Goodbye TO, Hello Van – Part 3 January 13, 2009
Posted by yuling in Journey.trackback
The City: Toronto
When I graduated from UWaterloo and went back to Toronto, I was looking forward to re-exploring the city. I love the fact that Toronto is one of the most multicultural cities in the world, with pockets of hidden neighborhoods all around you. I also loved the fact that TO has a great downtown core and I could spend a whole day just walking around the city looking at architecture, urban design, city planning, etc.
I think this love for cities, buildings and infrastructure stemmed out of my childhood fantasy of being an architect (and after helping out a friend with her architectural project, I kinda sorta wished I had chosen to go to UofT arch instead of UW math).
So while in TO, I enjoyed driving and busing to different neighborhoods. Of course I saw a lot of chinatown (downtown and the china invasion in Markham and Richmond Hill).I spent my fair share in North York, downtown, Scarborough, etc. I loved walking along yonge street, queen street, the danforth, St Lawrence Market, my walk home from church, and many more places.
For the last few years, I enjoyed reading and learning about the city of Toronto. I subscribed to Spacing Magazine. I had blogTO on my rss feed. I loved the books in the uTOpia series – one about urban issues, arts, and the environment respectively.
So now, what to do in Vancouver?
I love the westcoast vibe here in Vancouver. It’s definitely great to see the ocean on one side, and the mountains on the other.
While my parents have been visiting me for a few days, they rented a car and we drove around the city for a bit. So far, I’ve seen the airport, Regent College, UBC, Richmond (Yaohan Centre, Aberdeen, Richmond Centre), downtown (robson st, pacific centre), granville island, stanley park, west van (park royal mall), chinatown, burnaby, white rock (visiting old church friends), washington state (for outlet shopping), and kitsilano (where I live).
Since i have a UPass, I’m up for busing anywhere so if you have any suggestions on what to do, what to see, what to eat, please let me know.
Also, I’m looking for several good Vancouver websites. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.
Hey bud
You ought to get up to the North Shore (that’s where my wife is from) – try hitting Grouse Grind (if you’re a hiker — but maybe not until summer) — there’s also the Suspension bridge (you have to pay at Capilano, but Lynn Valley is free) — also Lonsdale Quay is a quieter more introverter version of Grandville Island.
Glad you’re enjoying Vancouver
In Van you can always wander the book shops of W12th or W10th by campus – lots of great places to find
Happy exploring!
Subscribe to Granville – it’s free. Note: it’s on sustainable living, which often translates to me as luxury-high-end living.
hey Jon and b.p.,
thx for the suggestions. I will probably have a weekly ritual of ‘exploration mondays’ to check out all these places.
Heh, the only sites I can think of are food ones. You can check out urbandiner.ca, but most of the restaurants they profile will be outside the typical student budget.
Nice to know you were a fan of Spacing and the uTOpia series! I always wanted to the uTOpia books but always got sidetracked by other books and hobbies. I’ve read _Sidewalks in the Kingdom_ by Eric O. Jacobsen, which is really saying that mixed-use neighbourhoods and the New Urbanism is good and proper
Anyways, have fun exploring this city! Whenever I’m done writing this comps paper I can hang out with you a bit more often