We will be in Vancouver for three days (husband in meetings all day). There is a side trip for wives to Bowen Island for lunch. Would you recommend I go? Also, any other suggestions for me to do durning the day? We will be staying at the Westin Bayshore. Any shops or boutiques that are highly recommended (in my 40's). Thank you for your help. Mary

Try the West 10th Avenue shopping district near UBC --- take a UBC bus from downtown to Broadway and then to get there faster, get off at Broadway (where there are also some excellent shops), get on a 99 bee-line express bus and you will be at West 10th in 3 stops. Get off at Sasamat and in the 2 or 3 blocks to the east of Sasamat there are some excellent shops and superb restaurants including one called Provence, and another good one called Waba Sabi (to die for Japanese food with a French flare!) and I heard there is a great B & B in the area as well called Casa Mora that has suites with private entrances and kitchens as well as normal B & B rooms. Good Luck, we had a tremendous time in Vancouver. The west 10th area is a short walk to Locarno and Jericho beaches which we loved.

Thank you Mary Ann! We now have another request, which I will put on a new post. Our daughter who is attending UW Seattle (we're from IL) will come up with her boyfriend to join us Friday night! (We are meeting him for the first time) So, I will be requesting suggestions for dinner at a nice place where we can visit and get to know each other. Thanks for your help and if you know of any restaraunt suggestions for us, that would be great! Mary

You didn't say which month you will be in Vancouver. Bowen Island is an idyllac pastoral place with not much to do but commune with nature or do some fishing. In the cool wet winter months this would not be a lot of fun. But unless it is really socked in the scenery going and coming is magnificent so I'd think it would be a worthwhile and different place to go forlunch. <BR><BR>While Mary ann is obviously attached to the UBC/West Side area of Vancouver and I don't find fault with that, (since I've lived most of my life there), it's still a bit of a schlep from the Bayshore. The Bayshore has complimentary shuttles to the downtown core area where on dry days you can stroll the upscale shops on Robson or on Wet days you can explore the Pacific Centre.<BR><BR> There are dozens of things to do during the day but again since I suspect your visit will be in the next few months when grey dank weather is the rule you may want to forego some of the outdoor sightseeing activities for more clement places like Granville Island or the Museum of Anthropology.

Actually, Vancouver is currently experiencing a drought. According to my geography prof at UBC, this winter's supposed to be very dry- very untypical.<BR><BR>As for shopping, I agree with Gary in that downtown Vancouver will have tons of options for you, however, one higher class area with a lot of boutiques with a more mature (25+ crowd) in mind is called &quot;South Granville&quot;. Essentially, it's just south of the Granville Street bridge - immediately south of downtown Vancouver, between the blocks of West 4th and West 16th Avenue. There are a lot of boutiques and shops that cater to adults (as opposed to the young teenage/early 20 crowd)- Restoration Hardware, Caban, Meinhardt Foods, Plum, etc. Some of the city's favourite restaurants and cafes are found here too, including Vij's, Ouest, etc.<BR><BR>If you're into home decorating, you'd probably enjoy looking at Chintz &amp; Co in Yaletown. Yaletown is another place that seems to cater to the 25+ crowd.<BR><BR>Those are just some ideas!

Thank you, everyone, for all your help. We will be in Vancouver the first weekend in November. I appreciate everyones ideas, thank you. Mary

This thread started over a year ago by mary and I had to read every word to make sure I hadn't written it (since the circumstances are the same as well as our name). I want to know if mary is reading this and if she went to Bowen Island. I'd like to visit it next week and was interested in feeback.

Hello, other Mary: I live on Bowen Island. What would you like to know? Linda