Dick up and off this morning for exploring while Patti chose a sleep-in morning with a murder mystery. Perfect for each of us. Dick covered a lot of distance going all over downtown. There was a large cruise ship, Coral Princess, docked at the Canada Place cruise terminal. It must hold over 2000 guests and was nearly 1000 feet long. 
Dick was especially fascinated with the process of reprovisioning the ship for the next week out of port. They were loading everything from fuel to food (including one whole pallet of red beets) to more pallets of Coke products. They even loaded more deck chairs. These were plastic so Dick assumed they were going to be for one of the pool areas since the regular deck chairs were nice wood. While on the Canada Place pier, 
Dick also had the chance to watch several float planes land while others took off from the main harbor area. One of his favorite finds was a public art project with artists painting eagles in a variety of very interesting ways. They will auction off the sculptures in the Spring to benefit charity. 
He found and photographed many of these. He was also able to go back down to the areas where he had stayed on pervious trips here. This is a city that he loves.Picking up Patti, we walked a few blocks to Chinatown where we found a restaurant for lunch at a comfortable little Chinese restaurant. The portions were huge so we called it dinner for the day. And, then spent much of the early afternoon at the Sun Yat-Sen Gardens.
This was the first formal Chinese Scholar’s garden created outside of china. This type of garden is not know for its flowers, instead these represent the type of garden a wealthy person would have created in the middle of their home to encourage peace and reflection. Once relaxed, the master of the house would have spent time drawing, creating calligraphy, or written poetry. The buildings/rooms of the home would be built around the garden, closing it off from the outside. They are amazingly successful in creating the type of atmosphere desired. It was especially fun for Dick, because he had visited Suzhou, the city in China that was known for these gardens and it was out of that city that 52 Chinese artisans came here in 1985, with all the necessary materials, to install and create this garden. We had a tour lead by Beverly, a very enthusiastic volunteer who obviously loved sharing these lovely gardens with people. She works regularly and leads one tour after another. The gardens, which charged an admission, are next door to a public Chinese style park free to the public. The two facilities complement each other well. Lovely and very peaceful to visit.
We then went to Stanley Park, the Golden Gate Park of Vancouver. It was fun to see the city totally enjoying their park, with every area filled with people having a great time. We really enjoyed the Native totem poles, the Lion’s Gate Bridge, and watching the float planes take off over the harbor. 
We were struck by the deep forests of mature cedar trees. With the lush ferns on the ground and the towering trees overhead, it was hard to believe we were still in the middle of such a bustling metropolis. It was a great park on a perfect end of the summer day.We grabbed a light super at a grocery store (a big city one for sure. You had to pay for parking in a parking garage to go to the grocery store!) Then back to the hotel where Dick spent chunk of the evening planning his fall class which will start in just a few days and Patti devoured a full murder mystery. Patti got quite a bit of her “day off” needs met. It was nice to just not have so much go, go, go scrunched into this day.
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