Just before 5am on Saturday morning, I was awakened to the sound of a bell, something like the sound that the elevator makes when it arrives at your floor. I got up, trying to figure out if my fancy hotel room had a doorbell. Then I wondered if maybe the sound was the fire alarm. I looked out in the hall and didn't see anyone outside. I went back inside to see if the noise would stop, but it didn't. So I opened the door again. This time another person was in the hall. "Are we supposed to go outside?" I asked. "I think so," she said, pointing to the stairwell. I went back into my room and grabbed my purse. Then I went back inside to put pants on. LOL

I joined the crowd making its way down the stairs. Since I was on the 5th floor (of many more), I considered myself (relatively) lucky. Nevertheless, I got dizzy before I made it to the ground floor, more from looking down for far too long and spiraling 'round and 'round than from the length of the walk. We finally made it to the ground floor, where we saw a fire truck and ambulance outside and the rest of the hotel guests. There did not appear to be any fire or any other sort of emergency, so most of us hung out in the lobby or in the lounge/bar area to wait for further instructions. Unfortunately, the hotel staff did a lousy job of telling us what was going on, which was a little annoying. More annoying was the attitude of my fellow guests, especially the American ones, who were very vocal about how things "should be" and what other people "should be" doing. After listening to one particularly opinionated and loud woman for a few minutes, I could stand it no longer and went in search of the restroom.

When I returned to the lobby, people were lined up for the elevator. I stood in line and listened to an amusing story told by the young woman in front of me. As we were riding up in the elevator, a man's voice said, "I hope everyone is done with their presentations." I laughed, partly because it was funny and partly because I WAS DONE!!!

I went back to my room and climbed into bed, but, unfortunately, I was unable to sleep. The whole ordeal had taken less than an hour, but I could not get back to sleep. I played with my computer for a while and watched some bad hotel TV. I finally got up for my day of sightseeing!

After making a sandwich for breakfast and another for lunch, I went downstairs to buy a ticket for the sightseeing trolley. I caught the trolley at the Hyatt hotel, and I was on my way. Sadly, Matt was still working on his presentation, so I had to do my sightseeing alone, but I was determined to go. The trolley made its way through the city, with the driver's running monologue about what we were looking at.

I got out in Stanley Park at the Vancouver Aquarium. The aquarium is quite beautiful and has a nice collection of animals. I especially liked the marine mammals--the beluga whales, otters, sea lions, and seals. I did not care for the frogs, but I did like the jellyfish. The aquarium also has an excellent rainforest section, which was very humid and hot but very beautiful.

I decided to go to walk to the next trolley stop instead of waiting for the trolley just to get off of it almost immediately. I don't know how far I walked. More than 1/2 a mile, I think, but less than a mile, I think. Anyway, I walked to the totem poles, which were pretty cool.


I hung around there for a while and took some pictures. There weren't that many totem poles, compared to the number of them that we saw in Alaska. They were all pretty cool, though.

Then I got back on the trolley and stayed on it for quite a while. I was considering going to Granville Island, which is one of the main attractions of Vancouver, but once I learned that I would have to do a lot of walking just to get to the island from the trolley stop, I decided I wasn't up to another hike. However, I decided that I did not want to miss Chinatown. I walked around for a little while, kind-of looking for somewhere to eat. When I couldn't find somewhere very close by, I decided to go back and check out some of the gardens. First, I went to the public Chinese gardens, and then I spent a bit to go to the Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Garden. It is quite beautiful. I was able to take a tour and learn about the garden.