Sheila Fitzgerald from Cork and her husband John visited Vancouver and can see why it is often cited as the best place in the world to live
VANCOUVER IS A city I had long wished to visit. We were told September was the best time to go, so on August 30th last we flew there.
We spent our first two nights at the Pan Pacific Hotel, with wonderful views of the busy inner harbour and, in the distance, Stanley Park and the Lions' Gate Bridge. The hotel is topped by five distinctive large sails and it looks as if it is just moored there.
We were fortunate to be given, by a business friend, a house that overlooked the harbour and the Maritime Museum.
We took the free bus all around Stanley Park, and horse-drawn carriage tours were also available if one wished. We went to Granville Island on a colourful ferry, which plied its way between different points of the harbour and the inlet called False Creek.
Granville Island is a mix of artisan shops, crafts and a wonderful food market, where we bought fish to cook at the condo.
We dragged ourselves away from the city to fly by seaplane to Victoria on Vancouver Island, the capital of British Columbia. The flight was thrilling, with the aircraft flying quite low and giving us a panoramic view of downtown Vancouver and over the Gulf Islands into Victoria. Victoria had a lovely holiday atmosphere. We stayed at the Empress Hotel and enjoyed afternoon tea, which included the full royal treatment. I was offered every kind of tea and plumped for the one nearest to Cork's own Barry's. John and I worked our way down the tiered plate rack from tiny tasty sandwiches to scones and delicious cakes.
Next morning I visited the Royal British Columbia Museum, which had amazing exhibits. Especially impressive were the reconstructions of the types of house the First Peoples of Canada lived in, and I saw the beautiful hand-crafted clothes, carvings, masks and weapons on display. I also visited the Titanic exhibition, which included the reconstruction of salons and cabins with actual artefacts taken from the bottom of the sea. Each visitor was given a male or female boarding pass, as appropriate. I became Mrs Walter H Corbett from Utah, and on leaving I was sad to see that "I" was among the 1,523 people lost at sea.
John and I took a bus to Butchart Gardens, the most beautiful I have ever seen. Jennie Butchart created the gardens from a limestone quarry that had been excavated. It celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2004. It is still family-owned and is now a National Historic Site. You needn't be a gardener to enjoy the Sunken Garden with the Ross Fountain rising 70ft, the Rose Garden, Japanese Garden and my favourite, the Italian Garden.
Back in Vancouver I enjoyed observing the way its inhabitants enjoy the outdoor life - walking by the sea, cycling and having family picnics.
The dining in Vancouver restaurants was first-class, with every cuisine available. We had Italian at Don Francesco, French at Le Jardin and seafood while watching a wonderful sunset at Watermark. I also loved going to the Pacific Centre, which had a large food court and each person could lunch as they wished.
Vancouver Aquarium was on our list for one of the Sundays. It is situated in Stanley Park and, on our walk back into the city, I found a sculpture of a woman sitting on a bench and searching through her handbag. It is called "The Search". I had my photo taken sitting beside her and searching in my handbag, a familiar sight to my long-suffering husband.
The best was yet to come - a visit the Rockies. A special train, the Rocky Mountaineer, brought us there from Vancouver to Calgary with an overnight in Kamloops. We splashed out on the luxurious "Goldleaf" service, which gave us travel in a glass-domed carriage and included all meals, served in the dining car.
We passed through the rich farmlands of the Fraser Valley, and marvelled at the two distinct colours of water merging at the meeting of the Fraser and Thompson rivers.
We continued east towards the Rockies, going through the five-mile Connaught Tunnel and then the Spiral Tunnels, cut into Cathedral Mountain. Now and then the attendants would call out "osprey to the right" or "bald eagle to the left". Mostly I wasn't quick enough to see them but the highlight for me was when I saw a black bear ambling down to one of the rivers.
We flew back from Calgary and a few days later took to the trains again, this time to Whistler, the world famous ski resort.
We loved every minute of our trip. It is no surprise that Vancouver tops the list of best places to live in the world.