Alaska Cruise: Getting There Day 2 (7/29/2019)

Monday, July 29, 2019
After a hotel breakfast, we checked out and rolled our luggage the four blocks to the SkyTrain station. Again went to the Waterfront Station, but this time turned right to Canada Place, a convention centre, hotel and ferry and cruise terminal. Dropped off our bags and were advised to check in right away. But the check-in ladies said we had to come back at our assigned time (12:30-13:00).
Went to explore by heading up Hornby Street.

Space Venus (by Salvador Dalí)

Space Venus was brought to Vancouver by the local Chali-Rosso Art Gallery as part of its annual Dalí exhibition. To share the artwork with the people of the city and visitors, two of the sculptures are displayed in public (May to September)! Unfortunately, a large golden egg that sat on the torso "shelf" was stolen.

Fairmont Hotel Vancouver (1929-1939, by
John Smith Archibald and John Schofield in
Chateauesque-style with Renaissance details,
for the Canadian National Railway)

Cathedral Place Garden Court (1991, by Paul Merrick)

Cathedral Place uses features from the original
Medical-Dental Building (1929) on this site,
including a copy of one of three nurse statues (KSS)

Cathedral Place includes the Bill Reid Gallery,
featuring the work of the Haida artist, sculptor,
carver, goldsmith, writer, and broadcaster

Celebration of Bill Reid Pole (2008, by
James Hart) featuring a mythic Sea-Wolf and
topped by his mother's clan namesake, a Raven

Bill Reid Carving at Skidegate (2005, by Chris Hopkins); Reid
was born to a Haida mother and an American father
of Scottish and German descent; Reid was instrumental
in the revival of Haida culture and traditions

Erich, Dylan, and Kent under Craft (2012, by
Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, combining a boat by
Wilfred Bennett and oars by Bill Reid; the archway
(1927-1929) comes from the former Medical-Dental Building

Our daily scavenger hunt was to be for a bear and a whale.

Pete found the Plush Grizzly Bear (1990s)

Killer Whale (1984, by Bill Reid)

Killer Whale earrings (1971, by Bill Reid)

Milky Way Necklace (1968-1969, by Bill Reid)
is very intricate with pyramidal shapes
representing smoke holes in Haida longhouses

Mythic Messengers (1984, by Bill reid)

Continuing up Hornby Street to Robson Square.

Primary No. 9 (1981, by Michael Banwell)

Waterfalls (at Robson Square) that begin as a reflecting pool at the
outdoor patio restaurant of the Provincial Law Courts

Joy of Freedom (1996, by Geert Maas) commemorates
the liberation of the Netherlands by Canadian soldiers

Christ Church Cathedral (1889-1895, by Charles Osborne Wickenden in
Gothic Revival style); the oldest stone church in Vancouver was once visible
from the waterfront and served as a beacon to ships entering the harbor

Beautiful old growth Douglas fir wood beams
and cedar plank ceiling

We lost Erich as a church employee guided us
beneath the church to see the windows crafted by
the William Morris Company in London,
of saints James the Less, Andrew, and Bartholomew

Scaffolding in the HSBC Building atrium,
instead of a seven-story pendulum!

Oh! This is the pendulum
(1987, by Alan Storey),
more accurately a kinetic
sculpture titled Broken Column,
which was not moving today

Canada Place with the cruise ship Norwegian Jewel,
soon to be our "home" for the next week

Dylan, Erich, Pete, Tamiko (KSS)

We joined the line to check-in for the Alaska cruise before noon, and were well past our assigned check-in time when done. No free passes this time! But we were able to go straight to lunch at the Garden Café buffet.
Found our cabins, unpacked, and had a safety drill at 16:00 to find our mustering point and learn about the life vests.

Dylan and Pete in the Main Sapphire Pool

Swim time, showers, then dinner at O'Sheehans (Irish Pub).

Evening sun (20:00) in the Strait of Georgia

Next: At Sea: Inside Passage.