The City That Never Sleeps
Well, actually it does sleep. From 3:00 AM to 4:00 AM during week and about 4:30 AM to 5:30 or so on weekends. I can tell because during those two intervals, if I'm awake, a certain stillness comes over the downtown core and the usual rumble of the traffic coming and going across the Burrard Street Bridge subsides to a soft whisper. How a city can get by on just an hour of sleep a night is beyond me. What's even more interesting than a sleep deprived city is that even though the downtown core of Vancouver has seen explosive growth the past 15 years (thousands and thousands more urbanites) this nightly pause in the to'ing and fro'ing has not changed.
The Close Encounters of the Third Kind lights in the top left corner of this image are actually from the Cypress Mountain ski area. One of the three ski hills within 45 minutes or so of downtown Vancouver. Yeah, it's tough living in paradise. :)
The photo above is of Sunset Beach which follows Beach Avenue down to English Bay Beach. The storms of November and December have not been kind to these beaches with several 150 year old trees that once fronted onto the bay now just tangled heaps of wood. If you have not yet seen An Inconvenient Truth do yourself a favour - rent it and watch it. While not without it's bias and occasional distortions it's a message you will never forget and might be just the nudge you'll need to lower your carbon footprint. Going green is a series of small steps and is not as tough as you might expect.
These two shots were taken around 7:30 in the evening last week from one of the four balconies on the Burrard Street bridge. I've gradually become used to the orange cast the mercury halogen street lights produce but I do pine, somewhat, for the old energy wasteful days of white streetlights.
If someone wanted to make a bazillion dollars they should invent a pair of night vision goggles that turned the Dawn of the Dead color palette of a city at night into something ... well less orange for starters. :) ... OK, maybe not a bazillion dollars but I'd buy a pair.
This second shot is looking up Thurlow Street with the Vancouver Aquatic center at the bottom of the hill. At the top you'll find Davie St. that unlike a good chunk of Robson St. (furthur downtown) still has much of it's old style west-end Vancouver charm not too mention some rather awesome restaurants.
Well, actually it does sleep. From 3:00 AM to 4:00 AM during week and about 4:30 AM to 5:30 or so on weekends. I can tell because during those two intervals, if I'm awake, a certain stillness comes over the downtown core and the usual rumble of the traffic coming and going across the Burrard Street Bridge subsides to a soft whisper. How a city can get by on just an hour of sleep a night is beyond me. What's even more interesting than a sleep deprived city is that even though the downtown core of Vancouver has seen explosive growth the past 15 years (thousands and thousands more urbanites) this nightly pause in the to'ing and fro'ing has not changed.
The Close Encounters of the Third Kind lights in the top left corner of this image are actually from the Cypress Mountain ski area. One of the three ski hills within 45 minutes or so of downtown Vancouver. Yeah, it's tough living in paradise. :)
The photo above is of Sunset Beach which follows Beach Avenue down to English Bay Beach. The storms of November and December have not been kind to these beaches with several 150 year old trees that once fronted onto the bay now just tangled heaps of wood. If you have not yet seen An Inconvenient Truth do yourself a favour - rent it and watch it. While not without it's bias and occasional distortions it's a message you will never forget and might be just the nudge you'll need to lower your carbon footprint. Going green is a series of small steps and is not as tough as you might expect.
These two shots were taken around 7:30 in the evening last week from one of the four balconies on the Burrard Street bridge. I've gradually become used to the orange cast the mercury halogen street lights produce but I do pine, somewhat, for the old energy wasteful days of white streetlights.
If someone wanted to make a bazillion dollars they should invent a pair of night vision goggles that turned the Dawn of the Dead color palette of a city at night into something ... well less orange for starters. :) ... OK, maybe not a bazillion dollars but I'd buy a pair.
This second shot is looking up Thurlow Street with the Vancouver Aquatic center at the bottom of the hill. At the top you'll find Davie St. that unlike a good chunk of Robson St. (furthur downtown) still has much of it's old style west-end Vancouver charm not too mention some rather awesome restaurants.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment