Day Five - Home Again

Day Five

Sunday. Up and about by 0900h. Breakfast at the Templeton. Return to the hostel and stop at the can on the way to my room. As I step out of the can, I see someone in a heavy coat stepping into the elevator and think nothing of it. I open my room door and Peter looks up from his packing and says "Did the Russian woman find you?". I run down to the main floor and there is Albina trying to communicate with the hostel staff about how to use a telephone calling card. We talk and she is happy for the offer of help getting aboard the trolley and is looking forward to a city tour on this bright, beautiful Pacific Northwest Day!

We walk to the trolley stop, I learn a little Russian while we wait, and the trolley arrives. A matronly driver assures me that she will "take good care of her" and even speaks a bit of Russian. Albina is very excited as they drive away.

I check out by 1100h but am now carrying not only my pack but my small duffel bag and I hate carrying extra baggage! I walk to the Sky-Train station, figure out the ticket kiosk, and take the Sky-Train to the Amtrak station. There I check my bag for a couple bucks and hop back on Sky-Train to the Downtown Waterfront station.

I wander this — new to me — part of the city in the chilly air and brilliant sunshine. I have a delicious hot chocolate at a coffee cafe, tour an upscale market "Urban Fare" where I sample and buy some cheese plus some smoked fish and a beverage for a picnic.

I picnicked on a park bench on a section of the "Seawall Walk" a miles long trail around the city and Stanley Park. Lovers walking hand in hand, cyclists, rollerbladers, kiddies in strollers, everyone was out enjoying the great weather an the view of the snowcapped peaks across Burrard Inlet.

I trekked east, Downtown turned into Gastown, Gastown into Chinatown where I stopped in a couple shops and marveled at all the exotic food stuffs along the streets. I toured the free part of a Chinese garden then ate dim sum at the Floata Seafood Palace.

In no rush, I made my way to the train station where I collected my bag and sat and read my book "Stanley Park" till boarding time. It is set in Vancouver, a few years ago, parallel stories of a young chef trying to make a mark for himself and his father, an anthropologist living with and studying the homeless in Stanley Park.

The sun set during the train ride south. I ended up in the lounge car talking to a group of woman and laughing a lot. I knew we had stopped at Bellingham and it suddenly seemed like that had been a very long time ago and I had this dreadful feeling that I had spaced out and missed my stop. I quickly excused myself and dashed to my seat and started scanning the nighttime scenery for some familiar landmark. Within a few minutes we were slowing and they announced my stop. Disaster averted! Home again!