Life in a Bed and Breakfast

Going to Gay Ski Week?

noreply@blogger.com (traveller) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 01:41:00 +0000

Gay ski weeks are popping up all over but the best, in my opinion, is still Whistler's "WinterPride". Quite simply - Whistler has the best ski runs, best parties and friendliest attitude of them all. And then, there is the opportunity to sample the big city delights of Vancouver as you come and go from the mountains. That's a big plus!

Just want to let you know that Vancouver's grande dame of gay accommodations, Nelson House B & B always hosts a number of ski groups on the days before and after WinterPride. This year, gay ski week is Feb. 5-12, 2012. Here is a link to WinterPride's busy schedule and here is a link to stay gay in the heart of Vancouver!

The best vacation rental in Puerto Vallarta!!

noreply@blogger.com (traveller) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 20:00:00 +0000

Well, I guess you know that we love our little PV getaway place, named Alondra. In our opinion, its ocean-view location, just behind the Blue Chairs and overlooking Los Muertos beach is the perfect home-base for a spectacular vacation. Of course, its gay-friendly but it's also just right for any adult looking for a smaller building that is secure and quiet and yet close to all the fun that Banderas Bay has to offer. All the romance and convenience of having your very own condo for less than the price of a hotel room and still - you enjoy a pool outside your door, a 2 minute walk to the beach, amazing sunset views, WIFI, cable, English-speaking Manager, daily maid service and night security. Why be a tourist anymore?

Now - you can check it out for yourself. All of Alondra's seductive info - video, photos, availability calendar, rates and booking info have been pulled together onto OurPuertoVallartaRental.com.

Let us know what you think!

David & O'Neal

Top Ten Reasons to Choose a B&B in 2011

noreply@blogger.com (traveller) — Mon, 16 May 2011 21:25:00 +0000

Nelson House B & B is one of 25,000 North American B&Bs offering a better way to stay.

Tired of the same old hotel or motel room? Why not choose a B&B? The biggest reason to leave your old hotel behind is… Cha Ching – the added value. Today’s B&Bs are simply a better way to stay for travellers seeking more for their travel dollars. Take a peek at the top ten reasons bed and breakfasts make a better and a more affordable way to stay.

Reason 10: You won't get nickeled and dimed at a B&B. Put the $5 bill for the mini-bar's bottle of water back in your wallet! Research from BedandBreakfast.com reveals that more than 92 percent of B&Bs offer some form of complimentary refreshments. At Nelson House B & B, we are happy to brew you a cup of tea or coffee at any time of the day. We offer 24/7 filtered water and ice and in the summer months, we will surprise you with afternoon homemade lemonade or exotic iced teas.

Reason 9: Stay plugged in. Complimentary wi-fi & calls. Say goodbye to that $20 daily hotel fee for wi-fi access. Nearly 90 percent of B&Bs and country inns offer complimentary wi-fi according to BedandBreakfast.com surveys. Nelson House has both WIFI thoughout the B & B and a high-speed ADSL connection in the living-room. We also give you free local phone calls.

Reason 8: Great rates! According to the Professional Association of Innkeepers International (PAII – (pronounced PIE - hmmm...yummy) the average daily rate for B&Bs is consistently below the nearby hotels in every price category. And that does not even take into account all of the B&B included freebies!

Reason 7: When’s the last time you met the owner of the hotel? And when is the last time he or she carried your bag to your room? Pick a B&B and carefully read their reviews. Inngoers rave about the fabulous hospitality and friendship that innkeepers offered during their stay. In fact, for many B&B travellers, the innkeeper was what made the stay special.

Reason 6: Free parking. OK, we’ll admit, not all B&Bs offer free parking, but last time BedandBreakfast.com surveyed innkeepers, 95.3% said they did. Nelson House B & B is in the heart of the city. Yet, we give you your off-street parking free while nearby hotels charge as much as $30/nightly.

Reason 5: Character and amenities. So the hotel might provide you with a shoebox room and dinky, heavily perfumed soaps and shampoos that you would never normally want to use anyways. At Nelson House B & B, your room might have it's own fireplace & Jacuzzi tub - usually reserved for the Presidential Suite in a hotel! Then there is our stylish decor, interesting antique pieces, original art, our book and DVD libraries.

Reason 4: Bed is half their name: Looking for great beds? B&Bs stake their reputation on your good night's sleep. We offer first-grade mattresses, quality sheets and a choice of memory foam or feather pillows and soft comforters at no additional cost to guests.

Reason 3: Breakfast is the other half of their name: Take you and your partner to the breakfast buffet at a big hotel, and you’re looking at $50 just to start the day. Bed and breakfasts all offer breakfast – it’s their signature selling point and half their name. At Nelson House B & B, your room rate includes the best quality coffee and teas, a buffet of cereal, seasonal fruit and yogurt and a daily change of creative, homestyle hot entrees that will be sure to fuel you through your Vancouver sightseeing. Health or dietary restrictions? No problem, let us know in advance and you will receive a customized meal suitable to your needs. No extra charge.

Reason 2: They really will leave the light on! Arrive at 2 AM and there may not be a cheery innkeeper waiting on the porch but you will, nevertheless, always find a personalized welcome! We run a small business and we will be expecting you. Your room will not have been given away to someone else. Innkeepers genuinely care about your safe arrival.

Reason 1: Cookies, yes! Cookie cutter? No. No two B&Bs are alike. As independently owned small lodging properties, each one offers something new and different. No big box look! B&Bs range from urban chic to historically preserved mansions and homes. Sometimes, as in our case, it's all rolled into one.

For even more reasons to choose a bed and breakfast, please see...

Go Canucks Go!

noreply@blogger.com (traveller) — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 18:02:00 +0000

We are easy walking distance to Rogers Arena - close enough for Vancouver Canucks fans(or even concert-goers) to use as homebase for a big night out. If you are lucky enough to hold playoffs tickets, staying at a Bed and Breakfast would be a cool way to enjoy the Game, plan ahead to avoid the drive home and most especially, surprise your partner with a very romantic after-party!

Hey -that's something to cheer about ... :)

Vancouver's Cherry Blossom Festival

noreply@blogger.com (traveller) — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 20:12:00 +0000

Vancouver has planted one of the greatest collections of flowering cherry trees in the world. The first were gifted by the people of Japan. There, the cherry tree is called sakura and it has a strong spiritual significance to the Japanese. The short lives of its blossoms occurring in the early spring signify the short and well lived life of a human being. I believe that Vancouverites, surrounded by beauty on all sides, have grown to share this same belief.

In 2011, the City of Vancouver celebrates its 125th birthday party. From March 26 to April 22, you are invited to come see, smell, contemplate and enjoy some of the 37,000 flowering cherry trees lining Vancouver's streets and brightening our gardens and parks. Vancouver has over 35 different varieties of these cultivars and the result is a changing sequence of blooms that actually starts in January and goes on into late May.

Come on! Bicycle under the blooms, linger for a picnic, sip some warm sake or hot tea. Compose your own haiku or simply wonder at the beauty of being alive!

Here is some more Cherry Blossom Festival information. Springtime in Vancouver...breathe deep....

Vancouver - rated the world's most liveable city!

noreply@blogger.com (traveller) — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 00:21:00 +0000

For the fifth straight year, Vancouver has topped the Economist Intelligence Unit’s survey of the world’s most livable cities. To do so - Vancouver scored 98% on a combination of stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure.

The report's editor Jon Copestake explained that, "Mid-sized cities in developed countries with relatively low population densities tend to score well by having all the cultural and infrastructural benefits on offer with fewer problems related to crime or congestion."

The Top Ten of 140 cities rated is as follows:

1.Vancouver, Canada
2.Melbourne, Australia
3.Vienna, Austria
4.Toronto, Canada
5.Calgary, Canada
6.Helsinki, Finland
7.Sydney, Australia
8.Perth, Australia
9.Adelaide, Australia
10.Auckland, New Zealand

While online commentary is buzzing over the rights and wrongs of these placements, it should be remembered that The Economist was not ranking the weather! Hometown pride is one thing but this is designed to be an objective, fact-based report, sold at $500 a pop, to multinationals that post their executives around the world.

On Huffington Post and elsewhere many Americans were surprised to learn that the top US city this year was Pittsburgh, at 29th place. In terms of "world cities", London placed 53rd and New York 56th. They were apparently let down by low "stability scores" for the perceived threat of terror and rates of petty and violent crime. The top Asian city was Osaka at 12th. At 140th, the bottom of the list, was Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe.

As a Vancouverite, I submit my two "thousand words worth" - these two photos, both taken from the same downtown viewpoint today. Enough said.

Home Sweet Home...

noreply@blogger.com (traveller) — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 21:38:00 +0000

I am back in Vancouver just in time for Valentine's Day. I am wondering if the B & B still has has rooms for the big weekend.

Arriving at the airport at midnight, o-so-relaxed from a month in the Mexican sun, I meet the slap in the face culture shock of returning home. Canada Customs puts their most surly(I hate my job) agent out to welcome me back. She never meets my eye, no smile, but she is full of mumbly irrelevant questions like "Did I travel to Puerto Vallarta to meet anyone?" This girl has just too much imagination and too little sense to be wearing a badge.

Waiting at the luggage carousel, I look up at TV carrying the late night local sports. This is strange because the local TV Sports Guy was actually on the flight from Phoenix with me. Of course, the big-screen is filled with a slam-bang hockey fist-fight, where nobody can land a punch as they grip each other's sweaters and swing around in circles on the ice. A real Canadian Waltz.

Someone just hardly bumps me with their luggage cart and I hear my first Canadian "Sorry!" Regrettably, we seem to use this word as much as Mexicans say "Hola!" Minus the smiles and eye contact.

I make it out to the Airport's Meet & Greet area. I told my husband to go to bed as he had work early the next day. Just warm up the sheets for me, please. I glance around not really expecting to see my Valentine. And no, he is not there. Instead, I meet the eye of BC.'s Premier Gordon Campbell, standing alone, very much by himself in the busy crowd. Like most locals, when he sees me looking, he suddenly has to check his Blackberry. Most of the world doesn't even know Blackberry is Canadian.

I am home.

Alondra - Your Puerto Vallarta Vacation Rental

noreply@blogger.com (traveller) — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 04:20:00 +0000

That is the title of my first You Tube video uploaded today. We fly down to PV on Sunday to enjoy almost a month in the sun. When we are back in Vancouver, our one bedroom condo at Los Muertos Beach is up for grabs. For more info on seasonal rates and availability, try searching "Alondra condo, Puerto Vallarta".

For a 15 minute look at the sights and sounds of our beach life and all the condo's amenities, here is the video. With the exception of me, it's best viewed in HD and full-screen;)

January is for the birds in Vancouver...eagles, snow geese & more!

noreply@blogger.com (traveller) — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 06:59:00 +0000

Since childhood, I have taken an interest in viewing wild birds. The feeder at the B & B may be marked "bird & breakfast" but honestly, it is a constant battle with the neighbourhood squirrels, cats and raccoons. In December, I put up a hummingbird feeder for the first time and the regular morning visits of a tiny female black-throated hummingbird like this one has delighted me and our guests.

The hummer's visits reminded me that this January marks the 25th Anniversary of the Brackendale, BC., Winter Eagle Festival & Count. This little town, just an hour north of Vancouver, has earned world-wide recognition as one of the greatest congregations of American Bald Eagles anywhere. The eagles are drawn by the annually varying numbers of chum salmon that spawn in the Squamish and nearby rivers. In 1994, a world record count of 3766 eagles was counted on one day along a ten mile stretch of river, outstripping any numbers in Alaska or the "Lower 48". It is truly a spectacular sight to see dozens of those white domes perched in a cottonwood and set against the rugged coastal mountains. I am happy to see one or two nesting and raising their young out at Wreck Beach in the summer!

The winter is also one of the best times to visit the Reifel Bird Sanctuary, conveniently situated 30 minutes to the south, between downtown Vancouver and the border. As our city's shores are underneath the great Pacific Flyway, literally millions of birds follow the west coast in their annual migrations. The Sanctuary offers them 850 acres of managed wetlands, natural marshes and low dikes in the heart of the Fraser River Estuary. For example, visitors can easily view the very large, dense flocks of up to 20,000 Snow Geese which feed, rest and fly over the Sanctuary. These dazzling white birds have flown 4000 kilometres from their summer home in Russia!

Just bundle up, dig out the binoculars and get some really fresh air this winter.

Happy Holidays from Nelson House B & B

noreply@blogger.com (traveller) — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 21:43:00 +0000

Ozzie and Zack are cozy by the fireplace. I am nibbling our supply of home-baked shortbread. The Bed and Breakfast closes tonight and tomorrow, so that we can share some time with families and friends.

Here at Nelson House B & B, we count our blessings and always give thanks for the warmth and kindness of our guests.

Wherever you may be - a toast to you! We send you best wishes for a loving holiday and a wonderful year ahead!

Vegan Vancouver

noreply@blogger.com (traveller) — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 01:29:00 +0000

Vegan "turkey" anyone?

My last post on breakfast at the B & B got me thinking of all the special dietary requests that we are glad to receive(in advance, hopefully). Some have presented us with something of a learning curve.

Vegetarianism, veganism and raw food are diets that I can respect but not personally embrace. I have, however, discovered the motherlode of vegan food lore in the Vancouver scene. And I am glad to share it with you. This article on a great local website lists and describes over thirty(!) of Vancouver's best vegan restaurants. Readers' comments add many more. Plus - scan down to the bottom of the piece and find super links to five more vegan/vegetarian guides and links to answer questions like "Why go vegan?".

You can start thanking me now....

Vancouver Food

noreply@blogger.com (traveller) — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 19:45:00 +0000

Every morning at the B & B presents the opportunity to gather round the breakfast table for the best meal of the day. For guests, it is the luxury of time and relaxation, giving up the usual daily rush and worry to let someone else do the cooking, to linger over another coffee and bask in the friendly banter. For innkeepers, it is the challenge and fun of trying to please everyone's diets, tastes, preferences and palates. Frankly, we take pride in seeing our guests reluctant to push back from the table and already anticipating what we might serve the next day.

One daily constant of breakfast conversation is everyone's latest discoveries and experiences on the Vancouver food scene. We provide "David's Choice", an in-room folder of my personal favourite dining establishments nearby - everything from coffee shops to picnic supplies to the most elegant restaurants. Our conversations, however, range from the more obvious Vancouver-type questions regarding the "best seafood" and the "best views" to the more exotic(for me at least) sushi choices and vegan secrets. Guests from all over the world turn to me to knowingly discuss local organic markets, slow cooking and where to find High Tea - without having to go to Victoria. It's a reminder of just how very important, good eating really is in our lives.

"Sexiest Man Alive" - just another Vancouver attraction.

noreply@blogger.com (traveller) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 01:26:00 +0000

When People magazine recently picked Vancouver-born and raised Ryan Reynolds as "the sexiest man alive", many Vancouverites were not at all surprised that a BC boy is turning heads and also enjoys a rep as a fun, friendly guy. While most admirers of the male form must wait to see Ryan's abs on the big screen, Vancouver is said by many locals and visitors to be a treasure trove of fine male specimens.

Vancouver is first and foremost a West Coast city - all about the great outdoors and choosing the optimal lifestyle. According to official government statistics, Vancouverites live longer than in the rest of the country. Nice to know that staying active, living well... and looking good while doing it... has great results. Vancouver is the place that Canadians choose to move to. Foreigners do too. In present day Vancouver, there is both a rich multicultural mix and the traditional Canadian Mounties/lumberjack kind of guy. Someone for everyone. You have doubts? Did you know that Ryan's dad is a retired RCMP officer?

So if you would like to check out Vancouver's athletic men for yourself, here is a heads up! Mark two events on your calendar, get planning and book early. First up is WinterPride - the most famous gay ski week of them all. Jan. 30 to Feb. 6, 2011 is coming fast! It's your chance to combine brawn and beauty up at Whistler's Olympic facilities, just an hour and a half's spectacular drive from the city. Then, during the very peak of next summer's tourism season, Vancouver will host the North American Outgames from July 25 to 31st. That party is timed to culminate with Vancouver's annual Pride celebrations and amazing fireworks festival.

Yes - these are both very big, gay events. Sorry girls, Ryan is taken(Mr. Scarlett Johansson). But you can take my word for it, when it comes to Vancouver's men, Ryan did not break the mold.

A chill in the air brings holiday warmth...

noreply@blogger.com (traveller) — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 23:15:00 +0000

November and December mark the yuletide holiday season. Both visitors and locals should find this Vancouver holiday lights list useful:

Nov. 26 - Jan. 2, Bright Nights offers kids of all ages a chance to bundle up for a miniature train ride through the magical light displays in Stanley Park.

Dec. 3 - 23, a great Vancouver tradition celebrates its 50th anniversary. Join the flotilla of Carol Ships in the Parade of Lights for romantic dining, carolling and sight-seeing from the waters of English Bay, False Creek and Burrard Inlet.

Dec. 10 - Jan. 2, the Festival of Lights illuminates the beautiful grounds of Van Dusen Botanical Gardens

All of the above are near Nelson House B & B. If staying with us, we would be glad to book your holiday celebrations for you.

I'm back and life goes on.

noreply@blogger.com (traveller) — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 20:11:00 +0000

Two weeks since I left the relaxation and golden view from the rooftop deck of our place in Vallarta and it already seems like months ago.

On the morning of my return to the B & B, a copper pipe supplying hot water to Shangri-La's jacuzzi tub, split lengthwise by an inch and a half! While Matthew, our Manager, was preparing breakfast for five guests, water gushed downwards from the third-floor to saturate the ceiling of Sailor's room on the second-floor, crack and bulge a wall on the main floor and leave various brown stains here and there along the way. A big Welcome Back to bed and breakfast reality for me. A stressful crazy day for Matthew as he shut off all the water in the house(fortunately all the guests had showered) and then, somehow cooked and served a full, hot and delicious breakfast with no water!!

So I had no time for easing back from from my tropical getaway. It was get the plumber in that day. Get the painting contractor in the next. Rearrange bookings and explain our domestic disaster to a series of guests(all very good-natured about it).

The Sailor's ceiling looked like a brown spider web of cracks over Halloween. The scary decor fit right in with our usual spooky celebrations at the B & B. The plaster had to be completely removed to the bare-bones of the old lath ceiling. Days of heat and drying later, we have just had the drywall installed there and in a small patch on the main floor. With perseverance, the plastering, painting and clean-up should be done this week. And it will all be just another chapter of life in a bed and breakfast.

Electric Buddha/End of Season

noreply@blogger.com (traveller) — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 01:27:00 +0000

Electric Buddha from last week's Opening Ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India

I love this image. To the sounds of suitably transcendent music, the Buddha rose slowly from the stadium floor, in the centre of a giant lotus blossom, formed by a thousand children in synchronized yoga poses. Sheesh!

You may be asking: "What does this have to do with bed and breakfasts?" Well, the average innkeeper is almost always in a multitasking tizzy that just might spin out of control, if the job were not so damned enjoyable! Now that I am about 12 hours away from going on vacation, I realize that all of my best efforts to stay calm and organized have felt increasingly like electrons coursing skyward through my "chakras". Stoic on the outside. Pulsing energy on the inside. And all the time, searching for real calm and peace of mind.

Nelson House is at the end of another busy summer season but perhaps, not as busy as it might have been, if our American friends were not still in a recession funk. Some of our bed and breakfast projects will just have to wait for next season. The summer was a blur but it still had its quota of delightful guests and remarkable, lively conversations. A BIG thank you to all our guests, both first-timers and o-so-many repeat customer/friends. We had fun!

About now, however, me and the staff could all use our own relaxing getaways.Yoga for some. A cabin in the woods for others. A sunny beach whether I can really afford it or not!

One of our staff is leaving us at month's end after an unexpected illness. We send our best wishes while we struggle to pick up the slack. Applications for a replacement are pouring in, which proves that the dream of innkeeping is still alive and well.

I get to screen the applicants while allegedly "on vacation" and the Manager gets to interview the best of the crop - as if he didn't have enough to do. But we anticipate the best. We have a new computer and that smooths the work. The dogs are happy as long as they have a full bowl. Even the Buddha got by on alms. The B & B keeps on chugging along into the Fall.

Such is life. Such is life in a bed and breakfast.

Vancouver Fringe Festival

noreply@blogger.com (traveller) — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 21:41:00 +0000

This hilarious video of "Red Bastard" sums up the beloved in-your-face quality of the Fringe's live theatre. Still a few more days of the actual Festival but the best of the productions will soon be popping up around town. Lots of fun and provocative thought that you won't get at home sitting on the sofa!

Summer Finales!

noreply@blogger.com (traveller) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 20:39:00 +0000

Okay. Let's do it!

Vancouver is ready for some fun and nostalgia this sunny summer weekend. At the 100th Anniversary of the Pacific National Exhibition, your admission ticket to the fair will give you access to a classic wooden roller-coaster, all the mini-donuts you can eat and free concert headliners like Cyndi Lauper. She still wants to have fun.

Back in the West End, gays and their straight friends will be celebrating on the Grand Finale Cruisey T boat cruise around our beautiful harbour. The two-footed Bears will be heading to Bearaccuda, the #1 bear dance party in the USA, as it comes to our city on Sunday night.

And down at The Odyssey nightclub, many, many people will be sad and sentimental as one of Vancouver's finest gay bars will be ending its 25 year-long journey. On Sunday night, the final Feather Boa drag show will be hosted by the legendary talents of Joan- E and Justine Tyme as everyone sings and dances a "Farewell to the Odyssey".

99 Red Balloons...

How every B & B can help: Recycling Soap. Saving Lives.

noreply@blogger.com (traveller) — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:50:00 +0000

Early in the career of every Innkeeper, you ask yourself: "What am I going to do with all this leftover soap?" This week, after twenty years in this business, I found the answer. And found a wonderful way to help the less fortunate.

Nelson House B & B is now the first bed and breakfast in Canada to partner with Clean the World Foundation, a Florida not-for-profit corporation that is rapidly expanding north of the border.

Clean the World has a straightforward two-part mission:
1.Reduce the waste created by discarded soap and shampoo products.
2.Prevent the millions of deaths caused by hygiene-related illnesses every year.

Did you know that the two biggest killers of Children under the age of 5 can be greatly reduced by soap intervention? According to the World Health Organization, 34 per cent of these children die from diarrheal diseases and respiratory infections that are preventable with simple, basic hygiene. The problem is that a family earning a few dollars a day will put food and shelter needs over the purchase of a "luxury", like a bar of soap.

Since its beginnings in 2009, Clean the World has hundreds of hotels and many B & Bs tossing their partly used soap and shampoo bottles into recycling bins for local pick-up. Here in Vancouver, CTW has just opened a recycling and processing centre employing women at risk, who reside in Vancouver's downtown eastside. A second Canadian centre will open soon in Toronto. At these Centres, the more heavily used soaps are cooked to remove impurities and rebatched into 2-ounce bars. The majority of only slightly used soaps are put through a patent-pending sanitization, steam and pressure process. PH levels are tested and the soap is repackaged to go out to those most in need.

In the last year, reputable NGOs like World Vision have helped to distribute over five million soap bars, and 250,000 pounds of shampoo and conditioner in countries such as Haiti, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Swaziland, Mali, Mongolia, Uganda, Honduras, Romania, the United States and soon, to the needy in Canada too.

I personally encourage every hotel and B & B innkeeper reading this to stop sending your guest soaps and shampoo to the landfill! Use your good business sense - go green, give back, help others! If you stay in B & Bs, please ask your innkeeper if they have heard of this simple Win-Win solution. Here is the Clean the World link to get going.

Biking from the B & B

noreply@blogger.com (traveller) — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 06:35:00 +0000

Photos Courtesy of City of Vancouver

One of the great advantages of Nelson House's central location is the ability to do without a car. First of all, the peninsula that comprises "downtown Vancouver" is only about 15 by 21 blocks and almost surrounded by water. If you are a healthy walker, these are not NYC blocks and most folks can do one end to the other in a half hour. If going further afield or unable to do things on foot, Robson Street buses are as close as three blocks away and they will connect you to the Skytrain, the Seabus and the entire public transit system.

Even more fun, especially in summer, is the opportunity to rent a bike and explore more of the city at a leisurely wheeling pace. Public Seawalls border all of the downtown shoreline. Many more miles of beaches and parks heading westwards along English Bay are laced together by offstreet paved bikeways. Since the shorelines are at sea level - just think - no hills - and non-stop views!!

A cluster of bike rental shops are within a ten minute stroll from the B & B. Our guests are welcome to bring their own bikes from home or keep the rentals overnight in locked and easily accessible storage in our basement.

The City of Vancouver alone offers 400 "lane-kilometres". That's about 250 miles of one and two way bike routes. The City is currently adding separated bike lanes for safer bicycling in the business core.

And then there are the Naked Bike Rides. Visitors to Vancouver can be a little surprised the first time they witness hundreds of nude bicyclists cheerily pedaling by on a sunny afternoon.

Vancouver Beaches on Top Ten List

noreply@blogger.com (traveller) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 03:39:00 +0000

Once again, Vancouver rates with the best in the world. None other than the respected National Geographic has included Vancouver's beaches with the likes of Honolulu, Sydney and Rio de Janeiro. Vancouverites are currently enjoying the long summer days on ten ocean side beaches and one fresh-water lake - all within city limits. Eleven miles of civic beaches range from the expansive views of Jericho Beach, pictured above and below, to the downtown beaches bordering the West End and Stanley Park and a few blocks from the B & B, to the muscle-beach scene at Kitsilano ("Kits") Beach and the clothing-optional wilderness feel of world famous Wreck Beach!

Bard-B-Q & Fireworks

noreply@blogger.com (traveller) — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 17:48:00 +0000

Hurry if you want some of the best fireworks views available!

Bard on the Beach is selling all-inclusive tickets during the Celebration of Light. For the four fireworks evenings, begin your experience with Act I of either Much Ado About Nothing or Falstaff. During an extended intermission, have a drink and enjoy a West Coast salmon barbeque. Return for Act II and then take coffee and dessert in the same private seating area in Vanier Park for all the pyrotechnics.

Always a sell-out.

Vancouver Summer Fireworks!!!

noreply@blogger.com (traveller) — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 19:01:00 +0000

Every year, since 1990, there has been some drama over whether or not Vancouver's spectacular fireworks competition will once again find the funding. (Because you asked), I am glad to report that the Celebration of Light will launch again, next Wednesday, July 21st!

Even better, the warm up for the pyrotechnics will be live musical performances, dubbed Shorefest, on stage at the English Bay Bathhouse and the Rogue Stage at Sunset Beach. Both stage performances will be simulcast on SHORE 104 FM radio.

This year's Celebration of Light features four competitors and promises to be bigger and better than ever before. July 21, the USA is first up with a tribute to the Big Band era. The next Saturday, the 24th, this year's World Cup winner, Spain, will show us whether they can kick that fireball through the goalposts. On Wednesday, July 28, the Latin rythyms will continue with Mexico's swirling presentation. On Saturday, July 31st, the inventors of the artform, China will provide the climax for probably the biggest crowd of all - up to 350,000 people ringing the beaches, bridges, boats and highrises of beautiful English Bay.

No matter if you have seen the rest, come see the best! Our B & B guests will be bundled up with beach towels and tipped to the ultimate viewing points.

Blog Freshening

noreply@blogger.com (traveller) — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 21:14:00 +0000

I realized that at 100 posts, it was time to touch up the paint, wash the windows and let the message shine through. Hope you like the new look!

Vancouver Street Food

noreply@blogger.com (traveller) — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 18:12:00 +0000

Our city's street food scene will soon reflect more of our cultural diversity. City Hall just drew 17 names out of a barrel of 800 applications to finally award street vending licences to something other than hot dogs and chestnuts. Within weeks, pedestrians will be able to sample everything from Chinese Dim Sum to Korean and Southern style BBQs, Tex-Mex burritos to stone-baked pizza.

Ahh...the savory aromas of Vancouver!