What's Our Best of the Best?

So after 2 weeks of travel what are some of the most memorable places and things we did—a very tough decision as all the hotels we stayed at were outstanding (and different), we ate many excellent and memorable meals and saw some spectacular sites.

So here goes our opinion-others on our trip may differ:

Top Hotel:
Fairmont Vancouver

Best Restaurants (by City):
Post Restaurant, Lake Louise, Alberta
Vij's, Vancouver, BC
Takerra Lodge, South Jasper, Alberta
Cafe Brio, Victoria, BC
Maple Leaf, Banff, Alberta


Tourist Sites:
Columbia Icefields and The Icefields Parkway
Royal Museum of British Columbia, Victoria
Butchart Gardens, Victoria
Banff Gondola to Sulfur Mountain & Cosmic Ray Station
The Bears, Elk, Caribou and Moose around Jasper

Anthropology Museum, Vancouver Touring and a NY Restaurant in British Columbia

We agreed that we would go to the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia (UBC)-so we boarded an Express Bus that got us there in less than a ½ hour and provided us some wonderful views of some grand homes along the way. As an added bonus, this was graduation day at UBC, so we saw some of the happy graduates. The Anthropology Museum is spectacular-built much like a First People's Long House, it focuses mainly on the art of the Coastal First Indian Tribes and was both enjoyable, educational and enlightening. Out guide/docent, Clayton was very knowledgeable and the tour ended with the spectacular Bill Reid sculpture called the Raven.

We returned to Vancouver again by bus, but this time took it to the end of the line and experienced a ride on the “Sea Bus” back and forth to North Vancouver Island and the boarded the “Sky Train”, the commuter transit system that is also a good way to see part of Vancouver. For our final evening, we went into a “tougher” section of town between Gas Town and China Town and had dinner in a restaurant called “Boneta” that was recommended by the owners of Cafe Brio in Victoria. It was very “New York” like in its feel and food and was a good way to end our trip.

Vancouver Fairmont, Granville Island and an Unusual Dinner

The Vancouver Fairmont is the epitome of the classic, luxury in city hotel—it's large, centrally located, provides all the amenities on could desire, has comfortable public rooms and very comfortable bedrooms.

We walked about a mile to the mini-ferry to Granville Island-about a 3-4 minute ride across “False Inlet. The Island is composed of old restored buildings with many shops and a large public market with a wide variety of ethnic foods, We had a delightful lunch that we bought from multiple shopkeepers. Afterward we took a mini-ferry for a “25 minute family fun filled” tour around the inlet-we saw some incredible condominiums lining the water, some huge luxury yachts and then the site of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games that is being developed.

We had dinner in Vij's Restaurant on the south end of Vancouver-the restaurant specializes in “Indian Fusion” cuisine and is democratic in that they take no reservations and everyone waits (45-90 minutes) to eat-BUT it's definitely worth it. The food was fantastic, the wine list crisp and imaginative and the service was excellent—12 of the 14 staff were women, all in constant motion. We all loved our food and the experience.

A Great Museum and then onto Vancouver We Go-Passing through Stanley park

On Sunday morning we woke up early to go to the Royal Museum of British Columbia. It was totally incredible-we spent two hours but really needed much much more. Our guide, Steve the Docent was just fabulous (down to the kilt he was wearing that he made as part of his own private business). We toured through the major areas of the museum and saw things totally unique including full scale dioramas of the forests, historic downtown, an intact “First People” Long house and a re-creation of Chinatown from the last century. Having a docent lead you through the museum is absolutely necessary. We had lunch at Sam's Deli, a local landmark on Government Street—surprisingly good-and then left for the ferry back to Vancouver.

We had a relatively uneventful ride to Vancouver, we easily made the 3:00 PM ferry from Swartz Point to Tswassen, the ride was smooth and we were able to get into Vancouver proper with minimal traffic. The approach to the city is quite impressive—many tall buildings with a backdrop of White capped mountains. Before going to the Fairmont Vancouver Hotel, we drove through Stanley Park—the park is absolutely magnificent, huge in size totally diverse in scope and just plain beautiful with lots and lots of people enjoying themselves on a warm Sunday, including a couple of cricket games which none of us had ever seen played before. We had dinner that evening at a large restaurant noted for its seafood, Joe Fortes and very much enjoyed the food and service.

Butchart Gardens-One of the Most Beautiful Places on Earth, Victoria and a Terrific Restaurant

The next morning we got up early to go to Butchart Gardens about 30 minutes from our hotel. It was totally unbelievable—everything was incredibly beautiful-the colors bursting all over, the landscaping perfectly manicured. It was a treat for our senses at every turn. The weather couldn't be better, cool temperatures, great lighting and pure joy—the only error was not making a reservation at the restaurant
in the gardens, it looked so so good.

When we returned to Victoria we did a walking tour around the city seeing Old Town, Chinatown, the Port and walked past the oldest synagogue in Western North America. We had another great dinner at Cafe Brio, a neighborhood restaurant located about a 15 minute walk (uphill) from our hotel. The owners, Greg and Sylvia were terrific hosts, the food wonderful and we enjoyed a lovely Ridge 2005 Zinfandel.

Victoria-A Cross Between San Francisco and England

Victoria is really lovely-it reminds us of a cross between England and San Francisco with the gorgeous harbor surrounded by a charming city. We stayed at the Victoria Inner Harbour Marriott, a significant change from the Fairmont Hotels where we had stayed—very modern and new, very bright room and wonderful service-they were among the top 10 Marriott Hotels in the World in 2007! We were really lucky in that when we walked to the harbor (harbour as they say), the Swiftsure Ocean Racers were docked for the night and we got to see over 100 beautiful ocean racing yachts. It was really impressive to see that many of the taxis were either Prius or Camry Hybrids, great thinking by the city planners and taxi companies.

We ate dinner our first night at Camille's Restaurant, located in an old market square not far from our hotel, the restaurant is supposedly the most romantic place to eat in Victoria and we all agreed. The food was delicious, (except for Judy's tasty overcooled wild salmon) service was professional and excellent and ambiance were perfect, all in all a terrific recommendation.

Our Train Ride from Jasper to Vancouver and the on to Victoria-An almost 24 hour Journey

We arrived at the Jasper Train Station and found the train, “The Canadian” was running about 2 hours late and actually departed the station even later than that after being cleaned and reloaded with food and linens, etc. (Train #1 actually starts in Montreal and goes across Canada in 3 days). The train was a real hoot as we reserved a sleeping car room-their were bunk beds and an attached toilet in the room. The beds looked like a camp set up and in actuality were quite comfortable once we got the idea of going up and down the bunk ladder. There was a beautiful waterfall (Pyramid Falls) visible only from the train and we also saw a black bear in the forest and a big brown grizzly on the side of the track that seemed to be smiling as the train passed by. The scenery was magnificent, the food was surprisingly good and the service quite competent. We spent a lot of time playing scrabble and even went up to the dome car to get some interesting views of the scenery. The train had to stop or slow down several times to let other CN freight trains pass in the other direction. We arrived in Vancouver after 15 hours on the train-rented a car at the station and started our journey to Victoria.

From Vancouver we drove south to the BC Ferry Terminal in Tsawassan, BC (about 35 minutes drive) boarded this enormous ferry that was loaded with cars, buses and trucks and spent a bit over 1 ½ hours in a somewhat rock and roll ride over to Victoria. We had lunch on the ferry and landed in Swartz Point on Victoria Island after passing some beautiful island s with summer homes on them. We drove onto the city of Victoria arrived at our hotel (The Marriott Victoria Inner Harbor) within 45 minutes. The hotel is quite comfortable and situated very well, about 2 blocks from the harbor and right in the center of town. So, our total travel time from the hotel in Jasper to the hotel in Victoria was just about 24 hours!