According to the Vancouver Sun, “Vancouver recorded its rainiest day in more than five-and-a-half years — and the rainiest August day ever — on Tuesday.”
Courtesy of the Vancouver Sun
According to Amie, our walking tour guide, “today Vancouver did what it did best; rained… And rained…And rained some more…” Our Gastown & Chinatown Walking Tour navigates guests down Water Street. I could make a punny joke about this (Water Street… Water on the Street…) but I will try to restrain myself. A lot of local bloggers are starting to post their “Things to do on a rainy day” lists. Well here is the West Coast version otherwise known as the “Things to do on a rainy day that other blogs will say not to do but you should anyway” list:
1. Go for a run – Vancouver Tourist are often baffled by how many people are running around the street staying fit. Don’t let the rain stop you! Get out and get healthy!
2. Go for a ride – Get some rain proof gear and take your bike to work. Believe it or not the brand new bike lanes downtown work in the rain too!
3. Rainy Sports – some sports are some much more fun in the rain. Whether your passion lies with soccer, football, rugby, or other. The slippery, muddle fields can be more fun than in the sun with a good group of friends ready to get dirty.
4. Patio Parties – Any restaurant patio with a cover can be spectacular on a rainy day. You stay dry and you can admire all those in a panic getting wet!
5. Swimming – This I would only suggest for the true extremists. I saw one brave soul plunge in the ice sea near English Bay today. That man deserves a courage award.
Granville Street is also known as Theatre Row, The Night Life Hub, or Action Central. Here is a great video posted by Vancity Buzz that shows you what the Granville Strip is all about…
It’s quite common for Vancouver Urban Adventures to take all kinds of people on the Vancouver bicycle tour. But yesterday a passer by gave an idea to make our tour “Pet Friendly.” I’m not sure if this is cute, strange, cruel, or just plane crazy. But the imaginative, dog crazy owner of these two definitely was thinking in the dogs best interests. White sun visors and what appeared to be swimming goggles protect the cycling pups from the sun and the wind.
With tasters readily available on both Vancouver Urban Adventure Walking Tours, it was only a matter of time before disaster struck. The good news is that one of our expert guides had a trick up their sleave…
On our Granville Island/ Downtown CoreVancouver Walking Tour delicious tastersinclude, but are not limited to, Canadian maple syrup, Nasty Nectar hot sauce, Belgian chocolates, candied salmon, sausage, and the list goes on… Luckily we have had no drops or spills of any of these delicious items to date.
On our Gastown/ ChinatownVancouver Walking Tour a refreshing stop at the Irish Heather Pub in Gastown includes a taster of some authentic Canadian craft ale. One of our guests had some difficulty holding their glass. This could have been attributed to the ingestion of over 1 oz of beer! Although, they claim to have a higher tolerance and we won’t jump to conclusions. None the less, some dark ale struck the guests freshly pressed white t-shirt with remarkable precession leaving a dark smear after excessive napkin blotching.
Visibly shaken by the incident and devastated from the stain, one of our expert Urban Adventure Guides came to the rescue. If you’ve never heard of Tide Pen, you better go out and buy one because it will change your life. With the magic rub of the pen and some magic liquid that filters through the pen’s tip, the beer stain magically vanished!
This was a great weekend for Vancouver Urban Adventure Walking Tours! We walked about 50 people this weekend including a group visiting Vancouver as a part of their annual family reunion gathering. The family nick named themselves the “Wing Dings.” Despite the bad weather and some haze from the BC forest fires our Super Guides were able to make the experience memorable and entertaining for all our guests. Way to go Super Guides!
After doing some random sampling of what people like about walking tours, here are the top 3 responses for what makes our Vancouver Walking Tours Great!
1. “I love walking tours for many reasons; you get to explore aspects of the city that you can’t get to on a bus, you can really ‘experience’ the city, and it feels less touristy. The Urban Adventure I did, touched on all these points and more!”
2. “Walking tours are by far the best way to explore a new city. When you are walking in a city you discover things that relate to your everyday life. An example was the beer tasting we did at the Irish Heather on the Gastown/ Chinatown Urban Adventure walking tour. I would never have done a beer tasting on a bus tour… I would never have discovered Blue Buck Ale… And I would never have found my new favourite beer!”
3. “Walking tours have every advantage over other modes of touring a city. You have a more intimate experience, get a better sense of the ‘real’ city you are visiting, and you burn some calories while your at it. Most people could use this with the amount of food they ingest while on holiday. Although the Granville Island/ Downtown Urban Adventure did contribute to both calorie burning (walking) and gaining (tasters of chocolate, Canadian Maple Syrup, sausage, hot sauce, and cinnamon buns)”
Currently on our Vancouver Walking Tours we offer history, tasters, and interesting secrets. We discover infamous alleys, legendary architecture, and new aged hot spots. Basically, as a recent guest described we “rock more value into a short time frame then a rock disc featuring the greatest hits from The Rolling Stones, Buddy Holly, and The Beatles combined!”
Now I’m not saying I agree with this statement but if the Beatles dominated Twisting and Shouting on the dance floor…We follow their lead by twisting our guests into hidden secrets and giving them something to shout about with our mind boggling stories.
One question I would like to pose… “In this picture were The Beatles on a walking tour?”
This guy may not be saying it but sure is needing it!
Our Gastown/ Chinatown walking and tasting tour can also give you life advise! The Smart Mouth bulletin board changes daily and always has real life advice… Even Mr. Hardcore, or perhaps especially, can use it…
After months of deliberation and a near decision on the bike seen here we elect to choose a more main stream option for our bike tours.
The perks of the Chinese, rainproof, trailer-inclusive, 3 wheeler…
1. You are much more visible on the road
2. You have tons of baggage space
3. You have an extra wheel! So what if the 3rd wheel doesn’t really make a difference… It’s an extra wheel that makes the bike look super cool!
The issues that over ruled the perks…
1. Apparently the umbrella was not “secure” and viewed as a “hazard.” What would Mary Poppins have said if you told her that?
2. The trailer was “too old” and was said to “potentially break at any moment.” Give me a break, rust, rot, and cracks aren’t fool proof signs of degradation…
