Tourist thing: Chinese Gardens
I finally got around to uploading the pictures from my "tourist trip" to the so-called Chinese Gardens. They're a 3-minute walk from my apartment, so I figured it would be an easy way to satisfy my "tourist thing" without involving too much hassle. I have to say, though, I was underwhelmed.
The grounds themselves reminded me of Vanier Park -- that's the park in Vancouver that's next to the museum, planetarium, and the Vancouver Academy of Music. It has same kind of grassy hills, light forest, a few streams and ponds, etc. Granted, the architecture of the buildings is different... but I didn't find that to be such a big deal.
The Chinese Gardens also contained a "Live tortoise and turtle museum", which was every bit as boring as it sounds. I'm really starting to re-evaluate my whole "do one tourist thing each week" -- I'm a terrible tourist. I mean, I'd never dream of going to a zoo or temple or special waterfall or whatnot in Canada, so why on earth am I forcing myself to do that here?
In a similar vein, my "tourist activity" tomorrow (this report is 6 days late) is running around the nearby lake. I don't know how long it is... when I glanced at a map, it looked smaller than Burnaby Lake (which is 11.6km around), but now I'm wondering if it's actually bigger. I should know tomorrow; if it takes me more than an hour to get around it, it's definitely bigger than Burnaby Lake. (to my family: yes, I'm definitely taking a water bottle with me. And this first time, I'm not going to do my "absolutely cannot stop for any reason" thing. I'll stop, drink, look at any maps that are posted, etc.)
PS tomorrow I'll also catch up on emails and stuff.