Canada 2025

Monday29September

Our last day in Canada begins in front of our Airbnb house where we have been staying for three days—well, just the part behind the big window on the right. On the agenda for this final day: back to the city center, Chinatown, and Granville Island!

Back to Gastown.

"This clock is located at the western edge of the former townsite of Granville, known as Gastown. In 1870, the Burrard Inlet shoreline was only a few yards north of this point. Throughout the early 1900s, Gastown was the commercial center of Vancouver. By the 1960s, it had become the center of Vancouver's 'Skid Road'. In the early 1970s, it was rehabilitated to its former glory. The success of its rehabilitation was due to the property owners, retailers, and all the people of Gastown working together with the city council and civic departments. The townsite committee, composed of Gastown property owners, was responsible for street beautification. John W. Parker served as chairman of the committee between January 1967 and September 1977."

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The miniature steam engine is powered by the district heating network, which operates a system of chains and weights. It is the steam pressure that allows the weights to be raised.

The Hotel Europe building and its flatiron-shaped architecture. Built in 1909, this beige brick building is reminiscent of New York skyscrapers from the same era.

A sidewalk with "connected" cobblestones...

No electronics underneath, just the word 'connect' in many different languages...

From fire trucks to Tesla Cybertrucks, all styles are in Vancouver...

A small sample of urban signage.

The Woodward's Building, which replaced the department store of the same name founded in 1892 in 2010.

Here we are in the atrium of the Woodward's Building with its helical concrete staircase and its glass roof with red metal structures. A blue piano allows passing musicians to give free rein to their artistic fiber.

The Millennium Gate has marked the entrance to Chinatown since 2002. Vancouver's Chinatown developed as early as 1885, in the aftermath of the construction of the Canadian transcontinental railway, to become over the decades one of the oldest and largest Chinatowns in North America.

The Jack Chow Insurance building, built in 1913, holds a unique global reputation: it is the narrowest commercial building in the world!

The story behind its structure is unusual: in 1912, the city of Vancouver expropriated most of Chang Toy's land (the owner of the Sam Kee Company) to widen Pender Street, leaving him with only a tiny strip of land just 1.50 meters deep. Thinking the land had become unusable, the city refused to buy back the remainder at a fair price. To defy them, Chang Toy hired architects Brown and Gillam to design this two-story building, installing large bay windows suspended on the first floor to gain a little space on the sidewalk.

The signs have the right to their inscription in Chinese characters.

The entrance to the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Chinese Garden, a sanctuary inspired by the landscape art of the Ming Dynasty with its rocks, ponds, and skillfully arranged vegetation.

The bronze bust of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen (1866-1925), a central figure in the founding of the Republic of China, stands here. The location of this monument is not a coincidence, as the revolutionary visited Vancouver three times to solicit crucial financial support from the local community.

On the ground, the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac have been represented in mosaics. The Monkey and the Rooster, the ninth and tenth signs, embody, for the former, ingenuity and a sharp mind, while the latter symbolizes order and righteousness.

The lanterns and streetlights have even tamed the dragons of the Middle Kingdom...

For a stylish stroll on Columbia Street, just copy the little figures that set the example...

At the foot of the red streetlights, the molded inscription 華埠歷史區 (Huà bù lìshǐ qū) translates to "Chinatown Historic District". They were manufactured by the local foundry Ross and Howard Iron Works Co, a pillar of the city's industrial development at the beginning of the 20th century.

The tea shop Ten Ren Tea & Ginseng Co.

The herbalists and fine grocery stores typical of Chinatown.

The Sun Wah Centre on Keefer Street houses essential local shops on the ground floor. It also hosts associations, cultural centers, and artist studios that enliven the neighborhood.

Renovated in 1987, the headquarters of the Gee How Oak Tin Association houses the ancestral alliance of the Chan, Yuan, and Woo families, united under one banner to promote the integration of Chinese-Canadian pioneers. Today, this institution remains an essential pillar of cultural preservation and solidarity within the local community.

This memorial monument erected in 2003 pays tribute to Chinese-Canadian pioneers. On the central stele, the inscription reads "The great achievements of Chinese Canadians shine like the sun and the moon". The two bronze statues symbolize the railway worker and the World War II soldier.

The Chinese Cultural Centre was inaugurated in the late 1970s. Its double-section roof with green glazed tiles is reminiscent of large ancient temples.

Back to modern architecture in the International Village neighborhood.

The metal globe marks the entrance to the International Village neighborhood.

Lunch break at Devil's Elbow with some poutine!

Back to BC Stadium.

In front of the stadium, bronze statues, works by Douglas Coupland, pay tribute to Terry Fox, an iconic figure of perseverance and courage in Canada, by immortalizing his famous Marathon of Hope. After losing his right leg to bone cancer, he undertook a run across Canada from east to west in 1980 to raise funds for cancer research. He ran the equivalent of a marathon a day for 143 days before the disease forced him to stop.

The Mirror Bear. The stainless steel sculpture titled Mirage, created by artist Lyse Lemieux, stands proudly in front of the One Pacific residential complex.

The rain is joining us. That's fine, we are also going on the water by taking the aquabus!

These aquabuses allow you to quickly reach the opposite shores of False Creek.

The aquabus drops us off at the Granville Street bridge, from where we will be able to explore Granville Island. This will be the last activity of the whole trip!

Granville, once a polluted manufacturing zone, has been rehabilitated into a pedestrian hub where old warehouses now house a large market, the Public Market, and artisan workshops.

A little corner of France with Bordeaux cannelés!

The Burrard Bridge, built in the early 1930s.

On the west docks.

The end! Vancouver slowly fades into the mist. Tomorrow, we leave Canada after a month immersed in the heart of superb nature. The trip ends here, but the call of the next horizons is already being heard. See you soon for the next trip!