Vancouver, Day 2: Stanley Park and Afternoon Tea

 With the time difference to the East Coast, plus various travel schedules, we were all up and moving pretty early on Sunday morning. We decided to start with brunch at the hotel's award winning restaurant, and we were not disappointed:

From brunch, we headed out to meet our tour guide for a bike tour of Stanley Park, which stretches for miles along Vancouver Harbor (we had heard bike was the best way to see it):

With our bikes, outside the bike shop

First stop was Canada Place, where we could see our hotel building across the street

Harbor at Canada Place

At our second stop, we could see the sea planes taking off

From the harbor, we rode a good ways to one edge of the park

The tour guide told us that this was "the" picture spot

We headed along the other shore to see the poles created by Indigenous peoples in the region (they are not called totem poles, because those have a specific religious purpose)

From here, we headed out towards Lion's Gate bridge, with a pretty view over the Burrard Inlet

Our tour guide called this The Mermaid, but it is actually a scuba diver

We turned away from the harbor and under this bridge to get to the rainforest which is a big part of the park

Beaver Lake

Giant Cedars

We spotted a mounted ranger!

As we headed out of the park, our guide took us to this very cool Blue Heron nesting spot with dozens of nests (and many hatchlings!)

Mama heron feeding a baby in the nest

English Bay

Inukshuk

After we exited the park, we rode through some parts of the city. Our last stop was this chandelier, which hangs under a highway interchange

On our way back to the shop

I asked JJ to take a picture when I realized we were all wearing our national parks hats

After a rest and showers back at the hotel, we headed out to high tea in the early afternoon:

Patisserie Fur Elise tea shop

We were so stuffed, we skipped dinner and just chilled in our rooms Sunday evening!