Houses on the Way to City Hall

Blue Houses, Blue Monday, July 26, 2010

Join in the Blue Monday fun at Smiling Sally's blog.

My World Tuesday - May 25, 2010

I was on a walk earlier this week and wanted to share some photos of the houses in the area. If you look at the map below, the area in which I took these photos is represented by the purple house icon.

Many of my blog readers are from Australia and Africa and are curious to know how we live in Canada and what the houses, shops and tourist sites look like. This post will give one little peek into some of the housing here though there are many other neighbourhoods with many styles of houses and apartments.  This particular neighbourhood is a well established one and the costs of a detached home in the area would run upwards of $1 million Canadian dollars. Perhaps they even cost more than that as a fabulous two bedroom condominium here can now cost over a million dollars at the higher end of things. That is a lot of money but these are by no means the most expensive properties in the city.

You can check out the real estate market and see what is available in different parts of the city at this site used by realtors.  Click here.
Enjoy the tour.

Click here to see more scenes from around the world.

Fantastic Walks in Vancouver

On Thursday I finally went for a walk I've long been anticipating. I've just been waiting for the weather to improve so I could enjoy this walk in all it's splendour. Thursday was just such a day. The sky was mostly clear with a few, fluffy (good meteorlogical term, lol) clouds and mostly a lot of sun.

Just so you know at the outset, I am walking to a well known city tourist attraction, Granville Island Market. This market is a very popular with tourists and locals alike and is set on an island located underneath the main city bridge, the Granville Bridge.  But I begin my walk on Broadway and Laurel, right at the corner where Earl's Restaurant is located.

As I commence my walk I can smell a beautiful fragrance coming from these bushes.  I walk further down Laurel Street, I can see many more bushes and smell more beautiful fragrances.  I had to walk down this pathway for a few blocks. It is a rather steep incline.

I am headed to the corner where this maple leaf tree is located. It marks the beginning of my secret path to the promised location.

Here is some signage that gives a tourist directions to the nearby transit and tourist attractions.

This is the secret path I was mentioning. I call it secret because I'm not sure that most people outside of the neighbourhood really know about it. I happened on it one day quite by accident and I've loved the path ever since.

When you are walking over the pathway above, you are actually crossing a very busy street called 6th Avenue.  I took photos from the path to the street level.

Now I continue on my journey taking photos as I go.

A beautiful little pond.

Take a moment to listen to the sound of rippling waters. Click on the arrow in the short video below.

Now let us continue our journey.  This next photo is like looking through a veil of trees. The veil will soon be lifted to show the beauty which waits.........

First up is this stunning water scene. A view of False Creek and the beauty of the boats moored there.

You can even see the lingering cherry blossoms. Those that don't want to say goodbye as most have already done.  The beauty of the cherry blossom is so fleeting and so wonderful. I long to see these blossoms each year.

I love the cherry blossoms so much that I even wrote a Haiku verse about them and made a small video project in honour of the cherry blossom. Here is the Haiku.

Click here to see the video

This ends this part of the journey. Join me again soon as I carry on to the Granville Island Market. I'd love to  know how you are enjoying the walk so far. Until we meet again, happy blogging!

Come with Me for a Spell, Relax & Enjoy the Sun in Mount Pleasant

Like many people who are having their winter, I am missing our beautiful Spring and Summer. I made this slideshow with music last Spring and want to share it with you now as part of my series on living in Vancouver.

This little slideshow is of the neighbourhood known as Mount Pleasant or South Main (SoMa). This neighbourhood once known as a working class neighbourhood has undergone gentrification since the early 1990s. It is one of the up and coming neighbourhoods in the city. It is home to many first time buyers & young urban professionals. On a given weekend when one is out shopping and running errands you will more than likely bump into one of the local media personalities who live in the neighbourhood.

This area got it's local flavour and colour from a former stream. In the late 1800s, early 1900s, the area was known as Brewery Creek due to the number of breweries that set up in the area as a result of the nearby stream. Vancouver's City Hall is also located in the Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood.

Enjoy the tour!