Vancouver

Being up for over 40 hours is something I haven't done for a very long time. Maybe that's the reason why I have been that exhausted on Monday when I finally arrived here in Vancouver. But let me tell it in the correct order.

I got up at 6 AM on Monday morning and immediately made my way to Frankfurt airport where I arrived at around 9 AM. Since my flight was going to depart at 3 PM, I had plenty of time to spent over there. It is pretty hard to find something to do fighting boredom at an airport. So I had a lot of coffee and a short breakfast. I also tried to get an internet access...you cannot imagine how expensive that is. There is a WiFi-access all around the area, but good old Telekom asks for 8 EUR/10.50 CAD per hour!!! I'm sure you agree with me that this is too much.

Anyway, I managed to keep me busy. The flight was delayed for nearly an hour but I used the time to get to know my seat neighbour, a Bulgarian woman who lives in Vancouver since the year 2000 and just came back from her vacation in Rome. We had a quite interesting talk about Canada's system of education and studying at UBC (University of British Columbia) and SFU (Simon Fraser University), both renowned and well equipped (as well as expensive!) universities in Vancouver. She also gave me some suggestions concerning finding a job or an apartment that is well situated and payable.

The flight itself has been uneventful. The good thing of arriving early at Frankfurt airport was that I have been able to choose the best seat available on the plane (which is of course the one directly next to the emergency exit). Why? 1. In the case of an emergency, I might be the first one leaving the plane! ;) 2. The space between my seat and the one in front of it is bigger than for the rest.
What I did NOT know was that because of the emergency exit you are always and permanently facing a draft that is even colder than the one from the air conditioning. Lucky I haven't got a cold!

The plane took the route over Greenland which was amazing to see. The scenery from above was beautiful: ice shelves as huge as a village or even a town, numberless icebergs swimming on the Atlantic ocean...ice as far as my eyes could see and in such a bright white that it was impossible to look directly in the ice fields for long.

I arrived in Vancouver after a 10h flight. After landing I headed for the immigration office at the airport to get my visa. And you know what?! I will never again complain about the attitude to work of German administraion officers! Four counters for nearly 30 persons...that's madness! Took me an hour to stand in line. Got my visa after all, picked up my baggage and left the airport to meet my hosts, Hannah and Richard.

They welcomed me really friendly. I felt myself at home immediately. After having dinner I went straight into bed. above: the view from the apartment on the skyscrapers of Vancouver Downtown

On the next day I started to explore Vancouver a bit (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rMikFc6w_4).

Mainly focussed on Downtown. In Vancouver there is a huge contrast in society. On one hand downtown is full of beautiful parks and gardens, brand-new apartment buildings, skyscrapers and business offices, shopping malls and restaurants, all of them used by the middle and upper class. On the other hand especially on East Hastings Str there are a lot of homeless people, most off them adicted to drugs (so it would seem) or mentally and/or physically handicapped. All the travel guides I have read strongly advice to avoid this area, so I decided to go there and find out myself what it looks like. ;)
And although I never felt unsafe, I still got the feeling to get out of there as fast as possible.
Another thing that I noticed is the strong consumption of coffee in Vancouver. You will find a coffee shop at almost any corner. I heard that Starbucks for example alone has over 90 shops in Vancouver City!!! What a paradise! :D

Now, I have some plans for the next days but I will let you know about it later on.