Still lots of Vancouver to explore. Even though the SkyTrain Explorer book has taken me to places in the city I wouldn't normally venture to, there remain many pockets of the city that I have yet to encounter. Looking at the Jane's Walks in Vancouver a couple of weekends ago, the one along Fraser St. caught my eye, in part because of the subject but also because of who was presenting it.
Our guide, Mike Klassen, took us from 29th north to 16th, with a short detour in a back lane. The highlight for me was at the very beginning of the tour, the Fraser St. country lane. It does duty as a back lane for cars and a gathering area for neighbours. Mike tells us that he's vary rarely seen anybody drive with excessive speed, and kids can be seen playing in the grassy areas. He wants to see neighbourhoods learn from the trial and offer up ideas to the City for their own lane ways, suggesting they could enter into a competition as to which neighbourhood can design the best one, with the winner getting it built.
We also saw an unusual church roof, a wood bench out side Fray on Fraser, and we topped it off with a walk through McAuley Park and a visit to Matchstick Coffee at Kingsway and Fraser.
You can find all the photos I took in a set on Flickr, taken with the Samsung Focus on loan to me while my iPhone traveled across the country with Karen. Thanks to Mike Klassen for delivering a great tour and to Jane's Walk and to the volunteers around the world who put them on.
