The weather for the last two weeks in Vancouver has lived up to its saying, that being the rainy city. It has been grey and cold and raining constantly therefore unfortuantely this has left little opportunity for exploring. For Easter weekend however with four days off I definitely did not want another weekend stuck indoors and therefore intended to fit some hikes in and travelling to new places in Vancouver.

On Thursday night Anna and I decided to go back to Cafe Deux Soleils for the open mic night. We arrived after 8pm and the place was full up, leaving little room to sit down. Luckily a group left after 15 minutes so we went and sat on a big table with some other people who we ended up chatting too. The music at the beginning was pretty poor with one act just screaming into the microphone however as as the night went on, they also improved. Singing two songs each, there were 20 acts in total and the choice is drawn by being picked from a hat. The cover charge for the night is $5 but you don’t have to pay this is you decide to get up and sing (this has been noted for future reference). The songs are also a big mix ranging from folk to blues to slow moving ballads to songs where you couldn’t even hear the lyrics but all in all it makes for a good night.

We had seen seven acts by the time Cody, our new acquaintance, had his name called out and were pleasantly surpised by how good he was at singing and playing the guitar! He was by far the best of the night and reminded us both of a young Ryan Adams. We stayed for a few more songs after but not wanting too heavy a night decided to head home before the end. It ws lovely that we met Cody as it turned out he lives near Port Moody and invited us to go on a hike with him to Lake Buntzen the following Monday. We had a few plans over the Easter weekend but nothing planned for Monday so it was lovely to just strike up a conversation with someone who, although Canadain, was new to Vancouver and therefore looking meet people and make new friends.

Buntzen Lake is a 4.8 kilometres (3 miles) long lake  located in Anmore, British Columbia, Canada, in the Greater Vancouver area. It is named after the first general manager of the B.C. Electric Co., Johannes Buntzen. There are a varity of trails you can do ranging form 2 hours to 12 hours if you’re adventurous! The day on Monday was beautiful with the sun shining and we headed feeling happy and positve to be out of Downrown and set for a good walk. We started the trail and in the first 10 minutes it started raining! Luckily we were covered under the trees for the majority but we did have to come out in the open also and ended up getting pretty wet.

Due to the high rainfall over the past month, the tide was extrmely high and the trail needed to be diverted when we got halfway. We had been walking for just over an hour when we reached this point and to continue we would need to walk for another 3-4 hours. Due to the weather we decided to turn around and in natures true fashion as soon as we arrived back at the start, an hour later, the sun was back out in full shine. Despite this, the walk was beautiful and has just made me want to come back in the summer time and do a longer trail. There are several equestrian trails to do here too which would be really fun.

We finished the day off by popping to a brewery called Yellow Dog Brewing Co. where they served 4 1/3 pints of beers in a dog bone taster template (awesome!) The four flavours varied in taste and colour, the favourite being a light smoky pilsner. A really cool place that change their flavours regularly, it’s definitely worth a visit, this week they have a Doggie Darko CDA.

It was the perfect way to spend a bank holiday and after being driven back to Downtown, Anna and are were pretty content to chill for the night with some dinner and of course some chocolate.