Last weekend, Alex and I went up to Vancouver to visit a friend of mine and see the sights.
Chow.
It was my first time in Canada and first impressions were a little rocky. First interaction with my good friend Chow the border guard, I got grilled about why my license plates were from California, but we said we were from Portland. Then why we said we were students, but that we were also graduated. Chow eventually gave up and handed our passports back with a dismissive “just go” after I stumbled about who the car was registered under.
Subtleties, eh?
Canada is like a vivid dream. It’s like reality in a lot of ways, but there are little things that make you realize it’s not. I’ve heard that Vancouver is like a cleaner SF or a more Asian Portland, and while I agree with that, it’s subtly different in interesting ways. For example, driving in, I noticed Canada is a civilized country that uses the metric system. I had no idea how fast I was going and since it wasn’t Oregon where people drive like your grandmother, I got tailgated quite a bit. There are also a lot of streets called King-this and King-that. No American city with any respect would do that. There are other little things that remind you of Western Europe like people speak more than one language, and oh yeah, half of the fucking signs are in French.
Cars.
Eventually we settled in though and had a great time. First order of business was looking at cars. Better than your local country club would be an understatement. There are auto shows that don’t have as many super cars as a Saturday morning in Vancouver. We also walked a lot. You can google Vancouver, BC if you want to know what that was like.
French fries that put french fries to shame.
Our food outing of note was at Bin 941 Tapas Parlour late Saturday night where we ordered fries. Bar fries I’ve had countless times. But the small volcano of thinly sliced potato drizzled with balsamic and accompanied with truffle aioli couldn’t possibly share the same name as those greasy little shits we usually shove down our drunken throats on a Saturday night. Yeah, they were good.
Good first trip to Canada. Would recommend. Especially the fries.