From the beach! Oh and I saw snow in Summer!!!!

It is sometimes too hard to grab a spot on the computer and I don't want to take more time up interneting than sight seeing so today I decided to write my blog on paper at English Bay! The beach is defiantly not like back home! The sand is brown and Gem describes the water as "brown and gross, with lots of algae floating around"! (I wasn't game enough to go in!) Its hard to think of home while at the beach as you have huge mountains surrounding you and it is a very different atmosphere but still it was a hot day and it was still a beach - I think us Australians are just a little too fussy!! To get to the beach was a short walk (20 minutes maybe?) down Davie street which was quiet interesting. Gem and I discovered the main adult book/video/clothing stores were located here as well as been the gay pride of Vancouver! The most interesting thing was in just this part of Vancouver all of the bins and bus shelters were painted not the usually gray BUT bright pink instead!! The UV rays don't feel so bad here, you get burnt and you seem to just go brown within a day! I wondered why and Gem said in Australia and Antarctica pollution gets stuck there due to the wind currents so it causes our ozone layer and hole to be much worse therefore letting more UV rays in. Here in South America the ozone is a lot better so I thought I'd test this theory without applying sunscreen.. stupid me I know! I fell asleep and not long ago woke up with quiet a nice red raw line happening where my shorts ended! I'll be sure to post pic's when I can! So I can see why Vancouver is the most livable city and why it beats Melbourne! I could defiantly see myself living here but not downtown, over by the water which overlooks mountains and houses! So beautiful! On Sunday we went to Vancouver's version of the Rialto... just not as high! We rode a glass elevator up the side of the building which was cool and got a 260 degree view of the city! We also went back at nighttime view - nowhere near as pretty as Melbourne by night though. While up there we saw snow one a mountain called Mount Baker. It is located 145km south and is covered in an average of over 12 metres of snow. Snow on a mountain in Summer!!!!!! I have become quiet obsessed with bears over these last 2 days... not just any bear but life size bear sculptures supporting different costumes around the streets of Vancouver! I discovered 3 more today and must go back with camera! Once I update my pic's you will know what I mean! I think Gemma is getting sick of me going "quick stand next to the bear!!"... The one negative about Vancouver is the homeless, about an average of 5 per street so probably the total you would see on a day is Melbourne is the number you would see in just one street block here! Well lots more I could update everyone on but describing Vancouver and how beautiful it is just doesn't seem good enough! Hopefully I can find a way to upload my pictures soon, ill have a million by the time I get a chance too! Leaving on a good note, the recycling is above most cities over here as they have a little rack on the outside of the bit for bottles/cans etc to sit so they can be recycled - the hostel also has bins for the cans etc you get from vending machines.. INCLUDING orange juice in a can! They will can everything if they could!