Vancouver

[gfish]

It will never be my city, but I do love Vancouver.



The view was far more spectacular than I could capture, of course, partly because I couldn't find a good vantage point in time. But still.

Comments

[darlingfreak.livejournal.com]

How striking, with the mountains so close. Salt Lake City is like that, with mountains right behind the buildings.

[caladri.livejournal.com]

They're bigger and prettier than the SLC ones in person :)

[tfabris.livejournal.com]

The photo almost captures something about Vancouver that I've always found odd. Unrelated to the gorgeous view of the mountains, that is.

There's a certain style of architecture to the high-rise apartment and office complexes there that's different from most other cities I've seen. Something about the way the windows and ledges are arranged. This close-up of one of the buildings in your photo *almost* illustrates what I'm talking about...



From a distance, it looks almost post-apocalyptic. As if some of the windows are broken and the building is abandoned. I know that's not the case, but it just *looks* like that to me.

[caladri.livejournal.com]

It's the dominant style in some Asian cities and in Honolulu. I agree with you about how it looks. It helps that apartment towers in Honolulu (outside of a few clusters) tend to be a little lower-class and to have laundry drying on the balcony, lots of junk, some broken windows, etc.

[corivax.livejournal.com]

Ooo, nice picture.

[dianthus.livejournal.com]

Is that volcanic doom coming from the mountains?

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Woo. Nice.

[ilmarinen.livejournal.com]

How is it living here compared to say, Seattle? Climate, culture, livability?

-B.

[gfish.livejournal.com]

Climate is pretty much the same. A bit hard to say, since the last two years have been pretty weird, anyway.

Livability is amazing. Much better transit, and no freeways through the urban core. A wide choice of good, walkable neighborhoods, all of them very good sized. Health care for $54/month.

Culture... well, I personally rank that somewhat under Seattle, and it's why despite all the above I won't really hesitate to move back. Vancouver is a bit like every major west coast US city rolled into one. The LA shines through at times. It's a bit too glitzy and superficial for my tastes, too well dressed and trendy. Somewhat less polite, as well, mostly in a passive just-not-bothering-to-pay-attention kind of way. Not huge amounts, mind you, but enough that I notice. (Particularly on the bus -- Seattle riders are so... professional about the whole thing. Seattle bus drivers are also much better.)

[cow.livejournal.com]

I can agree with Fish on many points, although I would argue that in the urban core, things are quite a bit different--both the bus drivers and the people, it seems. Hell, I live in Yaletown, which is the most yuppie, glitzy, superficial part of town. But, really, give me the West End over anywhere in Seattle any day.

ETA: I can't seem to express thoughts coherently after a night at Steamworks. I will try again later. But what I am trying to say is that I have found many Vancouvers in a single Vancouver and it's kind of all about where you put yourself and where you are. Which .. god, that sounds even dumber and more new-agey, so I should just quit trying here.

That said, if you were thinking of giving Van a try, wait until next April at the earliest omfg f the olympics.

Also: Seattle has much, much, much better microbrew. Much.

[ilmarinen.livejournal.com]

Nope, that (many Vancouvers in a single Vancouver) makes perfect sense. Most metro areas seem that way. If you realistically take Seattle Metro to include all the surrounding (touching) cities, it's very true here.

-B.

[caladri.livejournal.com]

There's many Seattles in Seattle proper, even, to say nothing of the things people think of as Seattle proper. Surely Queen Anne, Cap Hill, Belltown, the U District, and Ballard are different Seattles, to name but a few. They have things in common, but are distinct in many other ways, from road layout to who lives there to what goes on there, transit, architecture, etc.

[ilmarinen.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I was unclear. I meant to say it was even *more* true of Seattle if you including the adjacent cities. I agree it is very true even within just Seattle proper.

-B.

[caladri.livejournal.com]

I dunno, Vancouver has its outlying areas, though I suppose if you go by the largest statistical conglomeration that is used in the area, Bellingham-Olympia, there's no comparison in BC.

(Yes, Everett-Olympia and Everett-Tacoma still hold that true and are much more commonly-used, but I can't resist the absurdity of Bellingham-Olympia. I mean really.)

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

beautiful picture