SHOPS | gastown boutiques

001 + 002_Oak + Fort // 003_Neighbor

TRAVEL | the biker life

Jamie: Common Ground jacket // Tee - UO // Jeans - UO // Dr. Martens

Kelly: Sweater + jeans - Uniqlo // Muscle tank - H&M // Free Runs 3.0

Despite walking into the bike rental store thinking "I got this!", it turns out I am horribly rusty at this biking game--it could be that the bike handles were too far apart from what I'm used to or that my feet just barely reached the pedals--either way, the whole experience was rather embarrassing. Not to say it wasn't fun though. I think today was my favorite day since we've been here! The original plan was to walk Stanley Park, but after finding out how large the park actually was (8.8 km or 5.5 miles), I then came up with the new plan: bikes!

Choosing a bike rental shop was easy enough. Yelp was incredibly helpful and we ended up going to { Spoke Bike Rentals } since I read that they offered good bikes at reasonable rates. Our 2+ hour ride came out to $30~ (and we got an additional discount from our hostel).

The trail itself was easy enough to bike on (Kelly and I were nervous at first since we haven't touched a bicycle since 2010). There were a lot of scenic spots for your photographing pleasure, as well as parks and wide open spaces for when you need a break. At one point Kelly and I took a wrong turn and ended up riding waaaaaay south of where we intended to go--this resulted 15 minute delay and extra sore muscles. Can't complain though, we actually ended up riding through English Bay (Beach), a location I had actually planned for us to visit tomorrow. Two birds, one stone. Hooray.

FOOD | café medina

Nothing is more inviting after walking around the city on a cold rainy morning than delicious, piping hot food. Since we're staying downtown, all the good eats and the best stores is only a short walk away. { Café Medina } was the first restaurant I bookmarked on yelp when I was planning my trip to Vancouver--after reading all the raving reviews I couldn't wait to make a visit. Breakfast was a Tagine for me ( 2 poached eggs, merguez sausage, and sundried black olives swimming in a spicy tomato stew). Kelly had the Paella (1 baked egg, curried orzo, Hungarian chorizo, zucchini, red pepper, roasted corn, grano padano, watercress, tomatoes, and avocado)The skinny? Food was good and interior was comfortable. Unfortunately I got tired of my Tagine rather quickly since I'm not the biggest fan of tomatoes--I only recommend it for hardcore tomato lovers. Kelly's paella on the other hand was amazing. I had to keep myself from reaching over for a bite of her dish for every one of mine.

Tips:001_Come early. We waited 45 mins (arrived at 11am on a Friday morning).
002_Maybe hold off on the waffle. $3+ for a not-so-fresh piece of belgium waffle smaller than the size of my palm was kind of off putting.
003_Lavendar latte was pretty tasty

TRAVEL | pender + granville

 

TRAVEL | mapping out vancouver

View Vancouver in a larger map

Looks like I'll be taking a short trip to Vancouver with family in about a week. This is the most spontaneous trip I've ever booked/planned so I am a bit overwhelmed with the idea. My Aunt's place is all little too small to accommodate everyone, so { Kelly } and I will be staying at a Hostel located downtown. Best thing about that is that it seems like all the fun places to hangout is within walking distance of our hostel--yay! Too bad Kelly is only two months shy of turning 19 (legal drinking age in Vancouver).

On another note, how great is this embedded google map?? I feel all cool and tech-savvy. But in reality all I did was copypasta the HTML to the post.