A Tale of Two Cities

9

February 18, 2013 – Two cities you ask? Yes, you are only looking at one city, but I am taking the shot from across the water at another city – this is Vancouver, I am in North Vancouver.

People not from Vancouver refer to the entire Lower Mainland as Vancouver. People from the Lower Mainland generally refer to the entire lump metro as Vancouver only to those who do not live here, because it’s sometimes confusing to explain that all these municipalities are so close together, but we are all separate entities, for now.

My brother used to try to bug me about my mayor when Vancouver’s major did odd things, but it wasn’t my major he was referring to. He thought he could corner me into admitting I live in Vancouver by telling me that he didn’t really live in Cranbrook, but when I asked him where his taxes went and what his address was, both came back as Cranbrook. I, on the other hand, pay taxes to the “District of North Vancouver” (there is also a City of North Vancouver and a District of West Vancouver on the North Shore) and my address is also “North Vancouver”. When I vote, I don’t vote for anyone in Vancouver, because it’s not my municipality. I don’t live in Vancouver.

And although I will constantly say how much I love Vancouver – and I do – North Vancouver really is the best place on earth as far as I am concerned.

I look across the water from here and I see a city thrumming with energy and ideas, full of some of the best restaurants in the world, fabulous theatre, amazing art, wonderful musicians. There are world class fashion designers there, and the best shoe designer anywhere in my mind. There are markets and delis, and every ethnicity you care to find, you can find there.

I love Vancouver, it really is the best city in the world as far as I am concerned.

But North Vancouver. . . here lies my heart. And here is where I (currently) think I will always want to live. It’s close to all of that, but just a bridge away, just a seabus ride across the water. I have all of that close at hand, but I also can turn around and look up, way up, at the North Shore Mountains and the forest that envelopes them. I can walk across Capilano Road and follow the river up and right into those forests. In less than a ten minute walk I can be enveloped in the peace and tranquility of the moss covered trees where owls peer down silently from the branches above. A few minutes up the road and I can find myself at one of three pretty great ski hills (OK, I say “pretty great” because there simply isn’t anything fabulous about snow on the coastal mountains if you’ve ever skied in the interior – if you want good snow you need dry cold). A few minutes the other direction and you are on the Pacific ocean and enjoying an afternoon of boating. Stanley Park is right there,along with the Vancouver Marine Science Centre, and the Capilano Suspension Bridge (free entrance to those with a North Vancouver address) is a fun place to visit just two minutes up the road from home.

North Vancouver is so close to Vancouver, but unlike other municipalities, the lines are not blurred on where the boundaries are. It’s easy because there is a distinct separation by water. And when I cross that water at the end of the day, when I pass across the Lion’s Gate Bridge, the physical separation also lets the day release and provides a mental separation, when it’s needed.

Home.

Two cities, so close and yet so different. I love it here, I love both cities, but I may be slightly biased.

113 in 2013 – #89 – Represent a Book Title