Starbucks closes its first Canadian store

Starbucks Corp. is shutting down its first-ever store in Canada, the Aberdeen Centre location in Richmond, B.C. There are nine other Starbucks stores in Richmond and a total of 365 Starbucks in British Columbia.

Here are the number of Starbucks in the other provinces:

Alberta 211
Manitoba 48
New Brunswick 7
Newfoundland-Labrador 3
Nova Scotia 8
Ontario 322
Quebec 40
Saskatchewan 15
Yukon 2

In an online story on cbcnews.ca, the Seattle-based coffee retailer said "the decision to close was caused by current economic conditions and because the location itself was under-performing."

Starbucks in Beijing, China
Photo by Sue Frause

Vancouver's skyline and crime on the rise

I wasn't surprised when I read the opening paragraph of a news article in The Seattle Times on Sunday:

With its spectacular bay and stunning, snowcapped peaks, Vancouver easily ranks as one of the world's most beautiful cities. But in recent months, the people of Canada's Olympic city have been living in fear. As the city prepares to host the 2010 Winter Games, its crime rate is going up. Since January, there have been 44 shootings in the region, 17 of them fatal.

Here's the rest of the story: Ahead of 2010 Olympics, violence stalks Vancouver

The Province has a story of its own, about the upcoming release of an Indo-Canadian mobster from jail: Brace for gang war, police warn

It's not going to change my like affair with Vancouver -- I'll continue to take Amtrak up there from Seattle or Everett. There's no need to drive; plus, several years ago we had our car broken into while staying overnight in the city. But Vancouver obviously needs to get a handle on this upsurge in crime: both for its residents and visitors.

The Vancouver skyline, like its crime, is on the rise
Photo by Sue Frause

Air Canada: Daily service between Vancouver-Paris

Air Canada announced today that it will launch the only daily service between Vancouver and Paris on July 1, 2009. The carrier will operate daily one-stop same plane flights linking YVR with Paris through Sept. 29, 2009. The flights stop in Montreal.

You can read more about it in my Seattle Travel Examiner post.

Bon voyage!

Paris' Latin Quarter early in the morning
Photo by Sue Frause

CBC plans to lay off up to 800 people

"The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. plans to cut up to 800 jobs to make up for a $171 million shortfall in 2009-10. CBC president and chief executive Hubert Lacroix announced the layoffs Wednesday in a broadcast to employees. He said the public broadcaster also needs to sell $125 million worth of assets to make up the shortfall in operating costs."

The CBC reported on its own situation today online at cbcnews.ca.

I'm a big fan of CBC, whether it's Peter Mansbridge on The Hour, The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos or Vancouver at Six featuring Gloria Macarenko and Ian Hanomansing.

Here's hoping the Canadian company gets back on track and this is as bad as it gets.

Greater Victoria Flower Count: 1,067,011,747 blooms in annual counting of the blossoms

The 2009 Greater Victoria Flower Count has broken a billion on the bloom scale with 1,067,011,747 blossoms. Victoria led the municipal pack at 399,887,613 and Saanich was second with 243,589,245.

The total count and winning municipality was announced on March 23, 2009 by Bruce Carter, CEO of the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce. “While the rest of the country is still scraping their windows in the morning we have counted over one billion flower blossoms,” says Carter. “Joggers can be seen everywhere training for the TC 10k and fair weather golfers are heading out to play. The daffodils are in bloom, it’s spring in Greater Victoria with the best climate in the country, and we’re open for business!"

The Greater Victoria Flower Count is a lighthearted event to promote Victoria as an attractive shoulder-season holiday destination. Citizens across the municipality were invited to count their blossoms and enter their count on the flower count website. The count began March 18, 2009 and ended at noon on March 23.

The 2009 Flower Count was organized by the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce, the WestShore Chamber, the Saanich Peninsula Chamber, Butchart Gardens and Tourism Victoria.

Here are the municipality totals in alphabetical order:

Central Saanich - 161,734,831
Colwood - 2,561,111
Esquimalt - 4,553,985
Highlands - 23,490
Langford - 4,997,310
Metchosin - 6,200,312
North Saanich - 4,112,675
Oak Bay - 182,234,496
Saanich - 243,589,245
Sidney - 35,895,690
Sooke - 4,517,225
Victoria - 399,887,613
View Royal - 16,693,628
Unincorporated Area - CRD - 136

TOTAL: 1,067,001,747

My Whidbey Island daffodils in 2008
Photo by Sue Frause

Stanley Park Teahouse gets its name back!

The Teahouse at Stanley Park is getting its name (and hopefully its game!) back. The legendary restaurant, located at Stanley Park's Ferguson Point since 1979, is dropping Sequoia Grill from its title and reverting back to its original name: Teahouse.

To celebrate its rebirth and new/old name, a gala event will be held May 14 in the park to celebrate the Teahouse's 30th anniversary. To do it up right, the resto is looking for memories. Janet McGuire, new Teahouse manager and former owner of the Beach Side Café says, “We’re going back to the tradition that set the Teahouse apart from the rest. The Teahouse has become such a landmark in this city because of the people who have experienced so many wonderful occasions here," she said.

Beginning today, diners can enter the Tales of the Teahouse Contest and share their favorite memories of the restaurant. On May 14, three lucky patrons will win three Canadian getaways: Montreal, Victoria via Harbour Air, or a trip to the Okanagan and the Mission Hill Winery.

Executive chef at the Teahouse is Carol Chow, who started her career with mentor John Bishop at Bishop's. From there she went on to a ten-year stint with Janet McGuire at the Beach Side Café in West Vancouver before serving six years as executive chef of the Hart House Restaurant in Burnaby. The Teahouse will continue to feature local ingredients and cross-cultural cuisine ... along with some of the best sunsets in the city.

Walking and biking the seawall at Stanley Park
Photo by Sue Frause

Talking Canadian, eh? It's the vowels.

I tuned in to the last half of a fun and informative documentary on the CBC titled Talking Canadian. Fortunately, it was YouTube to the rescue, where I found the hour-long show in four parts. Here's the first part, along with a description of it from videocanada.ca:

Why do English-speaking Canadians talk the way we do? Why do we say couch instead of chesterfield, windshield instead of windscreen, and ee-ther and eye-ther, sometimes interchangeably?

Why do Newfoundlanders have a distinctive accent and use colourful words like ballicatter that can't be heard anywhere else? How have French words like portage and prairie, and Native words like chipmunk and toboggan, become part of our everyday speech?

Few of us are aware that the language we speak, the words we use, and the way we say them has less to do with conscious choice than it has to do with our past: when and why we came here, where we settled and the tug of war between British and American influences -- which has been part of our lives for centuries.

But Talking Canadian is not so much a history lesson as an often-amusing look at our accent, intonation and vocabulary, how Canadians speak today, and how we will talk in the future.

BC Ferries en route from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay, Vancouver Island
Photo by Sue Frause

Canadian Chanteuse : Chantal Kreviazuk

Somehow I was just introduced to Chantal Kreviazuk. I think I'd heard her name before, but while looking up music videos of Leaving on a Jet Plane, there she was -- singing that familiar '60s Peter, Paul & Mary tune that was actually co-written by the late John Denver.

Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba on May 18, 1974 she released her first album (Under These Rocks and Stones) in Canada in 1996. Since then, she's produced three more albums, plus her first compilation album in 2008 (Since We Met: The Best of 1996-2006).

You can read more about her here and also at www.chantalkreviazuk.com.

Vancouver Orchid Festival March 21-22

The Vancouver Orchid Festival + Sale blooms Saturday and Sunday, March 21-22, at VanDusen Botanical Garden's Floral Hall in Vancouver. Plant lovers and orchid enthusiasts will be able to see and buy from this exclusive selection of orchids, orchid art and companion plants.

The weekend event will raise funds for the Pacific Northwest Judging Center-Vancouver Supplemental and canned food drive for A Loving Spoonful -- a volunteer-driven, non-partisan society that provides free, nutritious meals to people living with HIV/AIDS in Greater Vancouver.

For more information and to download a discount coupon, go to www.orchidfest.com.

Hong Kong Orchid
Photo by Sue Frause

Applications sought for Olympic Ceremonies

With less than two months to go before the start of auditions on May 1, 2009, VANOC is looking for 7,500 performer applications for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. In the two weeks since the initial call was issued, nearly 3,200 applications have been received.

Executive Producer David Atkins, who is coordinating the Opening and Closing Ceremonies for the Winter Games, said they need performers to "bring our mass choreography to life on the floor of BC Place." Additionally, performance volunteers are needed as athlete marshals, placard bearers to lead countries into the stadium and audience leaders who will help spectators participate in the show.

Applications to date include an entire women's hockey team, hundreds of dancers and other hopeful performers from nearly every Canadian province and territory. Twenty-three percent of the applicants have been men; statistically, this means male performers and athletes have a greater chance of receiving a call to audition and participate in the Ceremonies. Come on women! Outside of British Columbia, Ontario has the greatest number of applicants at four percent, with Alberta at two percent.

So is it only open to Canadians?

No previous experience is needed for the performers, dancers and athletes. They can be of all types and skills, but must be 17 or older by May 1, 2009 to apply. There is no upper age limit. Applications may be made online at www.vancouver2010/ceremonies.

I don't think drinking vodka in Quebec's Ice Hotel is what they're looking for!
Photo of Sue Frause by Bob Frause

Are women in Toronto the happiest?

Toronto women are happier than their western and eastern Canadian counterparts, a new poll suggests. The Ipsos Reid survey, commissioned by Kellogg's Special KSatisfaction, asked 2,100 women in 10 major Canadian cities to rank their level of satisfaction in seven different areas. Toronto women appeared the happiest, expressing greater satisfaction with everything from their love lives to personal health.

So says a recent article in the National Post. So how did the rest of Canadian women stack up? Read the rest of the article here.

The Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto
Maybe having their own house of shoes makes Toronto women happier?

Norwegian Media Watch: O Canada!

There are no shortage of blog topics out there. One of the more unusual ones landed in my in box the other day:

Norwegian Media Watch: 837 Stories from 153 Publications/Organisations, 2 MP & 2 News Agencies

"This site exposes ignorance, assumptions, discrimination, & double standards in the Norwegian press towards Canada, Canadians, & Canadian culture. It lists how ignorant & lazy some journalists are about Canada & that "guessing" and "assumption" rather than FACT is used in their stories, & how some care little for accuracy & more on what they "think" or "assume" is correct about Canada and Canadians!"

Who knew this was even an issue?

A nautical chart aboard Hurtigruten's MS Polarlys in Norway
Photo by Sue Frause

Vancouver's Omega Countdown Clock for the 2010 Olympics has round-the-clock security

I was somewhat surprised that there's 24-hour security for the Omega Countdown Clock located in the plaza of the Vancouver Art Gallery. Well, maybe I shouldn't be.

When I was in Vancouver last month for the one-year-to-go countdown celebration on Feb. 12, 2009 in Vancouver, which included a wonderful one-year-to-go concert at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre featuring Sarah McLachlan and others, I stopped by to take a picture of the clock. Yup, there was the security guard, keeping an eye on the much photographed time piece.

According to CTV, during the summer of '08, a group of protesters "doused the steel and glass showpiece with white paint, but were caught several blocks away." Ironically, in a non-protesting incident, the clock stopped in November '08. Read more about it on CTV's website.

The 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games officially begin in 11 months as of March 12. I'm the new Olympics 2010 Olympics Travel Examiner for Examiner.com and will be writing about all Olympics all the time. Well, a lot of the time. You can access the site here.

The Omega Countdown Clock on Feb. 12, 2009
Photo by Sue Frause

Vancouver's Museum of Anthropology reopens March 8, 2009 after extensive renovations

On Sunday, March 8, Vancouver's Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia reopens to the public after six months of renovations. Highlights of the $3.5 million "re-do" include a new Welcome Plaza, lobby, Museum Shop and Great Hall -- featuring soaring totems and massive carvings by northwest Coast First Nations artists.

Also open to the public are Koerner European Ceramics Gallery, the outdoor exhibits, and a special exhibit of photographs by Mark Adams, Tatau: Samoan Tattooing and Global Culture. Also on display will be a work by John Marson, whose panel installation 'ehhwe'p syuth' (To Share History) links Coast Salish traditions with those of Papua New Guinea.

This spring there are a number of special programs and exhibits. They include the We yah hani nah Coastal First Nations Dance Festival (March 12-15); a workshop on Samoan tattooing by Rosanna Raymond (April 25); The Big Draw, a special program for students grades 3-5 (May 15); and the Matter of Taste tour, available by request for groups of 10 or more.

Construction on some museum galleries will continue after the opening. The Bill Reid Rotunda (home of The Raven and the First Men sculpture) and Michael M. Ames Theatre will re-open in May, and the Multiversity Galleries (replacing Visible Storage) and the major temporary exhibit gallery will open in January 2010.

Museum of Anthropology pre-renovation
Photo by Sue Frause

Students on Ice Antarctic Expedition

A friend of mine from Calgary who knows I'm in Antarctica right now sent me this article from the Calgary Herald:

Antarctic expedition 'amazing' for students

Antarctica is amazing! My family and I are on an eight-night cruise aboard Hurtigruten's M/S Fram. It's our seventh continent, and the 227 passengers hail from 20 countries around the world. I've posted photos in my Seattle P-I blog.

Elsewhere on the cold front, here's another story from the Herald: Mom adds Antarctic run to worldwide marathon quest

This iceberg resembles the Sydney Opera House
Photo by Max Frause