Anime Revolution - Where We Stayed

Because we were registered to go to the convention, we got a major discount on staying at the Marriot Pinnacle, right in downtown Vancouver. 

I almost puked when the concierge told me we were staying on the 22nd floor.

 I remember my last big elevator ride! It didn't end so well. See the guy in grey, he's sitting on my handle! See the kid in front of me in the pink, she was going on and on before the ride about how it wasn't scary at all, her friend in the black and grey stripes was going for her first time. I can't figure out how the people with their arms up are staying in their seats.

Anyways, I made it up to the 22nd floor with the help of the bell hop, who was less creepy then the Tower of Terror one. 

 The view was awesome. 

 This little park had food trucks around it on Friday, but none over the weekend. 

 The parking was a whopping $30 a day. But it was secure and we could come and go all day. The street parking was $6 an hour.

 The room was nice, could have been a little bigger. The bathroom had a tub and a shower!

 The hotel is located one block from the ocean and 4 blocks from Robson street. We walked forever. 

We were headed to Meat and Bread when we saw the clock. We couldn't figure out why everyone and their grandma were standing around it, and across the street from it with their cameras pointing at it. So like a tourist, I took a picture. Big whoop. Then as we were walking away, the clock struck 12 and started puffing out steam and music. Go figure!

 This one spent much of her time looking out the window, she decided Shaw and TDCanadatrust waste too much money on electricity by not shutting lights out at night. 

 She got up the next morning and resumed her post.

 A few blocks away, a new Michaels celebrated their grand opening. It was weird to see it right across the road from Tiffany's.

 Who wants to eat lunch?

 It's hard to believe how big the cruise ships are. We watched them load luggage on to it. Some guy held a rope and looked at his phone. I wonder how much he gets paid to do that?

 From our room we could see the convention goers coming and going all day.

 We were close to at least 5 Starbucks.

 Those ants at the crosswalk were our ants. Because we could see them walk half way to Canada Place, and they are 16 years old, we let them go off each morning and come back each day by themselves. 

 We were a short drive to Stanley Park so we took a drive at dusk. Emily took this one for me. 

We'd definitely stay there again, it was so handy to come and go all day. There was also a pool, and a hot tub, which we used once for our sore feet. Kerry used the gym to go for a bike ride one morning. It was so close to everything. 2 thumbs up. 

Oh, the service was outstanding! The wifi, not so much.

Anime Revolution - The food we ate

 We have become those people that plan their trips around where we want to eat! 

Thank goodness we walked a lot on this trip.

On the way to Vancouver, we stopped in Hope, at Home Restaurant. 

 It is known for it's pies. We didn't have pie.

 We had fish and chips. There were way to many fries, and they weren't that good. The fish was good.

 Kerry's BBQ Pork sandwich was very tasty, he said one of the best ones he's had.

 The Cesar salad was good, chicken fingers looked like they came from a box.

 Friday, we walked and walked and walked. We opted to not have a Japadog. I've had one locally and it was only so-so. The photos didn't do much to sell me on the dogs either.

Our long walk ended here. 

 In case you missed that...

 You don't get to choose from much and I really didn't feel like a sandwich by the time we got there. There wasn't much of a line up. This place was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.

 Porchetta for both of us, please.

 Oh, what's that he's got in a pile to the left? Pork cracklin'? Hello!

 It's very simple, very fast, very good!

 We opted for take out. Kerry grabbed this weird pop and it turned out to be really good.

 We sat here, and ate and took in the sites.  I think we were bordering on the sketchy part of the city.

 I will definitely go back. In fact, I think I will crave this sandwich all the time.

We had dinner at the food court across from the convention. I had a bento box and it was good. Kerry had pizza. Didn't look so great but he said it was good. Is there bad pizza?

We made plans to have lunch at Peaceful Restaurant with my brother and his friend. But it looked like it was closed down so we went to Hon's instead. Weird decor, kind of cafeteria-like. Very good service, and very good food. Too many choices. I had wunton soup, the wuntons were huge. We tried Chinese donuts for the first time and I won't buy them here, they obviously aren't fresh, but I'd buy them there again.

Then we got a text from brother, it said Peaceful was open. We made plans to eat there on our last day.

 Guy was here!

 We had the beef rolls, which were so good! I will crave those too. Emily ordered steamed pork buns and ate all but the one I ate. I would definitely eat here again. It's small, and crowded. 

 Kerry's dan-dan noodles. These noodles are hand pulled.

 My beef stir fry.

 Justin's General Tao Chicken, I'd order that again.

 Emily's friend's curry fried rice. 

And after years of trying to get there, we finally found Krispy Kreme's and got our donuts! Everyone got to pick 3 kinds. We ate donuts all the way home. We dropped a box off for Michelle. I felt bad that we didn't bring more home. Like we need it.

 There's caramel apple, cotton candy, regular, raspberry filled (my favourite), sour cream, toffee, and cream filled. 

 We also stopped at T&T market, got some pork buns, onion pancake, cheese cake, and snacks like Hi-Chews. And a new favourite place, Maxim's bakery for cheese wiener buns. 

I've put my order in with my brother, if he's coming to visit he's got to stop and get some for us. 

Anime Revolution 2012 re-cap

This year, we decided to make more of a family trip out of our trek to the anime convention. Kerry attended the convention for the first time. We stayed right down town at the Marriot Pinnacle hotel, which was worth every penny, except didn't have free wi-fi and we should have paid the $16 to get it the first day. We have stayed in Burnaby in past years and that works too, but we have to drive or take the skytrain in. This year with Emily having a table in Artist's Alley, we thought it would be easier to stay closer. And it was. Her and her friend walked daily to and from the convention by themselves! We are a block off the ocean, and could see the convention centre where I thought the convention was again this year. Ooops...it was at Canada Place, the next building over. Must learn to read the forms better. 

We met up with my brother to do some grocery shopping. I made him pose for this one. What would we do without our phones?  I texted him non-stop to find info on where we wanted to go, where we should go, and why we couldn't find where we were going. I think it was like our own personal On-Star.

 I'm not up to date with my anime and manga characters. But if I see a costume I like I ask for a photo. The attendees are more than happy to pose for photos. I know this guy is from Death Note.

I had taken a photo of Mario, by himself and Michelle's son said he wanted to see a photo of Mario and me. So the next day I hunted him down and Kerry took this one. I was relieved, because most of the kids come in different costumes every day.

I wonder where some of these costumes come from? This one had some voice altering mechanism too.

 These two I know! The Elric brothers. Love the detail in costumes!

 And this, I have no idea, but it was pretty awesome.

 Outside the convention, the kids sat around and tourists would come up and ask for photos. It was pretty neat to see. This guy wanted to try on her arms. I overheard him say they were heavy.  I wondered if she took the skytrain to the convention?

This was taken at Peaceful Restaurant, our last meal while in Vancouver. I'll blog more about the food later.