A City in Canada, Beautiful Vancouver British Columbia

There is a lovely city named Vancouver on the West Coast of Canada. It was named after the explorer Captain George Vancouver, and it is the third largest city in the country after Toronto and Montreal. There are some wonderful events which are about to happen in the near future and now that make Vancouver a wonderful city to live in. There are some controversies, but the air quality is good, the weather is nice, and the views are to be admired.

Published photos of Vancouver show that there is plenty of sites to see and places to go for the sightseers of all walks of life. The Vancouver 2010 Olympics showed what a lovely place with great potential this city has, but the riots after the Stanley Cup in 2011 also showed that this is a city with plenty of growing pains.

As the the city and the area grow there are a lot more things to see and do there. While there usually isn't snow, there is a lot of rain, but for tourists this simply means that the best time to travel there is not in the winter but rather the summer months. Over the winter there is a lot of rain but most people fly into Vancouver not to stay long but to go on cruises to Alaska. In the last few years there have been a lot of new things which have made Vancouver grow as a city.

Olympics in 2010:

Vancouver and the surrounding area is gearing up for a huge event, the winter Olympics of 2010. For those who live in Vancouver this seems a bit odd-- Vancover's climate is not winter at all. The winters in Vancouver are mild in comparison to the rest of Canada. The city itself will host the opening and closing ceremonies, and the ice hockey and some other sporting events. In the mountains close by Whistler, will play host to the skiing events and bobsledding.

The one thing which mars this is the protesters who seem to crop up around each event. It seems that their mission in life to make people feel that the community doesn't care about the Olympics. While this may or may not be the case, it doesn't allow for vandalism.

Still on the whole the Olympics have brought some excellent infrastructure to the area, as long promised transportation changes were made, and this allows for faster communities. As Vancouver is connected to smaller communities by bridges, these newer faster methods of transport have helped.

This will most likely be the biggest legacy of the Olympics. I reserve judgment about the actual event until later. If it helps the economy and the area, then it is worth it, if not it won't be. Simple I know, but I shall see what happens.

At this point the overall effect of these Winter games-- after more than a year-- is that Vancouver does have better transit. However, it still looks as if the main effect was located in the downtown core.

Stanley Park:

I can't write about Vancouver and not mention about Stanley Park. It is a major tourist attraction, and local resident will travel to it on weekends. It's a great place to simply walk or jog.

There is also an aquarium which helps people learn about the large body surrounding their city, water and the life within it. It's great to see children there taking an interest in the environment around them. Although many of the tourist attractions such as the petting zoo and a zoo itself are disappearing or are long gone this is still a great place to explore and take in beauty.

Telus World of Science:

Built for The Vancouver Expo of 1986, this is now used for Science information and other events. It's a great place for people of all ages to learn and enjoy science in their own backyard. it is close to other attractions and the day can be spent there learning more about science.

Known as the Telus world of science now it is a landmark piece n the makeup of the downtown core of Vancouver, and can easily been seen on the waterfront of False Creek.

What Else?:

I've written about three of the main themes in the area that make Vancouver a great place ot live, but I'll touch on the rest now. The climate here is great, hardly any snow, and I can usually tell my friend on the east coast that the flowers are coming up in mid February while they are still buried under snow.

There is great hiking and biking trails. For ski lovers the mountains are close by and offer some great views to make up for a drive that can be slow at times. For the beach lovers, there is several sandy beaches right on their doorstep in Stanley Park and other parts of the city.

The views of the city are awesome and you can get some great views in almost every part of Vancouver, Queen Elizabeth park and other places are great to see some new views of the downtown core. There is also Grandville Island market a must see for any traveller and anyone else who loves the atmosphere in that area.

For sports lovers, there is the Vancouver Canucks Hockey Team, the Vancouver Giants Hockey Team, the BC Lions Football Team, The Vancouver Canadians baseball Team, and of course the Vancouver Whitecaps soccer Team. All of them are involved in the community, and this is a part of the fabric of the city.

There are lots of things to do which make this city so great to live in. I also enjoy the climate. What I most enjoy is the diversity this city has to offer. There is something for everyone and there is a lot more the city has to offer.