This is it.  The final stop.  Tomorrow we debark the ship and, after visiting family in Seattle, we fly home!

Vancouver is a very busy and beautiful city.  We docked at Canada Place which is the  main cruise ship terminal serving as the origination point for most Alaskan cruises.

Since we had visited here before there was no excursion today.  However we were both very busy.  Paul’s job was to pack all the suitcases and Ron’s job was to stay out of the way and buy a refrigerator magnet!

After our compulsory US customs and immigration screening, Ron left the building to see some of the local sites, while Paul went back to the room and began packing.

Ron’s Walk

The city has changed a lot since the last time we were here.  This is probably due to the Winter Olympics held here in 2010.  Many of the old places were gone and new modern structures took their place.  The first place I visited was the Olympic plaza where the Olympic cauldron was built.

A little behind it on the shoreline was a docking port for seaplanes.  It was fun watching the planes land and takeoff.

I had lunch at the Cactus Club Cafe (the same restaurant chain we ate at in Victoria) and then headed to the Gaslight district of town.  Located here is the only remaining steam powdered clock.

On the way I saw the WWI memorial.  It represents the “Angel of Victory” (also called “Winged Victory”),  lifting up a fallen Canadian soldier commemorating 1,115 Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) employees killed during the Great War. Subsequently, the inscription was changed to also include CPR workers who died in the Second World War.  I thought it kinda looked like a military version of the Pietà.

I bought our souvenir magnet and headed back to the ship.

So, this is end of our great voyage for this year.  We couldn’t have done this without some great support at home watching our the house, car, and mail.  A BIG thanks to Jean Buccola, Kathy Padilla, and Josh Prescott for their efforts.  We guess it’s time to get back to the real world.