Today we scavenged in Vancouver. We will leave tonight on a redeye.
One of the highlights was snowshoeing.
We rode the aerial tram to the top of Grouse Mountain and transitioned from rain at the bottom to the top, where it was snowing like crazy. There is a ski shop a few steps away from the top of the tram, where we could rent snowshoes. We exited the shop and snapped our feet into the snowshoes. Two seconds after hamming it up for a photo, lifting our legs like chorus dancers, we fell down in a heap.
We went to the John Fluevog shoe store on a mission. We had to find the most expensive shoes and explain why they were so expensive. A very helpful salesman pointed them out right away. It was a pair of women’s boots that look like a bronze finish, with black lines like the lead on stained glass. $999, Canadian—so not quite as expensive as U.S. dollars. The reason for the cost is that a special machine had to be made to produce the acrylic heel.
Another scavenge was to visit the British Columbia Museum of Anthropology. And spend at least one hour in it. A few minutes after we arrived, the fire alarm blared. The staff were among the first to run out. We trotted out with everyone else from the building. Within moments, a security guy told the crowd assembled outside, shivering in the rain, that it was probably just another faulty smoke detector and this happens frequently. Moments later, a fire engine pulled up. We stood outside for about 40 minutes in clear sight of the alarm panel, watching the firemen and security people trying multiple combinations of buttons, trying to get the alarm to stop. Eventually, we were invited back inside. We put in our hour but definitely did not get an hour’s worth of anthropology. Although....we did take advantage of the cafe. We bought three different beers and did the taste test scavenge, comparing and contrasting.
Next up is to get to the Vancouver airport for a 2:00 a.m. departure to Taipei and then on to Saigon.