City Focus: Vancouver & Seattle
For the second year in a row, Vancouver, British Columbia, was rated the Best City in the Americas. It continues to evolve as an excellent destination whose acceptance and innovation are an inspiration to North America and the world.
Debuting in May 2005, the University of British Columbia Museum of Anthropology offers a new viewpoint of exhibits with the VUEguide, a handheld multimedia device that provides “curatorial- on-demand:” video, audio, graphics and animation. When the VUEguide picks up a signal from one of the thirtynine infrared stations, options come to the screen like ‘links’ to a website.
Users choose the option they like and listen to it via a single earpiece while watching the screen. There are over two hours of footage on the VUEguide.
Beginning May 1, the Whistler Mountaineer will debut, offering trips to Whistler from Vancouver that highlight the Sea to Sky Corridor, with its oldgrowth forests, dramatic sea, waterfall, and mountain views. Morning a la carte service will include breakfast, while afternoon return trips include afternoon tea. Eight different longer tours are also available.
After October 1, the train stops operating regularly to offer private tours for up to 200 guests.
The Vancouver Sculpture Biennale: Open Spaces 2005/2006 began in June and is set to run until the end of 2006. Contemporary sculptors from six continents provided twenty major international public art pieces to be placed throughout the city. Its official launch in September, with planned special events and a series of unveiling ceremonies, was the largest public art exhibit and festival in Vancouver and the only event of its kind in North America.
To add a little adventure to your tour of Vancouver, visit the Capilano Suspension Bridge, which is celebrating 2005, the Year of the Salmon, with the carving of a 14-foot interactive red cedar story pole. The carving has been open to public viewing since June and the pole will be put up nearer to Spring Break. On-site naturalists guide groups through the West Coast rainforest, highlighting the role salmon have played to the First Nations native people and to the ecosystem of the area.
Click here for full City Focus: Vancouver & Seattle.
By Kelley Thompson
Courtesy of Leisure Group Travel
http://www.leisuregrouptravel.com/archives/Febuary2006/CFVanSea.pdf
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