Vancouver is a very large city
founded in 1886. If you have never been to Vancouver you will be
surprised by the size of this city when you view it from a
distance. Vancouver can be defined by its surrounding natural
beauty but more so by its large population. Vancouver with its
cosmopolitan feel, is thriving and continually pursuing the
future. This can be seen when one looks at all the new
construction and buildings in the downtown area.
In short, the economy is booming. Then when you
observe people removing old homes and replacing them with new homes,
instead of remodeling, you cannot ignore the incredible prosperity. The
population in the city limits is 471,800 while their metro population is
1,542,700. The Lions Gate Bridge separates North Vancouver from the main
city. This bridge extends out from Stanley Park which is located on a
small peninsula extending into English Bay, the main waterway near
Vancouver. The University of British Columbia is also located on a broad
peninsula just west of town.
It was in 1792 that George Vancouver, a navy captain, first laid eyes on
what is now present day Vancouver. Today large snow capped mountains
rise directly east of this large city. Before Captain Vancouver
discovered this area native Indians lived here. The Squamish and the
Musqueam were prominent tribes. The town of Squamish takes its name from
this Indian tribe. There are four main districts to Vancouver. They are
the North Vancouver district, Vancouver, Richmond, and Burnaby.
There are two main Vancouver newspapers, the
Vancouver Sun and the
Vancouver Province. The drinking age in Vancouver as well as the rest of
British Columbia is 19.
I left
out Seattle and Calgary from this travel article because although I did
visit both of these cities, there is just too much information to
include in a single travel article. Perhaps Seattle and Calgary will be
presented as separate travel articles in the upcoming months. I had to
work to keep the Vancouver section from becoming too lengthy.
To view some of Vancouver's top attractions click here
