Last November, we visited Vancouver BC for a short break because I had some work in downtown. We left on a Tuesday afternoon and reached the city by evening. We picked up our vacation rental keys from their office (EMR Vacations and they were superb) and got a detailed description on how to reach our accommodation. We stayed at a beautiful, luxury condo on the 19th floor with wonderful views of downtown. It also included a parking spot and was close to many attractions.
We were going back to Vancouver after a span of 2.5 years. On Wednesday afternoon, we set off to the aquarium in Stanley Park. We loved this place in our previous trip and enjoyed ourselves even this time around. The jellyfish display was fantastic. The dolphin show was superb. All the other displays were very interesting. We also enjoyed the 4D movie. All of us really enjoyed the park and we stayed till they closed for the day.
We then decided to go one of V's favorite restaurants - Rangoli, owned by the owner of Vij's. We placed our order and were surprised that there were no high chairs for children. We had a very good meal and the kids began to get restless after a long day. I wanted to change 'baby I's' diaper and was shocked to learn that the restroom was not equipped with a changing station ! The staff din't even seem to care to apologize for it. I like their food but was not happy with their indifference; I will not be visiting this restaurant next time.
On Thursday, we went to the Science Center and the kids had a lot of fun. There were many displays and many age appropriate activities. Their food section seemed to have expanded compared to our last visit. V and R had a lot of fun with the keva blocks. 'Baby I' had a lot of fun running around in the toddler area. We returned to our rental place in the evening and after some rest, decided to go to a Thai place for dinner. This restaurant called Banana Leaf was superb and we loved the food. I had a dish called assam curry and it was very delicious. Another odd thing was this restaurant had no high chair either. However, the staff were very friendly and won us over.
On Friday, we packed up and checked out at 11am. We decided to stop in Surrey for lunch. We picked a place called Tasty Indian Bistro and reached there a little after noon. The food is by far the best Indian food I have ever eaten outside of India. Need I say more? The decor was very good, and I was happy that they had high chairs. The staff were very friendly. It seems they are a new restaurant and I hope they maintain their quality.
I was surprised to see so many Indian stores and bussiness in that area. They even had a Indian style open sabzi mandi with fresh vegetables. Unfortunately they are not allowed at border crossing and so I had to skip them.
This was a nice break and we all had a good time. Vancouver is such a melting pot of different cultures and has so many options for authentic and delicious food. The weather on most days was gray with slight drizzle. We had occasional sun breaks and it was just like Seattle.
