Last stop of our Canadian Adventure – Vancouver

We flew from Calgary to Vancouver and had definitely saved the best hotel until last – the JW Marriott Parq was our home for 3 nights. Upon arrival, we were given an upgrade to a sea view, and any hotel that stocks Molton Brown in the bathroom is always a winner with me. in the wardrobe was bathrobes, and umbrellas to borrow (which came in handy for the following day). The afternoon we arrived we took the 10 minutes to walk to the main shopping area of Vancouver and just took it easy as we then had two tours booked for the following days.

On our second day in Vancouver, we had pre-booked the tour to do the Capilano Suspension bridge and Grouse Mountain. We were glad we booked it as that day it was pouring with rain and we wouldn’t have gone otherwise. If you don’t pre-book a tour then you can get a free shuttle bus to the Capilano Suspension bridge and also a free shuttle to Grouse mountain from Canada Place, Our tour took us to a salmon fishery farm first where we spent 30 minutes before heading to the Suspension bridge. I had already done this tour before, however, my husband hadn’t and was interesting to see how it has developed since I last went as there was now a rooftop canopy walk to do – which we did and was a big achievement for my husband who is scared of heights. After a couple of hours in the rain, we were then taken to the cable car station to take us to the top of Grouse Mountain. But sadly because of the rain, the visibility was poor and the chairlift zip lines were not open however there was a lumberjack show to watch but there was not much shelter from the rain. There is also two Grizzly bears which they have looked after and raised since they were young and which we could just see hiding among the trees – Grinder and Coola. There was plenty of eateries and on a nice day would have been great to walk among the trails.

On our return to our hotel we welcomed back by the bellboys and reception staff and when we got to our room we found a note asking us to call room service. Within 5 minutes of speaking to them, there was a delivery of champagne and biscuits with a handwritten note and it had been signed personally by each member of the reception staff which was a lovely touch. The hotel had a huge casino within it, and also many eateries and so as it was still raining we decided to stay in and eat at the BC Kitchen.