Today wasn't much, tourism-wise. We had errands to run and chores to do: laundry and grocery shopping. In the process of looking for good places to shop and do laundry while staying in the vicinity of the hotel, I drove around quite a few parts of downtown Vancouver, mostly the East End and stopping short of Granville Island. As a result, I became quite familiar with the various streets of downtown. Thank goodness they're all square and not funky, so it was easy to remember which streets ran which way and whatnot. After a while I felt almost like a seasoned resident, driving around confidently without having to consult my map :-D I made note of where all the various places were we might need-- the drugstore, supermarkets, fast food joints, and of course, the laundromats.

I even found myself amongst some residential areas-- aside from the horrid parking situation, it was quite nice! A peek at a real estate magazine while waiting for the clothes to dry, showed that real estate costs about as much here as it does in LA. Hmmm... not a bad place to live ;-) Of course, I haven't experienced winter here yet, but it is a beautiful place to live...

Before dinner, we took Todd to the hotel's gym, where we splashed around in the 40-ft pool and then relaxed and warmed up in the jacuzzi for a bit. Todd enjoyed himself immensely! That boy really loves the water ;-)

We then made our way down to the local Macaroni Grill, which was built in what used to be apartments, designed by one of the area's renowned residential architects at the turn of the century. And OMG, the food was outstanding! It was better than at any Macaroni Grill I'd ever eaten in in the States. I had the Eggplant Parmesan meal, and though I'm not normally a fan of it, the stuff they served tonight was scrumptious. I made sure to leave room for dessert, and it paid off multiple-fold. I ordered the eggless custard served with a mix of dark chocolate sauce and strawberry sauce. And wow, was I in food heaven. Every bite yielded a fantastic sensation on my taste buds that left me salivating and wishing the bowl was bottomless. I had never experienced such culinary pleasure for my palate. I am stuffed to the gills as I type this, and it's a gooood feeling :-)

And on that note, I shall wind things down with a cup of steaming chamomile tea, and get ready for some dino-fun tomorrow :-D