The main courtyard
Although this evening it is very beautifully sunny, this morning was cloudy with misty rain so we decided to go to the Chinese Garden which is in downtown Vancouver, and which has sheltered walkways. Since it is Geoffrey’s day off he went with us, so we had a nice visit.
We took the bus to the garden and arrived just in time for the first guided tour of the day. It was well worth taking the tour which lasted for a bit under an hour, as the tour guide clearly explained the reason for the design of the garden, and many of it’s unique features. The garden is designed as a scholars garden would have been in Suzhou, China in the 15th century (Ming dynasty).
Willow serpent
The garden was beautiful under the light from the misty sky with the many shades of green foliage, and the red, white, and purple flowers. As the tour ended just about lunch time we asked the guide to recommend some restaurants in Chinatown. He named three and we went to the one which is a Chinese bakery, where we had a nice lunch.
After lunch we went back to the garden and walked around the public park side. The gardens have both a paid side which was the tour in the morning, and which is the interior walled part of the garden as well as a public side which is larger but without the detailed architecture. Both sides were worth visiting.
After we’d spent another hour touring the park we walked back along False Creek from the garden, about a 4.5 km walk. It had stopped raining by this time and the sky was beginning to clear.