Dreaming of a white Christmas

So we travelled all the way to Vancouver, almost as far from South Africa as it is possible to be (without swimming!), to experience the wonders of a Northern hemisphere Christmas. It was really cold and frosty when we arrived, but it's now 10°C and it has been raining for the last week. What snow there was on the mountains when we arrived has now melted! Weather predictions are however starting to improve, and we may even get a chance to go snowboarding in the local mountains (15 min. drive) before new year!
Vancouver is a beautiful city, certainly ranking up there with the likes of Cape Town. The city has a very relaxed atmosphere, situated on the mouth of the Fraser river, with the huge Vancouver Island providing protection from the sea, and mountains (supposed to be snow-capped) border the city to the north. We are staying in North Vancouver, the rainiest part of town apparently, in Mike and Victoria's house. As luck would have it, they're in South Africa at the moment and they needed some housesitters - we weren't about to turn down the offer of free accommodation!

One of the favourite pastimes of the locals is to decorate the outsides of their houses with strings of colourful lights and other kitch Christmas paraphenalia. Tours to the best houses in town are offered and it seems we have one of those just a couple of houses away, which receives many visitors, some even in limousines.

Because of the weather, and the price of entertainment, we haven't been up to much since our last blog entry. For cheap thrills we've gone cycling in Stanley Park, and have even started running again to take advantage of the beautiful (but wet!) trail runs in the area. We splashed out on a visit to the Beluga Whales at the Vancouver aquarium, which was pretty cool. Today we're going to take a drive out to Squamish, where apparently 1000's of Bald Eagles spend the winter.