky tourist souvenirs.  I much preferred the Gastown area for shopping and art.

The Granville Public Market was actually kind of neat, selling fruits and vegetables, meat, candy, chocolate, maple syrup, T-shirts, jewellry, and just about anything else (almost like a flea market).

From Granville Island, I took the Aquabus back over to the north side, and walked west towards English Bay.

English Bay hosts what is one of Vancouver's most recognizable landmarks (especially now that the Olympics are on)...

The Inukshuk at English Bay was reportedly the inspiration for the design of the Vancouver 2010 logo...

...which makes some sense, since it seems a strange choice to represent Vancouver otherwise (seeing as the Inuit probably don't jump to mind when you think of British Columbia).

I guess it would have been too stereotypical to make the Mounties the symbol of the games...

Stephen Colbert has picked up on Canadian stereotypes, and did a funny bit with Bob Costas tonight while dressed in full RCMP uniform (and bringing along his own stuffed moose)...

The weather continues to be clear and sunny, and it is forecast to last well into next week as well.  I had a great day at the Vancouver Aquarium today, and will write about that tomorrow.