Dateline: Vancouver
This weekend, myself, along with Steve, Mike, Nic, Dan, Josh, Brian, and Conrad invaded the Great White North. A great time was had by all. If you'd like to read the complete story of our weekend of debauchery, then by all means, read on.
Friday.
We leave Seattle around 7:00, meeting the guys from Microsoft where I-5 hits the 405 to equalize the number of people in each car before heading onward toward Vancouver. We stopped at an Arby's along the way, which was excellent as I haven't really had any fast food since we've been here. We get into Vancouver around 10:30, get ready, and head to Nic's room for a little pregaming. British Columbia must have stricter alcohol laws than Ontario, because a case of Budweiser was $52 Canadian, or "play money" as it came to be called. They also sold Czech absinthe there, but it was like $111, so we passed on that.
In the hotel, we were accosted no less than 6 times by this Russian security guard, who we affectionately referred to as the KGB. After that, we went out and hit the clubs. The first one we went to was Tonic. It was a lot of fun, and I already had a good buzz at this point, so a few more vodka tonics and a vodka martini (shaken, not stirred) helped the situation. We stayed there for an hour or so, before going to another club. "Richard's on Richards" was shit hot. There was no line, it was packed (but not too much), and the drinks were strong and cheap, not to mention the clientel was gorgeous.
My luck (and my game) was much better at Richard's. I struck out once at Tonic, so I had karma on my side. I met a nice young lady from Vancouver, and we danced, and talked. I didn't bother with her number, as she wasn't going out the next night and I live 3000 miles away. She was cute though, kind of looked a little bit like Mal, but just in the face. Unfortunately, I don't know her name, as when we did introductions, it was on the dance floor, so I couldn't hear her. That's another thing: Vancouver is downright infected with beautiful girls. It's a goddamn hot epidemic. After last call, which is a gracious 3am, we headed back to the hotel, where the room proceeded to spin me to sleep.
Saturday.
We woke up around noon, (Steve woke up in the tub.)and lazed around for a bit. Dan seemed the most hungover out of all of us, which is odd, because he doesn't drink. We eventually struck out for downtown to see the sights. We went to a really nice sushi bar that had excellent food and reasonable prices before hitting downtown. Downtown Vancouver is pretty nice. Lots of nice stores and such. However, it has an anomaly that I'll detail in the pictures later on. We went down by the marina, and walked around for a while before heading back to the hotel. Steve and Mike took naps while I played poker with the rest of the guys. I did pretty good, we played tournament style, and I took second. The blinds when it was heads up were a little steep, otherwise I think I'd have done better.
Around 6:30 we went looking for dinner. I could have gone with normal food, but everyone else seemed to want Chinese, so we headed to Chinatown. One of the highlights of the trip was the homeless woman who assaulted us in Chinatown. "Do you guys fuck a lot? PROBABLY NOT!" "Condoms were made to prevent people like you." "Do you want to touch a REAL woman?" "You Europeans (she thought we were European), following the leader. Always following Tony Blair." I thought she was going to hit Nic.
We eventually found this small Chinese restaurant, and went in. They brought us out what looked like steaming glasses of urine. It turned out it was tea, just in clear glasses. They had this 8-person meal, so we opted to get that. I submit that it was the right choice, and the food was excellent. Lettuce wraps, lo mein, sweet and sour pork, and a bunch of other things. After that, we headed back to the hotel and lazed around for a while, before getting ready to go out.
Being 8 sketchy Americans in Canada, we had to go to a strip club. There was one across the street from the hotel, and it was actually pretty nice. I've never been to one in America, but everyone told me that this was a hundred times better, because they don't pressure you. And they had a full bar, so I got down to brass tacks. We left that, and went to the clubs. We ended up waiting in line at The Roxy for a while, where Steve and I kept getting touched by these creepy old ladies. The line wasn't going anywhere, so we hit up this jazz club back by the hotel. It was really chill, and we ordered some beers and enjoyed the live jazz. After a while, Mike, Dan, steve, Conrad and I took off to check out Richard's again. It wasn't quite as crowded as the previous night, but it was even more beautiful. I wasn't as drunk this time around, so we just kind of hung out. Dan managed to keep his reputation, and got the number of this Indian girl, who's name subsequently, was Ayesha. As it started to slow down, we bounced back to the hotel (like double-D's), and got some sleep.
Sunday.
Not as interesting, we had a great breakfast at this restaurant next to the hotel. We took off around 12, and headed toward the border. Some of the guys got out and played football while we were in line, making passes across the international border. We hit up the duty free, where I got a cool shotglass, and the guys bought a liter of Skyy. We got back to Seattle, and dropped off the car, and that pretty much brings us to now. We're going to Benihana tonight, to cap off our weekend of spending, but it should be a lot of fun. Now, for the pictures.
Pictures.
I took this out of the hotel window. Yep.
This is the anomaly I spoke of. If you'll notice closely, that is a Starbucks across the street from a Starbucks.
This was down by the marina, nice city, not so nice weather.
I took this interesting little ditty out of our window. That, my friends, is a bum on cross country skis. I watched him amble down the street, unable to believe my eyes for a moment before I ran for the camera. Ask me if you want the full sized image, he makes a great desktop!
Conclusion.
That was Vancouver folks. I had a great time.
Friday.
We leave Seattle around 7:00, meeting the guys from Microsoft where I-5 hits the 405 to equalize the number of people in each car before heading onward toward Vancouver. We stopped at an Arby's along the way, which was excellent as I haven't really had any fast food since we've been here. We get into Vancouver around 10:30, get ready, and head to Nic's room for a little pregaming. British Columbia must have stricter alcohol laws than Ontario, because a case of Budweiser was $52 Canadian, or "play money" as it came to be called. They also sold Czech absinthe there, but it was like $111, so we passed on that.
In the hotel, we were accosted no less than 6 times by this Russian security guard, who we affectionately referred to as the KGB. After that, we went out and hit the clubs. The first one we went to was Tonic. It was a lot of fun, and I already had a good buzz at this point, so a few more vodka tonics and a vodka martini (shaken, not stirred) helped the situation. We stayed there for an hour or so, before going to another club. "Richard's on Richards" was shit hot. There was no line, it was packed (but not too much), and the drinks were strong and cheap, not to mention the clientel was gorgeous.
My luck (and my game) was much better at Richard's. I struck out once at Tonic, so I had karma on my side. I met a nice young lady from Vancouver, and we danced, and talked. I didn't bother with her number, as she wasn't going out the next night and I live 3000 miles away. She was cute though, kind of looked a little bit like Mal, but just in the face. Unfortunately, I don't know her name, as when we did introductions, it was on the dance floor, so I couldn't hear her. That's another thing: Vancouver is downright infected with beautiful girls. It's a goddamn hot epidemic. After last call, which is a gracious 3am, we headed back to the hotel, where the room proceeded to spin me to sleep.
Saturday.
We woke up around noon, (Steve woke up in the tub.)and lazed around for a bit. Dan seemed the most hungover out of all of us, which is odd, because he doesn't drink. We eventually struck out for downtown to see the sights. We went to a really nice sushi bar that had excellent food and reasonable prices before hitting downtown. Downtown Vancouver is pretty nice. Lots of nice stores and such. However, it has an anomaly that I'll detail in the pictures later on. We went down by the marina, and walked around for a while before heading back to the hotel. Steve and Mike took naps while I played poker with the rest of the guys. I did pretty good, we played tournament style, and I took second. The blinds when it was heads up were a little steep, otherwise I think I'd have done better.
Around 6:30 we went looking for dinner. I could have gone with normal food, but everyone else seemed to want Chinese, so we headed to Chinatown. One of the highlights of the trip was the homeless woman who assaulted us in Chinatown. "Do you guys fuck a lot? PROBABLY NOT!" "Condoms were made to prevent people like you." "Do you want to touch a REAL woman?" "You Europeans (she thought we were European), following the leader. Always following Tony Blair." I thought she was going to hit Nic.
We eventually found this small Chinese restaurant, and went in. They brought us out what looked like steaming glasses of urine. It turned out it was tea, just in clear glasses. They had this 8-person meal, so we opted to get that. I submit that it was the right choice, and the food was excellent. Lettuce wraps, lo mein, sweet and sour pork, and a bunch of other things. After that, we headed back to the hotel and lazed around for a while, before getting ready to go out.
Being 8 sketchy Americans in Canada, we had to go to a strip club. There was one across the street from the hotel, and it was actually pretty nice. I've never been to one in America, but everyone told me that this was a hundred times better, because they don't pressure you. And they had a full bar, so I got down to brass tacks. We left that, and went to the clubs. We ended up waiting in line at The Roxy for a while, where Steve and I kept getting touched by these creepy old ladies. The line wasn't going anywhere, so we hit up this jazz club back by the hotel. It was really chill, and we ordered some beers and enjoyed the live jazz. After a while, Mike, Dan, steve, Conrad and I took off to check out Richard's again. It wasn't quite as crowded as the previous night, but it was even more beautiful. I wasn't as drunk this time around, so we just kind of hung out. Dan managed to keep his reputation, and got the number of this Indian girl, who's name subsequently, was Ayesha. As it started to slow down, we bounced back to the hotel (like double-D's), and got some sleep.
Sunday.
Not as interesting, we had a great breakfast at this restaurant next to the hotel. We took off around 12, and headed toward the border. Some of the guys got out and played football while we were in line, making passes across the international border. We hit up the duty free, where I got a cool shotglass, and the guys bought a liter of Skyy. We got back to Seattle, and dropped off the car, and that pretty much brings us to now. We're going to Benihana tonight, to cap off our weekend of spending, but it should be a lot of fun. Now, for the pictures.
Pictures.
I took this out of the hotel window. Yep.
This is the anomaly I spoke of. If you'll notice closely, that is a Starbucks across the street from a Starbucks.
This was down by the marina, nice city, not so nice weather.
I took this interesting little ditty out of our window. That, my friends, is a bum on cross country skis. I watched him amble down the street, unable to believe my eyes for a moment before I ran for the camera. Ask me if you want the full sized image, he makes a great desktop!
Conclusion.
That was Vancouver folks. I had a great time.