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.