This is our third and final full day in Vancouver as we will embark Crystal Serenity tomorrow. We began our day with breakfast at the Club Floor Lounge. We both had cereal and fruit as we have done on the previous days. We sat with dear friend Ileen who we dined with this evening. We all shared stories from what we did yesterday. Ileen took a float plane over to Victoria where she joined the rest of the tour who took the ferry over there. Our first destination of the morning was Yaletown. The area is home to apartments, offices, boutique stores, bars and restaurants. It was cloudy and a bit nippy walking over to Yaletown but by the time we walked in the opposite direction it began to warm up. Upon our return to the hotel we saw the two cruise ships that are in port today; Sun Princess and Celebrity Millennium. There is a three-day animation convention at the convention center which is connected to our hotel. Many young people were registering to attend the convention and several were in costume both outside and inside the center. It is never hard to remember what day it is when you take on of the Pan Pacific Hotel Elevators. Our next destination of the day was Gastown which we visited the day we arrived to Vancouver and during our first full day in Vancouver. The sun came out and it was in the high 60's during our walk and lots of tourists like ourselves were out and about. Gastown has along history. It was named for Gassy Jack Deighton who was a seaman, steamboat captain and even a bartender. It was home to many warehouses. In the 1900's it was home to many wholesale distributors. In time, it became known as the drinking area of town with 300 licensed drinking establishments in operation in the 1930's. Following the depression, Gastown fell into disarray. By the 1960's citizens spoke up about preserving the history of this area and put pressure on their local representatives to focus on the revitalization of this area. Today it is a tourist destination featuring many restaurants, boutique and other stores and has also attracted many companies to call this area home. Gaston's famous landmark is the Gastown Steam Clock. It was built in 1977 to cover a steam grate which is part of Vancouver's heating system. It was placed in this area to prevent street people from sleeping there in the cold winter months. Every fifteen minutes the Gastown Seam Clock sends the Westminster chimes and a blast of steam skyward. We went back to Restaurant Freshii to pick up our lunch. As we have done each day we each had a salad entree which we ate back at our room. We spent this afternoon packing the luggage we will check-in when we board Crystal Serenity tomorrow. This included the two pieces we brought with us from home plus the new piece of luggage we purchased in Vancouver. As mentioned, we knew we would need the additional piece of luggage for items we have ordered for the cooler weather in the Northwest Passage from the clothing outfitter company that Crystal Cruises had recommended for this voyage which will be delivered directly to the ship when we arrive to Seward for the start of the Northwest Passage. The challenge was how to fill the three pieces of luggage realizing that if each piece is not filled correctly than one or more could easily dent. We removed some items that we originally had in our carry-on luggage and also spread items more evenly and that seemed to do the trick. Late afternoon we met up with dear friend Ileen who will be on both voyages with us and we walked over to Joe Fortes Restaurant. We first dined at this restaurant with our children in 1997. A concierge at the Pan Pacific Hotel had recommended it to us during our first stay in Vancouver We enjoyed it so much we returned the following year. Dinner was terrific. The restaurant was quite busy between those arriving for dinner and those who were there for happy hour. There was lots on the menu to choose from. All three of us had organic salad and Anne Marie and Ileen had wild salmon entrees and Keith and a seafood trio special of link cod, salmon and shrimp. It was lots of fun to catch up with Ileen and we look forward to being with her for the next 42 days on board Crystal Serenity. Keith & Anne Marie
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