A
charming international city, Vancouver reminds me in many ways of San
Francisco. The city is sheltered inside a bay, which gives it a mild
climate. It
has a fairly small geographical downtown on a peninsula, with much larger outlying
suburbs surrounding the bay. The architecture in the city is airy and
pleasing, with glass-fronted skyscrapers reflecting the blue -- and gray -- of the
sky. There is a crackerjack public transportation system, probably even
better than in San Francisco.
There
are some noticeable differences. For one thing, Vancouver's bay is ringed
with snow-covered mountains. And I found the people in the city to be, for
the most part, friendly and helpful -- don't expect THAT in
California! The service people we met in local businesses were just
delightful, and strangers on buses (somehow sensing we were TOURISTS) would
volunteer helpful information without even being asked.
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