Welcome to Vancouver. This is Downtown Vancouver. The downtown sits on a small peninsula beside Stanley Park. To get to downtown, you must cross one of three bridges, take the SkyTrain, or go through Chinatown. Unlike all other major cities in North America, there is no freeway that goes into the downtown.
Almost all the major companies have an office here. The big white dome is BC Place Stadium where they play football. To the right of it is a smaller stadium called General Motors Place where they play hockey and basketball.
This is Coal Harbour. The harbour is home to many small pleasure boats. There are also float-planes that land and take-off from this harbour.
Just behind the harbour is Stanley Park. It is the largest urban park in all of Canada. During the summer, the park is filled with tourists as well as locals who want to enjoy the forest and its seawall, where you can walk around the park alongside the water.
Even farther, you can see the North Shore mountains of the suburb of West Vancouver. West Vancouver is home to some of the most expensive homes in the country because of the wonderful views. Obviously, I don't live there.
The white building with five sails is Canada Place. It was built in 1986 for the World Exposition on Transportation. Inside the building is a five-star hotel, a conference centre, and an IMAX theatre.
In the background behind Stanley Park is English Bay. English Bay is home to one of the most popular beaches in the city. It is especially busy in the summer when they have fireworks. Many shipping vessels anchor in English Bay too. So when you're on the beach, you can see many ships sitting out in the bay.
This is False Creek. It separates the downtown core from the rest of the city. The bridge leading into downtown in this photo is the Burrard Street Bridge and has a pair of uniquely designed bridge pillars.
If you take a look at the little yellow building in the corner of the picture, that is part of Granville Island. One of the neat characteristics of the island is that it sits right under the Granville Street Bridge. It used to be an island with many factories, but it is now home to the most famous market in the city, the Granville Island Public Market. There is also an art college, theatre, and kids market there. Although the name says it is an island, it really isn't. It is actually connected to the rest of the land.
As you can see, there are a lot of boats in this part of town. You can actually rent a boat with friends to tour the harbour. It's called a boat cruise. It's a very unique way to see the city.
