Van Dusen Botanical Garden

If you are interested in plants and flowers you should definitely consider taking a trip to Van Dusen Botanical Gardens. It's located not too far south on Cambie Street (very close to Queen Elizabeth Park) and is convenient to get to by bus. Here is the link to their site...check out the photo galleries!

http://vancouver.ca/parks/parks/vandusen/website/

Capilano Suspension Bridge

Another one of Vancouver's most famous landmarks is the Capilano Suspension Bridge. If you have a look at the website it will give you details on how to get there (it's in North Vancouver), as well as ticket prices. It's been many years since I went, but I have heard that they now have a walk through the tree tops that you can do on the other side. If you look at the photos on the webpage you can see what I'm talking about.

http://www.capbridge.com/index.html

Cherry Blossoms

Pretty soon the Cherry Blossoms will be out in full force in Vancouver. Here are two links for you to have a look at. The first one is to a Flickr photo set of previous years when the blossoms were in bloom. The second is to the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival website. It seems to currently be experiencing some difficulties, but if you check back later it should be up and running.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/644806@N20/

http://www.vcbf.ca/

Queen Elizabeth Park

If you are interested in having a look at a really beautiful garden when the spring flowers come out, try heading up to Queen Elizabeth Park. It also has a wonderful tea house nearby.

http://vancouver.ca/parks/parks/queenelizabeth/

Vancouver Sun Run

Here is some useful info if you are interested in watching or taking part in Vancouver's annual 10km Sun Run. Last year, there were almost 60,000 people who took part! The run will take place on April 19th this year.

http://www2.canada.com/vancouversun/sunrun/story.html?id=c7a9da97-bf02-48a0-ac5b-e67dcca520a8

Vancouver Aquarium

Here is a link to the Vancouver Aquarium. As I said in class, it's a little bit pricey but, in my opinion, a very interesting place to go see and well worth the money it costs. It is a really good place to go if you want to learn about all the different kind of sea life that lives in the waters around Vancouver.

http://www.vanaqua.org/home/

Roller Derby

As some of you know, my girlfriend is a member of the Terminal City Rollergirls league. There is an upcoming bout on April 11th that will take place in Kerrisdale, not too far from our college. If you would like to go, just mention it to me in class and I will see if I can get you a discount on tickets. Ticket prices are $20 at the door, but I can get a deal that will save you $5. Have a look to see if this is something that might interest you.

http://www.terminalcityrollergirls.com/

Grouse Mountain

During our class yesterday, some of you mentioned that you might like to go to Grouse Mountain for one of our field trips. Here is a link to Grouse Mountain's website with some great photos and lots of information about how to get there, ticket prices, etc.

http://www.grousemountain.com/Winter/

Horse racing in Vancouver

One of Vancouver's oldest entertainment activities is going to the horse races at Hastings Park. It's really easy to get to (it's actually right next to Playland) if you just take the bus down Hastings Street. You can go and watch the races, or, if you are feeling lucky, you can bet on which horses will win.

http://www.hastingspark.com/home.aspx

Playland

Vancouver has a great wooden roller coaster if you are interested in doing something different on a weekend. There are also a number of other great rides at Playland. Prices and information about how to get there below...

http://www.pne.ca/playland/

Kits Pool

When the weather gets better (it will, honest), you can head down to Kits Pool in Kitsilano. The pool is absolutely huge and there isn't any chlorine in the water (the stuff that makes your eyes hurt). It's a great place to hang out when the weather gets hot. Also, because the pool is right next to the ocean, you can watch the sail boats go by while you are swimming in the pool!

There is a great picture if you click on the link below...

http://vancouver.ca/parkfinder_wa/index.cfm?fuseaction=FAC.PoolDetail&fac_id=738

Pitch and Putt golf in Vancouver

As I mentioned in class the other day, Vancouver has a number of very reasonably priced golf courses. The two linked below are both par-3 courses, often called "pitch and putt" courses here. There is information about the location, hours, and price if you clink on the hyperlinks...

http://vancouver.ca/parks/golf/qepp/index.htm

http://vancouver.ca/parks/golf/stpp/index.htm

Enjoy!

Vancouver Art Gallery

The Vancouver Art Gallery is an interesting place with some great exhibitions of art from all over the world. If you follow this link you can see what is being shown right now and what will be coming up in May. If you want to go, consider making your way down on a Tuesday evening when the entrance fee is by donation. That way, you get it for $5 or so, instead of the usual rate.

http://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/

Tourism Victoria

Here is the official website for Tourism Victoria. It's a great place to start if you are interested in taking a weekend trip to Vancouver Island. Victoria is not a big city. You can do most of the highlights in a day or two and pretty much everything is within walking distance of the downtown core. The B.C. Provincial Museum is worth a look, as is a walk along the seawall in the summer when all of the street performers are out doing shows for the tourists.

http://www.tourismvictoria.com/

Here is another link to BC Ferries. This is the cheapest way to get to Vancouver Island -- it costs about $12.00 per person one-way. The ferry crossing takes about one and a half to two hours and is full of beautiful scenery. If you check this link out, you will see the scheduled ferry sailing times for the next little while.

http://www.bcferries.com/schedules/mainland/tssw-current.html

Gastown

From one of our group projects: a link to gastown.org, a site with lots of useful information about things to see and do in Gastown. Have a look at some of the history, many of Vancouver's most interesting (and worst) events happened here.

http://www.gastown.org/

Lonsdale Quay

Here is the website that advertises things to do in Lonsdale Quay. Just a short ride on the seabus will get you there. You can also use the same transit pass that you use on the rest of Vancouver's bus and skytrain system. There are some beautiful views of Vancouver from the North Shore, too.

http://www.lonsdalequay.com/

Richmond Night Market

During our class presentations, one group mentioned the Richmond Night Market. It's a huge gathering of people, food, and stuff -- lots of stuff. If you are looking for cheap deals, this is the place to go. Follow the link for details...

http://www.richmondnightmarket.com/home.html

St. Patrick's Day

Here is the link to the annual Celtic Fest that is held in Vancouver every year. It's a celebration of Irish culture and heritage that features the very popular parade that I mentioned today. The parade will be happening this Sunday, March 15th at 11:30 AM and you should probably plan to go down a little early if you want a good seat to watch all the floats go by.

Enjoy! And wear something GREEN!

http://www.celticfestvancouver.com/parade.php

UBC Museum of Anthropology

Here is a link to the UBC Museum of Anthropology that we will be visiting on Friday. If you are curious about the type of things that we will be looking at and talking about, take a moment and have a look at this website. The museum was just recently re-opened after a long period of time while it was being updated and improved. We are just in time!

Remember: Make it to class by 2:30 sharp on Friday, we will be leaving shortly after class begins.

http://www.moa.ubc.ca/

Vancouver Meetup

This is a great website for those of you who are looking to get out in the city and meet new people. You can search by group or interest and find out when people interested in doing the same things will be getting together. Remember: the best way to improve your English is to make the most of your time in Vancouver. One great way of doing that is to meet other Canadians who you have a shared interest with.

http://www.meetup.com/cities/ca/bc/vancouver/

To give you an idea of what it's all about, here is another link to a group of other Korean students living in the city. They had the great idea of doing a language exchange with people who are interested in learning Korean. They meet twice a month downtown and have been doing this for the past couple of years.

http://www.meetup.com/hi-vancouver/

Craigslist

One of the best resources for things in and around Vancouver is a website called Craigslist. It is an online classified ad website that has postings on everything from used cars, to jobs, to tickets. I can't recommend it highly enough. There will be a link to this in the sidebar as well.

http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/

Vancouver links

On the right hand side of the blog you will see that I have started a list of links to useful Vancouver websites. There are links to the Vancouver Canucks, The Georgia Straight, local blogs and lots more. I suggest taking some time to have a look through some of them and to familiarize yourself with what's going on around the city.

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Tickets for shows and concerts

So you heard about a great show but you don't know if there are any tickets left. What to do? A good place to look is on Ticketmaster's website. They are the major ticket seller for shows and concerts in Vancouver. You can type in the name of the event, band, etc. and it will tell you how much the tickets cost and whether or not there are any left. Bookmark the link below and make sure to get out and see what's happening around the city. As mentioned in class, Vancouver has a vibrant and exciting arts and culture scene - get out and see what it's all about!

http://www.ticketmaster.ca/

Getting around

One of the big problems of being new to a city is getting around. How do you know what bus or skytrain to take in order to get where you want to go? Well, our good friends at Google have a great resource called Google Transit. You put in the address of where you are and where you would like to go and it will tell you the right buses to take in order to get there! Follow the link and try it out.

http://www.google.com/intl/en/landing/transit/#mdy

Test post

Check, check, check. This thing on?