First March Skywatch

It was an absolutely beautiful Thursday. I had an appointment downtown an took a few photos to share with Skywatch Friday followers. If you look at the map in the first photo, I've circled the specific area where I took photos (black oval circle on map). 

I was tired today as afterwards I stopped at a food court, then went to look at fabrics in a store near the waterfront. Then I hopped on the bus and stopped at a pharmacy before walking home. I'm hoping to get to sleep earlier tonight as I've had a busy week and haven't been getting enough shut eye.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone. Thanks for visiting.

 

Joining in with Skywatch Friday.

A Few Scenes from Downtown

Hello friends, 

 

I hope you had a great start to your week. I had an appointment downtown so thought I'd share a few photos from my journey.  The weather was quite nice and I hope it will continue this week.

 

This old brick building is the north end of the St. Paul's Hospital downtown. A new hospital is being built in another part of the city but it won't be ready for a few years.

This brick building is an old apartment building. I love the older buildings though I realize they are not up to code. As I walked on some of the residential streets (no photos today), I noticed that a number of low rises or 3 storey walk ups are being demolished and high rises are going up. I guess it's inevitable especially since there is a critical housing shortage where I live. By the time all the new buildings are completed in this city there will probably be a glut of places to buy or rent. I hope it will also mean a down turn in prices because things are out of control these days and have been for some time when it comes to housing costs.

This street going toward the sky is called Davie Street. For years it was the hub of the gay community. However I think I read a few years ago that many of them have migrated to a nearby municipality called New Westminster. I believe the exodus was due to exorbitant housing prices. The hotel called Sandman Suites (the tower in the photo) is where I stayed for four months when I had fire damage to my home several years ago. I didn't mind the hotel because it was like an apartment with a living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom and insuite laundry. Sadly I never used the swimming pool or even ventured out very often. It was in the days of newly diagnosed illness and I was so tired all the time. I am not fully recovered but I have improved considerably.

 

These tall, black towers are a hotel called the Sheraton Wall Centre. I was only in one of them once for a conference many years ago. At the time they were the tallest buildings in the city but they have been overtaken by a place called Shangri-la and possibly by other buildings as well.

 I hope you enjoyed this little tour. Come back again soon.

Spring Sky

Corporate Headquarters of the provincial BC Hydro (provincial Crown corporation mandated to deal with issues relating to provincial electricity matters.

 

I'm not sure what kind of tree this is but the blossoms are lovely. I think it is a variety of cherry tree with very light blossoms.

 The sky in my city was lovely today. The temperature was also lot warmer than it has been all week.

I'd forgotten that it was St. Patrick's Day today. But if you look closely there are some green items in my first photos (see logo at top of building and the markings on the street).

Thank you for your visit. 

I'm joining in with Skywatch Friday today.

Downtown

Don't hang around and let your problems surround you
There are movie shows downtown
Maybe you know some little places to go to
Where they never close downtown

Lyrics from "Downtown", sung by Petula Clark in the 1960s

The Vancouver International Film Festival is happening in Vancouver again this week and continues next week.  There are so many wonderful films to choose from.

How does one make a choice?

Well in this case, one of the ladies I know looked for a 'feel good' film for a number of ladies and she came up with

"Fanie Fourie's Lobola"

It's another fantastic film from South Africa. It'll make you laugh and it will make you tear up too. 

I've seen 4 South African films in the last 2 years and I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed every one of them.  There are some wonderful films coming out of South Africa. I hope they continue to put out such spectacular work for all to enjoy.

Here is a trailer and if it happens to visit your city please do try and see it.

While I was in the vicinity of the theatre venue I snapped these photos because I think it's always interesting to take a peek at the places where other people live.

As you can see, it is still raining here and it rained quite heavily as I made my way to the venue.  When I came out it had stopped raining. Tomorrow we will have sunshine and it will be nice to have respite from the rain.

I'm always fascinated by trees growing at the top of a building.

 

I like the variety of roof lines in this photo.

This is the same as the photo above but I like how it came out blurred.

I was trying to capture the mountains behind the red wall but once I crossed the street the mountains were out of view.

I really like the art work of the Madonna above the windows. It graces the front of a restaurant that I've yet to visit.

Every year the city holds it's Remembrance Day or Armistace Day services in the small park across the street (where you see the tall, cylindrical cement structure).

I like looking down at this colourful scene.  Clearly this wall had some focussed attention from grafitti artists.

The mountains are on the other side of the inlet. Also the community of North Vancouver is directly across. You can take a sea bus (ferry) at the terminal just to the left of the photo (red brick building peeking out).  It's a nice short ride and you can see a lot from the waterfront.

The brewing company building anchors one end of the Gastown neighbourhood. Gastown is where Vancouver began and it is now a lovely tourist area.

 I took a lot more drive by photos but they didn't turn out.


I hope you are having a great week so far!