SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2014

This undated image shows strollers on Vancouver’s Stanley Park seawall in British Columbia, This undated photo provided by Tourism Vancouver shows visitors framed in an archway at Canada, as they pass Siwash Rock while looking out onto English Bay. — AP photos Dr Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Park in Vancouver. 5 free things in Vancouver, from parks to Gastown

ancouver is consistently ranked as one of the world’s most liv- seagulls and enjoy performance artists. Vancouver’s skid row at Main and Hastings. There’s an ornate library able cities. The city offers diverse ethnic neighborhoods, old The island’s Rail spur Alley is home to a wide array of artisans, endowed by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie as well as an open Vand new, and lots of options for shopping and dining. But glassblowers and craft shops. It’s also just a good place to sit back and street drug market. many of the west coast Canadian port city’s most beautiful attractions watch the world pass by over coffee - and remember, drinking coffee are free. Public art dots the urban landscape and there are miles of here is a sport. Macmillan space centre beaches and forested walks readily accessible by transit bus or train. Explore the mysteries of the night sky at Vancouver’s H.R. Dr Sun Yat-Sen Park MacMillan Space Centre on Vanier Point in the Kitsilano neighbor- Stanley Park Visitors can relax in a pagoda at the edge of a lily pad-filled pond, hood. The facility’s Gordon Southam Observatory features a half- One of the world’s largest urban parks, Stanley Park is named for where a turtle might poke its head above the water as giant carp meter (1.6-foot) Cassegrain telescope. The observatory dome, 10 the British lord for who gave his name the National Hockey League’s swim idly by in the dark green waters. Filled with stonework and meters (33 feet) in diameter, was built in 1979 and is open to the pub- Stanley Cup. bamboo-lined trails, the garden rests behind moss-covered, tile- lic Saturdays 8 pm -midnight. — AP Stroll along the English Bay sea wall from the trendy West End topped Chinese walls amid the bustle of downtown Vancouver. Yet it neighborhood, under the Lions Gate suspension bridge, and watch remains an oasis of peace in the eye of the urban storm. freighters and cruise ships passing beneath with mountains as a back- Across the street is the Rennie Gallery at Win Sang boasting a col- drop. Or cut through the park’s forested center and meander along lection of contemporary art. Tours are free by appointment. Parts of fern-lined paths as old-growth rain forest cedars tower above, cutting the collection are regularly on loan to New York’s Guggenheim and past Beaver Lake as herons fly overhead. At Brockton Point, majestic Metropolitan museums, the Pompidou in Paris, Smithsonian in west coast aboriginal totem poles rise among the trees. Not far away Washington and Tate in London. Nearby is Vancouver’s Chinatown, is a children’s water park at harbor’s edge. The park, Vancouver’s gem, small compared to others but an interesting melange of sights, smells also boasts rose and rhododendron gardens with some 8,000 plants. and sounds.

Granville Island Gastown A favorite with locals and visitors alike, bustling Granville Island Gastown is the heart of old Vancouver. With evocative street rests on the south shore of False Creek with views of downtown, names like Gaoler’s Mews and Blood Alley, Gastown revolves around English Bay and 2010 Winter Olympics venues. the statue of “Gassy” Jack Deighton, a colorful rogue credited with Its center is the Granville Island Public Market, several buildings of being one of Vancouver’s pioneers. Stroll down the tree-lined, cob- hawkers, artists and a tantalizing selection of food from meat and bled sidewalks of Water Street from Waterfront Station and enjoy vegetables, to chocolate and bagels bound to stop any dieter in their buskers, pop into a west coast aboriginal art gallery. tracks. A vast outdoor deck looks onto False Creek where visitors feed But take care if you wander two blocks south to the heart of The facility’s Gordon Southam Observatory.

People examining produce at a stall at the Granville Island Public Market in Vancouve. A street scene from Gastown, a neighborhood in Vancouver.