Stanley Park

The Right Honorable The Earl of Derby KG GCB GCVO PC, sometimes known as Lord Stanley of Preston, or plain Frederick Arthur Stanley to his mum, was a sports tragic. He was a British politician who became Canada's sixth governor general in 1888, but is probably best known for having donated the Stanley Cup that was later handed down to Canada's National Hockey League, because his two sons began playing the game while the lived in Canada. It got him inducted into the Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame, so it was a good gesture.

However, on a visit to Vancouver he also stood in a local park and, with his arms raised dramatically to the sky, and only a modicum of modesty, declared theatrically "to the use and enjoyment of peoples of all colours, creeds, and customs, for all time. I name thee, Stanley Park."

And some park it is. With an area of just over 1000 acres and with a circumference of over 10 kilometres, you can easily get lost in there for a day, which is what we did. We walked the whole circuit of the sea wall, detouring to monuments and the odd cafe on the way. There are beaches, large swimming pools, playgrounds, beaches, cafes, totem poles, themed gardens, lakes and hoards of Korean tourist buses. Luckily they have three distinct and segregated paths - one each for walkers, cyclists and skaters, which relieves a bit of the chaos, though working out where yummy mummies jogging with their strollers should go was a little problematic.

A bit of a rest in the afternoon after our 12km walk, and after tea we headed off on foot to the downtown district and up to the viewing deck of the Vancouver Lookout to watch the sunset, and all of the twinkling city lights emerge. It's a beautiful city. The city is on the harbour, and up the hills on the other side of the harbour are the local skiing resorts used for the Winter Olympics. As they say, it's one of the few places where you can ski, sunbathe and swim all on the same day. So watching the sunset on the snow topped mountains and the harbour was lovely.

Not only is Vancouver a melting pots of cultures and mixed ethnic relationships, it's also a fusion of various menus. We are yet to decide whether we want Korean BBQ Tacos or Japanese Spaghetti for dinner one night.