Thank you Iron Man

[giftederic]

You saved me from 2 hours of Whistler...

I am in Whistler, BC at the moment. A 4 season holiday resort up in the Coast Mountains, and soon to be host of the winter olympics. And I am so bored, its incredible... I spent 4 hours in the middle of the day in bed (after having been up and about!), and went to the cinema on my own, not things I tend to rate as useful things to do on any normal day. 

The flight up was awesome. I took a floatplane which spent the first half of the journey flying up the coast to Squamish and then up across the glacier and on to a lake just north of Whistler. Whistler Air gave all the passengers a ride into town straight to our hotels. My hotel was cheap, a mere $49+tax, and I got what I paid for :). Actually to be fair I got slightly more than I paid for in some areas. It was a huge room and had a huge lcd tv which was a nice change. But, the walls were paper thin and Whistler is flooded with rowdy australian twentysomethings at the moment. (In some ways it was alot like my adventures in hostel land earlier in the trip). 

The main problem with Whistler is that it is a resort, and as such is completely false and sterile. I went wandering looking for real Whistler where the 6000 natives live, but the sun is lethal at this elevation, and so after 2 hours dodging from one piece of shade to another I gave up once I found an upmarket food mart, a non-touristy cafe and a bus stop :). Whistler is above the clouds that keep Vancouver weather so gav-tastic.

Post this, I went back to bed... (I had been up at 7:30 that morning to get my flight, but I was really more bored than truly tired). In the evening I went out looking for a free internet connection (the hotel was charging $10.95, which I was not prepared to pay). The only free wi-fi in whistler is in the Blenz cafe, everywhere else charges... So Blenz, already a chain I rated highly, goes up another notch. On the way back from there, resigning myself to 5 hours of tv, I spotted the cinema... 

Iron Man was a good film. 3.5 out of 5 stars from me. Had the usual gaping plot holes of all super hero movies, but this one was better than most. Robert Downey Jr and Gwyneth Paltrow were great. Jeff Bridges less so.

Getting the Whistler Mountaineer Train back to Vancouver this afternoon, and then spending the next 3 days in the Hilton, Richmond, which should be an experience. I stayed in the Fairmont Empress in Victoria (5 star hotel) and was roundly disappointed with it, but I am more hopeful of this one, though it is only a 4 star. Richmond itself is a bit of a dive, but I haven't wandered around it on foot yet, so hopefully some gems will emerge. If the worst comes to the worst, I can just get the bus downtown and go to the chinese gardens which I have yet to do...