Fake Banana: we finally found the "cool" vancouver bc!

i sure did talk alot of shit about vancouver...thinking that the only fun things to do are shopping on robson or walking down davie and eating poutine at fritz. i now know that i was wrong all the entire time.

charisse and i drove up on saturday morning for a one night excursion. we utilized one of those "these are the cool shops, restaurants, and bars in vancouver" maps. it took us to main street where we visited a rad shop called ifound. its like world beadz but 100 times better. lots of beautiful vintage pieces to make necklaces, tons of unusual charms, and beautifully colored stones. main street has lots of great vintage furniture shops...mint condition stuff that was reasonably priced. nothing a thrifter would go to and resell but definitely fun pieces that you could definitely purchase for yourself or gift to a friend. also on main street is a really hip record shop called dandelion records. they sell the kind of stuff that you see at the MoMa museum shop and fun design-y things that you would see on design blogs or retrofit home...lots of stuff with pretty packaging. i love those kinds of things. and of course they sell records...lots. they got my attention with playing the new fresh & onlys. i wanted to buy it so bad (even included the much wanted MP3 download) on vinyl but the very last copy instore was snagged within seconds of me walking in.

we checked into our hostel on granville street in the central part of vancouver. i sold this hostel to charisse by telling her there is a club on the street level where all the internationals hang out. alas the club was closed down (actually since the beginning of the year) because of its rowdiness. damn. i can only imagine all the seedy canadians going to the club to take some australian chick home.

in the evening we visited gas town for drinks. we found a totally beautiful french restaurant called l'abbattoir. although we didn't eat, we did have delicious cocktails. mine a pisco drink with apple, fresh lime, house made cinnamon syrup, whiskey barrel bitters and shaken so well it had an inch of froth at the top. charisse had a gin drink with lemon, maraschino, and creme de violet. oh soo good! our next round included a caiprihinia for me and another gin drink for Charisse that had fresh raspberries, sweet vermouth, mint, and lemon. we walked down the block to another bar to meet a couple of her friends that were visiting in town. the bar was called the alibi room and was warm and cozy inside with lots of long wooden tables and low lighting.

the next morning we visited commercial drive. it was rather early and since we had to pay for overnight garage parking we left the hostel by 10am. there were not very many shops open but it was fun to window shop. i am in love with this area of vancouver. it reminds me of all the neighborhoods in brooklyn...lots of storefronts with big colorful plastic awnings, restaurants of all cuisines with a sprinkling of some with a more modern aesthetic. we ended up at a cappuccino bar, its the kind of place where the old men hang out in the back of the cafe and watch soccer on tv. charisse and i sat on the sidewalk with the foamiest yummiest cappuccinos. i smoked a canadian cigarette (exports?) to feel further indulged by the delicious cappuccino and warm sunlight on a cold fall morning.