Saturday, April 4, 2009

Day 328

we headed for downtown vancouver by noon with two plans: meet charlotte our friend from camp last sumer and get sushi.

one public transit ride connected with another and i remembered a childhood of riding the bus with my grandpa in chicago. the cold of fernie was forgotten here today and a rare spring sun warmed the bus and sidewalks. dozens of bums shuffled along buildings or sat on the sidewalks of intersections where no marginal busking musician had claimed and hundreds of ipod listening, fast paced walking and cell phone talking internationals and canadians alike moved like a river through the gaps and walkways of the face of vancouver. we met charlotte at the waterfront station a little later than expected- two different protest parades had stopped traffic and we'd hopped off the bus to walk the last few blocks.

there's no need to really point out the massive differences of a small mountain ski town and one of canada's biggest cities, but i felt a little uncomfortable among the hundreds of high end shops and gum spotted sidewalks and beer begging bums.

tyler and i had both brought our identical cameras for the day but somehow we never felt the urge to take pictures. instead he went on an errand to a few tattoo parlors and charlotte and i chilled on the third story of the chapters bookstore at a glass railing that overlooked the crawling streets of robson and howe. pedestrians and the synchronization of turning buses were the backdrop for music and design magazines and sparse conversation. it's cool to be able to chill with people and not have to speak much.

we wandered together some time more before parting ways near six p.m. the sky train ride turned interesting when a guy wandered on, sat down, and a few minutes later started spewing all over the place. everyone else moved to the other side of the train and he sat unconscious and alone on the other. a couple bus rides and an hour later brought us out of the jungle.

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