Vancouver

       This is our first stop on our tour of Alaska.  We flew from Albuquerque, NM
       to Phoenix, AZ then on to Vancouver.  We are a day earlier that we needed to be
       but this gave us a chance to see a city in Canada as I personally had never
       been in Canada.

       We will be boarding our ship on the second day of our travels but for the
       moment we have the opportunity to visit and taste the city's foods.
       
       From the Vancouver Airport (YVR) to downtown Vancouver we used the
       monorail-type Sky train (called the Canada line).  It was very interesting
       in that the ticket was on a trusted bases.  You purchased a ticket and
       no one collected the ticket but if we had be asked for the ticket and 
       could not produce it there would have be serious consequences. 

       Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia,
       Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with
       over 2.3 million residents,is the third most populous metropolitan area
       in the country, and the most populous in Western Canada. The city proper
       has more than 640,000 people, making it the eighth largest among Canadian
       cities, and the most densely populated Canadian city of over 25,000
       residents, with 5,039 people per square kilometer in 2006.

       The settlement of Gastown grew around a logging sawmill established in 1867,
       enlarging to become the town site of Granville. With the announcement that
       the railhead would reach the site, it was renamed "Vancouver" and incorporated
       as a city in 1886. By 1887, the transcontinental railway was extended to 
       the city to take advantage of its large natural seaport, which soon became
       a vital link in a trade route between the Orient, Eastern Canada,
       and London. Port Metro Vancouver is the new name for the Port of Vancouver,
       which is now the busiest and largest in Canada, as well as the fourth largest
       port (by tonnage) in North America. While forestry remains its largest
       industry, Vancouver is well known as an urban center surrounded by nature,
       making tourism its second-largest industry. Major film production
       studios in Vancouver and Burnaby have turned Metro Vancouver into the
       third-largest film production center in North America after Los Angeles
       and New York City, earning it the film industry nickname, Hollywood North.

       Vancouver has ranked highly in worldwide "livable city" rankings for more
       than a decade according to business magazine assessments and it was also
       acknowledged by Economist Intelligence Unit as the first city to rank among
       the top-ten of the world's most livable cities for five straight years.
       It has hosted many international conferences and events, including the 
       1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, Expo 86, and the World Police
       and Fire Games in 1989 and 2009. The 2010 Winter Olympics and 2010 Winter
       Paralympics were held in Vancouver and nearby Whistler, a resort community 
       125 km (78 mi) north of the city.