Vancouver, BC

When we woke up, we were in Vancouver, BC.






I was able to try the congee at the Lido buffet this morning and loved it. Congee is an Asian rice porridge and I added seaweed, tofu, and sesame oil to mine. It was a really nice hot and savory breakfast.






We did not have a ship-sponsered excursion planned today so we were on our own in Vancouver. We went to the Vancouver art museum to see a Surrealist exhibit, which lots of fun. My favorite work was the title piece of the exhibit, Miro's "The Color of My Dreams".








After the museum, we went to Gastown and saw the historic steam clock. Ross loves clocks and this one was so old and interesting because it runs on steam.







We would have liked to stay in Vancouver longer but we didn't know how much time it would take to clear immigration and the ship was sailing away at 5pm.

We actually made it back just in time to have tea again in the Palm Court. Behind Ross in the photo below, is the lovely view we had were able to see as we drank our tea.






After tea, it was time for the sail away party on the top deck.

Goodbye Canada!






As we were leaving, I saw this huge structure that reminded me me of the docks from the TV show, "The Wire".





We were served complementary Bellinis during the sail away party. The temperature was a bit hot, so Ross and I found lounge chairs in the shade that were in front of big picture windows. We were able to laze about as we watched the beautiful landscape slide past the windows.







We played San Juan and discovered we had been playing it wrong. I am sure that's why I have been losing! ;)

We were very hungry and didn't think we could wait to eat until our reservations at Silk Road, so we ordered a little snack from room service. It was warm enough to eat on our balcony. What a treat!








After getting some food, we headed to the Starlite lounge because H. Joseph Erhmann (I can not remember his name) of Elixir in San Francisco was making a guest appearance as bartender.







It was lots of fun to talk with H. Joseph Erhmann about mixing various cocktails. He made me a "Blackbeard", which is a cocktail he invented. It is made with rum and was refreshing and fruity without being very sweet.






The Symphony has 2 specialty restaurants that require reservations. One is the Asian themed Silk Road and the other is the Italian themed, Prego. Tonight we were able to eat at Silk Road.

I started with the mushroom soup, which was earthy, but a little bland.





Ross had the spicy seafood soup which was extremely flavorful and delicious.

For the main course, I had the trio box. I love a variety of flavors so this was perfect for me. The box on the left contained some outstanding tempura shrimp. It had a very light and crispy coating, while the plump inside was sweet and succulent. The middle section contained miso glazed black cod, which was perfectly cooked. I liked the miso glaze, but it might be too sweet for some people. The section on the right contained Wagyu beef and was my least favorite.






Ross got a full size portion of the black cod. It was accompanied by a small ginger shoot and a tiny young mountain peach. Ross loved his meal.





For dessert, I ordered a chocolate souffle cake with sesame ice cream. It was fairly mundane and I only ate a couple of bites. Ross however had a wonderful tropical fruit plate with lychee sorbet. The sorbet was sweet and exotic. We loved it.








Another San Juan game followed dinner. We played by the correct rules and I won this round.







Tomorrow we are looking forward to a relaxing day at sea.

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