Melanie and my wedding gift from the Vancouver Marriott. As if they didn’t surprise us enough, they included a congratulatory greeting card—it may have been written in broken English, but is was an extremely nice gesture nonetheless!
The room was an interesting one. It was almost horseshoe-shaped, which gave us a nice panorama of the Vancouver shore, but it also made the room feel somewhat smaller. Still, the view was more important to us, and we certainly enjoyed what the hotel offered. Looking directly out the window, your eyes could feast upon the Vancouver waterfront. Looking to the left (and, more minimally, to the right), you were faced with Vancouver’s urban sprawl.
The harbor, as seen directly out our hotel room window. Notice the floating Chevron station, which fuels (at the very least) passing boats (click on the picture to see a larger version).
Somewhat hazy picture of the city. While I greatly enjoyed Vancouver, I found its uniform appearance rather disappointing. Almost every building looks the same, in color and construction. It leaves something to be desired.
The windows through which the previous shots were taken, as well as the TV cabinet. This is the “big” part of the room, out in the center. You can see the bed tucked away behind the wall, concluding the horseshoe-shaped mentioned previously. The other “arm” of the room was just the entryway.
This is the bed. As you could tell from the last picture, its proximity to the windows provided a tremendous view. We slept with the curtains wide open! Don’t worry, we closed them for other matters of importance.
It was fairly late by the time Melanie and I arrived, but the growling of our tummies sent us on a pedestrian campaign for food. In the mood for some “pub grub,” we finally stumbled upon a swanky joint called Earl’s. I had a thoroughly satisfying steak sandwich and a Coke® while Melanie opted for the Hunan Kung Pao Spicy Wok with Chicken. This would prove a very fateful turn of events. Aware that the dish came with some very spicy peppers, Melanie nevertheless braved this culinary concoction. Upon receiving her meal, she promptly found and extracted these peppers, hoping they would have done their job in providing flavor but could otherwise remain benign. Consuming ensued.
When we arrived back at the hotel, we had an easygoing night of watching television and snacking on fruit before eventually falling asleep. Around 2 in the morning, however, I was suddenly awakened by my bride, who was presently engaged in a horrific fit of scratching. For reasons we can only guess at, Melanie had burst into a delayed, allergic-like reaction to the food. There was nothing in her meal that we knew her to be allergic to, but that seems to be the only explanation. She itched like mad, and my recommended remedy of a cold shower proved fruitless (even despite the fruit we had eaten earlier). Luckily, she was eventually able to get back to sleep, and while the itchiness remained throughout the entirety of the next day, it had fortunately mellowed to a tolerable level.
The culprit in question, AKA the Hunan Kung Pao Spicy Wok with Chicken from Earl’s restaurant. It saddens me to recall the giddy delight with which my beautiful bride delved into this fiendish feast. For shame!
The following day, as I will narrate in my next tale, found Melanie and me at the Vancouver Aquarium. There won’t be much to say about it, but we took some fun pictures and I’ll make sure you get a peek. Plus, I’ve still yet to share the most shockingly twisted part of Canada’s culture, though I expect there’ll be room for this in my next entry as well. So stay tuned…
The dock with all those floatplanes is way cool. Every once in a blue moon a floatplane will land in Burlington Bay when I'm sailing and pull up to the boathouse and make a big scene. Pretty cool. But I've never seen a whole gaggle of them like that.
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