The Radical Sabbatical: Day 6 and 7 (Banff to Vancouver)

July 5 and 6, 2022

The past couple of days, following the Renaissance conference, allowed us the opportunity to see more of Banff and then Vancouver. We are lucky we'll be back in Banff after the Canadian Rockies train trip because the weather conditions in Banff this week went from summer and sunny to fall and rainy in a hurry. We hope our planned gondola ride will happen with better viewing weather next week 🌞

Our flight to Vancouver was smooth and, happily, uneventful. We arrived in time for an absolutely wonderful dinner at Vij's featuring creative Indian cuisine. We also had a chance to finally catch our breath and reorganize our luggage (special shout-out to the airport security woman who felt the need to check out every inch of my overstuffed backpack 😑).

Today was a free day that allowed us to explore the beautiful Vancouver coastline and seawall and Stanley Park. Although overcast at first, the day brightened up and our hours-long walk was quite delightful. I've included some photos below.

This evening we switched to the tour's hotel, the Fairmont, and we are living large 😎. It was also the first time we got to meet our companions for the train journey, about 40 folks from several different university alumni groups. We signed up through Johns Hopkins but apparently the groups combine with others as needed. This is their first post-Covid Canadian Rockies train trip so it's all very exciting. We learned that Canada requires the tour participants to be masked on the train; this elicited massive groans from the entire group (except me). However, you do not need to be masked while eating/drinking so I'm expecting the group to eat/drink throughout the entire 8-hour train journey (!). I guess we'll see how that goes 😏

We're looking forward to a Vancouver city tour tomorrow and more free time to explore (my favorite part!). Stay tuned.