1st day in Vancouver

After going to bed at 3 am Vancouver time, I had delusions of sleeping in. Though I actually woke up around 7:30 am. Basically spent the day laying low, taking it easy after the flight. Was sunny & 70s. Walked around a little, found the nearest drug store and grocery store. Immediately I was struck by the cleanliness of the city and the genuine nicety of its people. Very similar to my impressions of Montreal & Ottawa when Shani & I visited last summer.

The hotel neighborhood, Yaletown, is great. Lots of restaurants and cafes. Visually, it seems most similar to the Meatpacking District in Manhattan. Without the Hummer limos, the Bridge & Tunnel crowd and the obnoxious attitude, of course.

Had dinner at Blue Water Cafe with my producer and creatives. It was still warm enough to sit outside! I'm taking antibiotics for a throat infection so I was nauseous & not really into the food. However, was quite nice to hang out with my co-workers and we had a lot of laughs.

Vancouver has a very relaxed attitude towards marijuana. It's not legal, but cops pretty much ignore it, so many people smoke openly. A smoke shop was next to the restaurant, and we kept smelling pot during dinner. The creatives mentioned blunts. Somehow Tamira had never heard this pot reference, and thought it sounded phallic. So she kept saying, "I want to smoke your blunt!" I think our waiter found us very entertaining.