I had a blast in Vancouver for a quick 4 day vacation. Spent a lot of time outside walking around and checkin out the city. Verdict is its absolutely beautiful and kind of a combination of Portland and San Francisco. The people were really nice as well.

Some highlights as follows…

1) Paying a visit to the local fixed gear / track bike shop ( Super Champion ) only to find a lovely orange apollo conversion that just about fit me. The lads at Super Champion, Nick and Chunks, were kind enough to lend me the bike for a deposit and a mere case of beer. Of course I brought back 2 cases of bud to show em some good ol hulk hogan american hospitality.

2) Next highlight was taking the “rented” bike through the city and into Stanley park . Stanley park has a one way bike path around the perimeter of the park right next to the water. It was absolutely beautiful.

3) Going on a shopping bender. Vancouver had a bunch of great spots for clothes. Topping the list was Roden Gray , Jonothan and Olivia , Dutil , One of a Few , and Illustrated Example . Heres a map of the shops I checked out.

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4) Eating at Chambar . A great belgian restaurant that was so good we had to go twice. Reminded me of a lot of the restaurants in SF. The food was ridiculously good and the atmosphere / interior was really cool.

5) Checking out Inform – a huge 2 building 4 floor modern furniture store. I bummed around in here for a long time sitting on stuff until they told me to stop taking pictures. Heres a shot of their design library.