USA 2013 - Part 11 (Vancouver)

The next day started with a grilled Quinoa Wrap and a chai from Agro Cafe before we went and did some exploring of the downtown area.



The Vancouver Public Library is a remarkable building to behold, and is full of wonderful books. A great place to lose yourself for a while. I loved it there! We also took a brief stop past the Vancouver Art Gallery, though there weren't any exhibitions on that were exciting enough for us to part with our money, but we enjoyed their fun gift shop.



Canada Place is the famous waterfront where all the cruise ships come in. It is a lovely place to stroll around, checking out the giant ships and the pretty views. It was a pretty grey day when we were there, but there was still something just lovely about it. Canada Place is a short walk down into Gastown, where we saw the famous steam clock and poked around in some shops.



However the main goal for our day was to get out to Commercial Drive (via the skytrain) and try out Bandidas Taqueria, a vegan-friendly place which we had heard so may amazing things about.




It certainly lived up to the hype! I had a really delicious hibiscus lemonade to drink, and for lunch we each ordered a huge baked burrito. I had The Bobcat, which had potatoes, onion, cabbage, pinto beans, Daiya, sour cream and guacamole. I tried to take an inside shot for you, but it wasn't pretty, however it was delicious. Ashleigh had The Wolf and Goat, which had pinto beans, guacamole, cabbage, Daiya and sour cream. I haven't heard a bad thing about this place, so if you are in Vancouver be sure to visit. They have great vegan options on the menu.

After lunch we strolled down the great length of Commercial Drive to look at some shops. Commercial Drive has many vegan or vegan friendly places on it. We also passed by Three Jewels and Deserts on our strolls. We stopped into Cafe Du Soleil (not to be confused with Cafe Deux Soleils, which we also passed on Commercial) as I had heard they had vegan baked goods but they had nothing. Woe.

Though all was not lost, as right near there was Sweet Cherubim, a veg*n bakery and eatery, which is also right next to Drive Organics, a little natural food store.




That entire case was filled with vegan goodies. I selected the most amazing blueberry square (this was so good) and a Maya Chai. Then we poked around the food store next door and picked up a few goodies before heading back to our hotel.

We had planned to get more delicious hummus for dinner, but alas it was closed! As it is now permanently closed... excuse me while I weep. So instead we found ourselves at the fancy Yew at the Four Seasons Hotel, which was meant to have some nice vegan options. And it did, though from my seat I could also see a large, decapitated fish that they had set a mirror up over for everyone to see. It is known as a seafood place, but surely something like that is off-putting to everyone?







But onto the food, which was very nice (though small and expensive). I had a great Strawberry Basil Vanilla Lemonade (I love American lemonade so much... no fizz and great flavours). They brought us out some Mini Tacos with Guacamole, Asoaragus with Green Goddess Dressing and Nuts, Crispy Artichoke Hearts with Beans, Basil Pesto and Tapenade, and Cashew Cream Mushroom Bucatini with Chili Cashews. It was all great, but no surprises that the cashew cream pasta was my favourite. This was actually the nigth of the summer solstice, so we still had lots of daylight to stroll around in. So of course we watched Supernatural in the hotel room!

The next morning I got up before Ashleigh and went for quite a long walk down to English Bay Beach, then back down the Sea Wall to Sunset Beach.






Up at the English Bay end there is a lovely monument called an Inkushuk, and I ate a cinnamon scroll I had picked up from Sweet Cherubim the day before.



Then I spent a bit more time exploring the Davie Village and West End areas, including a gorgeous community garden in Davie Street with stunning flowers, before heading back to the hotel to meet up with Ashleigh for our next adventure.