Saturday, August 2, 2014

Iced Nespresso in the room. I didn't like how it tasted, so I poured it down the sink drain. Container: yogurt parfait with granola, iced Americano with cream. Errands: drug store for different suntan lotion, got Canada bucks from an ATM. Fido with Kiwi helping, bought a SIM card and plan for $33 CDN. Hotel to apply suntan lotion. Met with Clara at Container. We walked downtown to Chinatown then Gastown then Yaletown, taking photos and seeing more interesting foods than we could eat. Along the way Clara's friend Maggie joined us. Rested. Regrouped at Davie and Burrard. Went to Markus' with a feast that Clara and Markus provided: Stepho's, Urban Fare, Kiisu, Beard Papa, more. We also enjoyed the company of Markus' parrot named Cricket. Walked to Sunset Beach Park, encountering steven and gordon on the way. Steven joined us. We staked out two spots, then watched the Japan fireworks show. I encountered difficulty with the synchronized music; the show did not seem to start on time and the app seemed to presume that it would because it would resync but obviously not be in sync. There was a choice to start it manually, but I accidentally hit the start button at the wrong time and there was no way I could find to recover from it. I realized later I should have given up on the app once I saw it not working. In this situation, it would have been better to ignore broken technology than to try to make it work during a live performance. The show was impressive even without sound, particularly at the end. But still it made me long for a Disney fireworks show. Afterward Clara went home, and we lost Steven and Markus in the crowd. quantum13, Tadija, and I returned to our hotels for a brief rest before heading to Davie Street for a late drink with Austin joining. This is where I met Austin. We ended up at Moxie's where we were served by Crystal. The bar and kitchen were overwhelmed; Crystal was very apologetic. A round of drinks, an order of 7 potstickers. Afterward quantum13 and Tadija returned to the hotel. Austin and I waited in line at 1181 Davie for maybe 40 minutes, meeting a large group of Europeans including Ratna (sp?), Lennert (sp?)(aka Leonard), and another woman whose name I cannot recall but If I recall correctly she was the one from Perpignon. "J'aime Collioure!" I smiled, and she nodded enthusiastically in French. We got in about a quarter to 2:00 AM, and upon entering it was clear that the nightclub was only 60% full, so it was puzzling why we had to wait so long. The bartenders were extraordinarily eyepleasing. Music by DJ Davo was excellent. We stayed a while then left to try to get in at Pumpjack but it still had a line and we decided it wasn't worth the wait, especially given the waiting experience we just had. Austin walked me to the Burrard, and I helped him hail a cab. The front desk called a cab company and the wait was 15 minutes, which Austin declined. On the street we were successful in about 8 minutes and he was on his way. I had forgotten until later that we should have walked one minute to Wall Centre where there were likely taxis waiting. To bed very late.