After our brilliant morning cycling through Vancouver, we made our way over to Nightingale for lunch.
Nightingale is one of the most recommended places by locals (pretty much everyone we asked or told kept telling us how good it was) and so we arrived with rather lofty expectations (and a growing rumble in our tummies).
We were greeted by impressive high ceiling (not sure why I honed in on that but it’s just one of those details that stuck in my mind), a beautiful bar (made even more beautiful by its amazing array of choices) and a couple of cocktails (bramble for me – Okanagan fashioned for Lloyd).
For lunch, sticking to the theme for breakfast – we decided to for three choices (except this time to share between us – not each). Pizza for Lloyd, gnocchi for me and to share – asparagus with crumbled parmesan biscuits and a poached egg.
The hype was totally worth it! The food here was incredible and is totally what we needed after our morning exploring the city.
With a post-lunch spring in our steps, we decided to head up to one of my favourite places in Vancouver – the rather impressive Grouse Mountain.
Grouse Mountain, by the way, is absolutely huge and one place that really stood out to me when we visited last time (oh so many years ago).
It’s the perfect example of what I was talking about when I said how Vancouver just had the best of both worlds. Up here, not only are you surrounded by nature, you can actually go skiing here. In winter, in the space of an hour right after work, people quite literally swap suits, smart shoes and high heels for ski gear. It’s brilliant! Imagine being able to do this in London, New York or Paris!
Up here, not only are you surrounded by nature, you can actually go skiing here. In winter, in the space of an hour right after work, people quite literally swap suits, smart shoes and high heels for ski gear. It’s brilliant! Imagine being able to do this in London, New York or Paris!
We arrived in the middle of summer so even though there was snow still on the mountains, ski season was well and truly gone (we did get to see what it was like last time we were here though – alas, neither of us skied back then).
The warmth up here though means that the resident grizzly bears come up out to play and I’ve got to say, getting to see a proper real life grizzly bear (from a very safe distance) is absolutely incredible.
You very quickly get to appreciate, not just their size but their sheer strength…
…and even their playfulness!
After spending a considerable amount of time distracted by the Grizzlies, we made our way up to the top of the mountain (using a chair lift, of course, I was in no way appropriately dressed for any kind of hiking).
At the top, we were greeted with a sign warning us about a grumpy grouse who would pretty much grumble at you (and follow you) as you walked across.
After giggling rather hard at the sign, we came across said grouse and the signs weren’t lying – old Mr Grouse didn’t like strangers come close to his home and would walk right after you grumbling as you walked past – it’s the funniest sight to see. 😀
The highest view point up here is from the windmill (which again, you don’t have to walk up – you take the elevator to the top) and the view of the surrounding area, both down the windmill and from above it, is actually incredible.
For the rest of the afternoon, we kicked about the mountain, stopping to say hi to some rather friendly locals…
… and to recreate the exact same photo I took years and years ago before heading back to our home at the Shangri La in Downtown Vancouver, to relax before dinner.
^Old photo here!
Back here, the lure of those amazing sheets at the Shangri La got me again as I feel into a much welcome nap for a little over an hour before dragging myself out of bed to head out for dinner.
There’s a lot of choice in the city for dinner but one of the most recommended ones on TripAdvisor was actually the (nearby) KEG restaurant so we decided to head here for steaks and chichen slathered in a deliciously spicy sauce! (*apologies for the photos – it was so dark in the restaurant)
I want to tell you I stayed for dessert but by the time I’d finished my steak, I was well and truly knackered. To be fair though, this was almost 11pm at this point and the jetlag was truly setting in (the time difference between Nepal – where we’d been for the last 2 weeks, and Vancouver was 12 hours and 45 minutes so we were pretty much operating in reverse time zones).
With that, we said goodnight to the amazing city of Vancouver, absolutely pleased with getting in that brilliant mix of nature and city life Vancouver is so famous for, and totally excited to explore more of Vancouver and the wider British Columbia area over the upcoming week. 🙂
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