Burrard St Bridge Vancouver

I have never considered myself to be much of a "big city" person, generally associating such places as hectic, crowded, expensive, and overwhelming.  For sure I have never really considered a city the kind of place I'd be all that interested in living.  I think though I am finding that not all cities are equal, and Vancouver is a lot more than what I typically associate with big city.  

We have the best of both worlds, the view from the Burrard St. bridge is not the view from our living room window.  For us home is a relatively secluded apartment surrounded by trees and great neighbors, but a 15 minute bus ride and 5 min walk we are standing where you see us in the photo.  

 

There is definitely more to this city than the skyline.  It is a confluence of rivers, mountains, oceans, cultures, art, ideas, and interesting people.  For example, I am doing some work for the visual art department in a wood shop that is run by the university theatre department.  The shop is close to downtown, and few hundred yards from where my painting studio is.  The other day I was in the shop for orientation and from the the ceiling of the warehouse 2 women were doing arial dance/acrobatics wound up in 60' lengths of "silk".  It was a mix of ballet, climbing, and acrobatics.   Their bodies moved as dancers but they seamlessly incorporated the friction of the cloth as their only protection suspended literally up to 60' off the ground.  As they moved the silk swayed in motion with their bodies, it was pretty incredible.  

This city seems to be full of opportunities for similar experiences. Community gardens in downtown amongst hundreds of stories of apartment complexes.  Duwali, an east indian religious festival with food and fireworks. Restaurants, art galleries, festivals, lectures, community events, films and culture; so much goes on that we miss most of it and manage to bump into just a small part of it.  While we never consider or envision ourselves settling in this or any other city, we are pretty psyched to be going to school here.