1067 is one of the best music venues in Vancouver, playing host to experimental jazz and other electro-acoustic offerings. It is underground in every sense of the word, hidden in an alley behind an unmarked door (aside from the faintest scribbling of the address in the top right corner). $5 and a ring on a hidden buzzer gets you in to this amazing spot through a labyrinth of stairs and hallways.

Despite the stigma that surrounds East Vancouver, the alleys are often adorned with amazingly colourful offerings. I find it very inspiring to take a stroll through a select few and pick out literary scrawling, graffiti, and the layers of vibrant history that cover the walls.

Vancouver houses are strange. Walk the streets, and you will go from amusement to jealousy to nausea with each house. Here are some categories: ‘Vancouver Specials’ cheap 70s houses built with a 50 year lifespan, generally they have lion statues outside. ‘Condos’ condos more condos, they suck! ‘Heritage Cottages’ they were in the woods probably 50 years ago, now they are surrounded by condos.

A hidden (almost secret) garden! located off to the side of the Pacific National Exhibition Centre. This little Japanese landscaped garden is not only a quiet sanctuary where one can admire its lake, rocks, and bonzai trees, it is also a commemorative place that serves as a healing reminder of the history of Japanese Canadian internment during the Second World War.

The place to go for a refreshing morning walk. Here you can really see and feel the magic that occurs when the mountains, the city and the ocean meet. Close by is also the Museum of Vancouver which, among other things, holds some colorful displays of the local 1960s hippie movement.