Day 14 - Sunday 27 May 2012

VANCOUVER, CANADA - Aquarium and my last day in western Canada
　Weather: Overcast and cool in the morning, warm and sunny in the afternoon.
　
After a late start to my day, I made my way at a leisurely pace towards Stanley Park and the Vancouver Aquarium. I took the short way via the road instead of along the Sea Wall. I thought it was going to be a quiet Sunday stroll in the park. I discovered a whole bunch of people as, unknown to me, Vancouver had a walk-a-thon on today at Stanley Park. There were tents of food and fun, music and a whole lot of kids. So much for my quiet Sunday!
　

The aquarium is pretty small compared to ours in Melbourne. The have a small outside area where they have the seals, dolphins, sea otters, beluga whales, small porpoises and their new exhibit - the African penguins. I really felt sorry for these animals being in such small enclosures. The otters were really, really cute though!
　
They really have been adversiting the penguin exhibit so I was really looking forward to it. I was expecting something like what the Melbourne aquarium has. Instead, there were barely 5 penguins in a small enclosure. Disappointing.


Don't know what a butterfly house and a monkey cage were doing there but there they were. I felt sorry for the small, black monkeys in that cage as it seemed too small.  Even the shark enclosure was tiny!
　


Sea Otter

As you entered the aquarium, they asked you to stand in front of a green screen and take your photo. On my way out, I went to the desk to pick up my photo. I had a choice of a dolphin background, a beluga whale background or a penguin background. I chose and paid for my photo with a penguin background - such a tourist! 　
Then I took a stroll around the park before sitting down and having a sandwich for lunch. Saw two black squirrels running around on the grass but they were too quick for me to take a photo, as I was eating at the time.
　
On the way back to the hotel, I noticed that the peak hour traffic was heading the opposite way - towards Lions Gate Bridge and out of Vancouver towards the US boarder. All the US folks going home.
　

After lunch, I made my way back to my hotel to drop off my stuff before heading out again for one last walk along the Sea Wall and along Robson Street - a final fair well to Vancouver. I even walked down streets I'd never been down before.

Tomorrow it's off to New York and the start of my east coast adventure.