Our trip to Alaska part 1 - August 2012

After a very early morning (5 am) departure for the airport, we boarded our
air Canada flight to Vancouver. Upon arrival we were greeted by josh & Liz
and Shabsie & Ruthie ( who had taken a flight 30 minutes earlier than us)
and only one of our two checked suitcases. We decided to wait for the next
flight (another 30 minutes) in the hopes that Air Canada had located it and
placed it on that flight. Well it did not arrive. 

Air Canada told us that they knew where it was and would get it to us by the
afternoon. Good thing we arrived a day before the cruise and not the day
of....how they would get it to us in the middle of Alaska is beyond me. 

We rented our van and squeezed the six of us and all the luggage into it and
were off to our hotel in downtown Vancouver. Well, Priceline came thru for
us....great hotel in the center of town. We unpacked and were off on a short
walk to Zaatar, Vancouver's new downtown kosher restaurant. Great place,
hummus Israeli salads, falafel, shakshuka, soups, salads etc. very fresh and
tasty. They are open every day from 10 am till 3 am...amazing.

After a filling lunch we walked about 10 minutes to False Creek and took the
water taxi to Granville Island. It was a beautiful day and as planned, we
rented a motor boat and were off to explore he afterwards around Vancouver.
As we got out into the open waters, we realized that it was a bit choppier
than we anticipated and we all got drenched....we were out for an
hour...beautiful but wet. 

We retraced our steps to the hotel and after changIng out of our wet
clothes, were off to Omnitzky's kosher shop to pick up some supplies for the
cruise. Well, anyone who complains about Sobey's or Hartman's prices, should no
longer do so...how about a BBQ chicken for $25 - $30???? Scary prices....but

I guess that's what happens with a captive market. 

We still had a little time before dinner, so we headed over to the Senior
Citizens residence and had an amazing visit with a cousin of my grandfather
a"h (on my mother's side), Dr. Nat Cannon from Newcastle England. 




He recently turned 100 years old and is vibrant, full of life and vigor....great sense of humor. We spent some time playing family
geography....he has a great memory.... ..halevaai by all of us as we age! We took some pictures together and he asked me to remember to email hem to him...at 100 he is still checking his emails. He lives alone in the assisted living centre and until a few months ago was getting around without a
walker....we discovered that I was born 
exactly one month after his eldest daughter was born in the same nursing home/hospital in Newcastle ....the Harvey Evers home. 

It was now time for our dinner at the Maple Grill ....supposedly Vancouver's
finest. We had a reservation but when we arrived they informed us that they
had changed their policy since issuing ours to a "no reservation policy in
he summer months". So they found us a table outside which was nice, but then
we discovered that they were seriously understaffed because they were
catering a wedding the same nite. So our meal took very long (about three
hours).... But the meal was essentially good and you really saw that they
had a lot of potential and we could see how on a good night they would be a
very good meat restaurant. Because we were there for a while we met a lot of
people, including the Zobins from our shul and a group of Israeli tourist
who are also cruising to Alaska, but not on our ship, who knew a number of
Toronto people. 

It was back o the hotel after a 22 hour day and the discovery of our missing
bag that had made its way to our room, b"h!!!!!

A great night sleep followed by my early morning 6 am walk to the shore
where I saw our ship cruising into harbor at Canada Place as the sun rose
behind the mountains...what a great sight....too bad my camera was in my
room..

Back to the hotel now and we begin Day 2....

All the best and Shabbat shalom to all....

David (and Fran....who is still fast asleep)