The morning came quickly and we woke to a gray overcast morning with the promise of improving weather with the heavy rainfall diminishing. After breakfast we received a telephone call from Linda and Alec our friends from Victoria to advise that they were about 10 away and would pick us up from reception at the Sheraton Wall Centre, the hotel complex where Embarc s located.

we quickly packed raincoats and caught the elevator from level 29 to the ground floor and awaited their arrival. Shortly thereafter they arrived in their Mazda5 and there was great excitement as we hugged and were all excited to see each other.

From here we developed our plan to drive by Stanley Park and gardens, then up the mountain to the Capilano Suspension bridge and park, with its magnificent elm trees and luxurious rain Forrest environment. We exited the car park, crossed the road to the entrance and walked to the suspension bridge, just as the heavens opened. We crossed the rickety suspension bridge above the fast flowing river and it was expected that the heavy shower would pass. Alas the downpour continued for almost 2 hours , before there was any let up but we thoroughly enjoyed our time here and departed at about 12.15pm , very wet but well satisfied having seen another part of this beautiful city.

Alec then drove up to the Cleveland dam which provided much of Vancouvers drinking water, we enjoyed a quick stroll before the rain agIn forced us to retreat to the car.

Lunch was at UBC Golf Club which in a prior world had been a private golf club, before being taken over by the University and converted to a public course for all to use. It is a picturesque set up with narrow fairways and expansive garden beds and rough creating quite sharp dog legs on several holes.

The club house had specials of soup and a variety of enter and we had soup and sandwiches and a hot coffee. We then strolled back to the car and made the short trip to the UBC Anthropology Museum, in ne to f the premier museums in the world highlighting indigenous and native history with many displays of totem poles, artefacts and clothing and festival collections.

A most enjoyable 2 hours plus walking through outstanding displays and exhibitions of the local indigenous groups of North West Canada and USA, together with an inspirational presentation of the anthropology work being made undertaken in Sempik River and Valley region of PNG.

We all decided the time was right to find a local pub after a short drive and tour of UBC (University of British Columbia) and after a short drive found a pub that had been around since their uni days. Here we enjoyed "Red Truck" ales and the ladies enjoyed hot apple cider. We talked like magpies and reminisced as to our travels together and also looked at photos of their recent bicycle holiday in France and in particular the Loire Valley.

Our day was passing far too quickly, and they selected a local West Vancouver restaurant nam ed Enigma, where we enjoyed a superb meal of west coast fresh ingredients. We shared a bottle of Sav Blanc from Oregon, USA and had a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

Alec and Linda have been superb hosts showing us several areas of this beautiful city, which we haven't seen or visited on previous visits.

We left the restaurant at approximately 8.45pm and the ran has stopped, and they delivered up back to Embark by 9.15pm.

Jeanette decided that we did not need to pack for tomorrow's flight from Vancouver to Montreal. We have enjoyed a relaxing excellent day with good friends.