V is for Vivacious Vancouver
Our first port of call in Canada, and we enjoyed walking the city in search of art, fountain pens, beer, and comfort food--all successfully!
We docked in Vancouver, British Columbia, several hours late after cruising east through rough seas from Klawock toward the coast of Canada. Gale-force winds, slanting rain, and twenty-foot waves hindered not only the ship’s progress but also the schedule of activities planned for the day we were to cruise the Inside Passage. Pastry demonstrations, the Constellation Theatre shows, and orchestra performances were all canceled. Looking back through my journal, the last time we encountered significant winds that impeded the ship’s travel was when we crossed the Drake Passage on February 4th. Then, the relative wind speed reached 46.5 knots. Yesterday, the relative wind speed hit 62.4 knots.
A few things slid off our desk, but once we secured the water bottles and wine glasses, we had no further disturbances. The seas calmed in the early afternoon, but the ship had lost precious time by then. Tides shifted, and we had to wait for the Inside Passage’s water levels to rise again before we could continue sailing south. It was a minor inconvenience—instead of docking in Vancouver at 7 AM, we arrived around 9:30 AM. We still had plenty of time to explore the city.
Since we had visited Vancouver before—first in 2010 and again in 2018—we opted for a DIY tour instead of taking a Regent excursion. We docked at the Canada Place Cruise Terminal, and the Vancouver highlights we wanted to explore were all within easy walking distance.
Our first stop: The Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art, established in 1998 by the Bill Reid Foundation, pays tribute to the Haida master artist Bill Reid. This gallery is dedicated to Northwest Coast art and artists, offering a fantastic introduction to the region’s artistic heritage. If you can visit only one place in Vancouver, I highly recommend this one. Plus, it’s an easy half-mile walk from the cruise terminal to the museum’s front door.
This photo shows Danielle Allard with the 39 completed feast bowls she painted to be given away at the Yahgu’ Laanas Pole raising Potlatch in 2022. What an amazing feat! One of the boxes was on display and was the perfect combination of craftsmanship and art!
“Joy is a well-made object, equaled only by the joy of making it.” — Bill Reid, 1988
This tiny display is another one of my “you’ll never guess what you’re looking at” items. Bill Reid carved this miniature tea set as a gift for his sister when he was a 12-year-old student. He carved it in his classroom, sitting at his desk—hint!—to combat his boredom. I challenge all my readers to guess which two media Reid used for this tiny masterpiece. (Share your answer in the comments!)
Raven Transformation (2022) is a mask made of cedar and acrylic paint. It was created by Christian White, Vernon White, and Ken Hans and is part of the Tluu Xaada Naay collection.
This monumental mask was inspired by a piece created by Charles Edenshaw, now housed at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, UK. Christian remembers seeing this mask, which inspired him to recreate his own version. The movie depicts the transformation of the mask wearer—from raven to human.
Here’s a packing recommendation for taking a long cruise with significant climate and weather variations. Bring appropriate clothing. We saw dozens of cruisers—four ships were docked in town with a combined passenger total of around 4,000—walking the city streets in soaked jeans and drenched clothing. This is the Pacific coast, and it’s a temperate rainforest. Rain is the norm. Sherpa and I had raincoats, umbrellas, and much-appreciated waterproof pants we’d purchased in a shop in the Norwegian fjords. We were cozy, dry, and happy, but we noticed many folks who weren’t!
The Vancouver Art Gallery is just one block east of the Bill Reid Museum. During our half-day visit, we explored Indigenous art from the Northwest Coast and the paintings of Emily Carr, the renowned hermit-painter from Vancouver Island.
“Founded in 1931, the Vancouver Art Gallery is recognized as one of Canada’s most respected and innovative visual arts institutions and is committed to strengthening ties between artists and diverse communities throughout the City of Vancouver, the Province of British Columbia, and beyond.” -Vancouver Art Gallery website
One of my favorite Canadian artists has an entire gallery at the Vancouver Art Gallery dedicated to her work. Emily Carr was born in Victoria and spent much of her life living and painting on Vancouver Island. She was well known for her landscapes of British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest; my favorites are her paintings that depict the forests.
“In its exhibition design, Emily Carr: Navigating an Impenetrable Landscape draws out the question of the opening and closing off of space in Carr’s landscapes by contrasting a densely hung group of paintings with sparsely hung later works that depict an open horizon. Ironically, many of the spatially open works are open precisely because they depict landscapes that had been recently subject to clear-cut logging.” —Vancouver Art Gallery
“Monsters in My Head is the first solo presentation in North America of work by Japanese artist Otani Workshop. Otani’s ceramic works have a raw physicality, with textured and irregular surfaces, while his paintings capture more whimsical and adolescent sentiments of wonder, solitude, longing, and hope.” — from Vancouver Art Gallery
“I have grown to know why I have a philosophy about ceramics. It’s taking one object, one substance you’ve been familiar with all your life, and making it into something else.” —John David Lawrence
“Written in Clay presents a history of ceramics made in British Columbia, told through the collection of John David Lawrence. Featuring approximately 200 objects, it examines the materials and processes artists utilized in relation to the context in which studio ceramics arose and developed in the region.” —Vancouver Art Gallery
If Sherpa hadn’t wanted to walk to the nearest brewery for a destination beer, we would never have passed this street sign hanging above a narrow window. When I peered in to see what was inside, I found a small-footprint store crammed with pens, ink, and various accessories. If Sherpa hadn’t wanted to walk to the nearest brewery for a destination beer, we never would have gone into this store, and I wouldn’t have made the purchases that I did. (Later, I’ll share my pen and ink story in a later post.)
We took a half-block detour to walk through this city oddity—The Pink Alley. What you see is what it is! It’s an alley that is mostly painted pink and outfitted with hopscotch squares and mini basketball courts.
We finally made it to Steamworks Brewing Co. in Gastown, the iconic pub that Vancouverites have been enjoying since 1995. We got a great table overlooking the bay and spent a wonderful hour enjoying the crowd, food, and beer.
Heroica Red Ale is brewed by Steamworks Brewing Co. in Vancouver, Canada. ABV: 5.6%, IBUs: 40. Sherpa’s take: ”Reddish brown color with a light body and carbonation, modest head. The initial taste has notes of broccoli and celery as well as a light bitterness in the middle of the mouth, not intense. The aftertaste grows pleasantly bitter/sour. It’s a brewpub ale, nice enough, but not outstanding. 5/10.”
And we had nachos! After 143 days onboard a ship, no matter how great the food, the craving for comfort food is real. We were thrilled to order a messy plate of chicken nachos at Steamworks Brewing Co. (Sherpa and I are working on a list of “comfort foods” we would love to see offered on World Cruises and Grand Cruises for those evenings when an omelette or grilled cheese and tomato soup would fit the bill. Thoughts?)
Tomorrow’s port of call: Victoria on Vancouver Island, Canada
So many thoughts on this post!
- loved the Emily Carr paintings.
- tea set made of.. erasers?
- I can’t wait to read about the Pen Shop!!
- Nachos for the win. I think that would be tough for sure when just wanting simple or familiar aboard.
This should have posted. under "what did he coat it with?" question
crayon? Im trying to think what a 12 yr old would have access to at his desk...maybe sweater lint?!! (Ack!!-as Bill the cat would say!)