Sunday in Vancouver

So on the sunday we woke up early, although probably not as early as we should have.. I think that was the day that Aminah turned off the alarm the wrong way and we woke up at around 730, when it was goin to take us 2 hours to get to where we were supposed to be going and had a table booked for breakfast for 10am. Just it was a mad panic. But we eventually got out onto the roads and followed the GPS to Whistler to arrive at around 1040 I think. We made it just in time, seems the time was different and we managed to get in for breakfast, I miss having big buffet breakfasts at posh hotels. Not that I ever did it alot, but occassionally I did.. and its nice. I had a plate of fresh fruit, plate of mushrooms, omlette, croissant, smoked salmon, more mushrooms (yeh I like mushrooms) and other bits I cant remember, washed down with apple juice and chocolate covered strawberries to finish. I was so delightful full :) it made me smile.

Then we wandered out into the grounds, my friends friend lives there.. actually works in the hotel we had breakfast at so she gave us the grand tour of the nearby scenery which was amazing masha'allah. I was soo jealous of the people with their snowboards, never thought I would say it... but Im going to miss the winter this year :( As we wandered around she pointed out many things to us, people were constantly telling us that we picked the right day to come up and we did.. this was the little outdoor market in the upper village and you can see the mountains in the background. There were so many people there masha'allah and lots to see, they had horse riding, people were over for the extreme mountain biking over the lower ski slopes where the snow had now completely melted away. Then we wandered over to the lower villages, I think theres 3 in the area, at one point we came across a little park so we sat down for like 20mins.. it was so nice to just sit and take it all in. I miss the parks from UK, there isnt really anywhere you can sit and watch the world go by here, the parks arent that nice from what Ive seen, and the only nice grass near me looks over a stream in a really quiet area and is always covered in ants. This was interesting us sitting there.. the park was covered with skin :) ladies in bikinis and guys in shorts taking dips in the water or playing football. Thought I was back in UK for a minute there, the weather was probably around 20degrees not that warm!! but first sign of sun and thats it, strip off.. they dont get as much sun in vancouver as in Ontario so I suppose it is the same as UK you learn to grab the moment while its there :P alhamdulillah. We walked around some more and seen some lovely sights masha'allah, water streams, mountains and forests. We got lost a few times.. well her friend did :P we obviously didnt know where we were going :D heehee Then when it was nearly time to go we dropped her friend off at her house and she took us to see the view that she would see every day on her way down to work. Aminah had to pray, and I love praying outside so I suggested that she pray there and then.. can you imagine?! subhanallah... was amazing. And I sight I pray I never forget insha'allah. We then said our goodbyes and headed back to Vancouver, aminah drove this time and I chilled in the passenger seat.... I was actually pretty good (i get bad car sickness if Im not driving) but I did ok after we stopped at one of like 4 tims that we had seen in the province. We chatted on the way back about how amazing everything is over here masha'allah, Im sure that if I moved back to Canada I would move to a different province :) Allahu alim. We got back around 9ish and decided to make a little detour to an area that we had heard was full of little boutique shops and stuff, so we parked up and walked around... the place was like a little Spain, I loved it... for some reason Aminah thought I was nervous, interesting.. she said 'ive never seen you so nervous before' I was like.. what??! not nervous, excitingly taking everything in.. when I get around latinos it brings up my passion for learning that damned language :P insha'allah.. I would love to get back into my spanish again and insha'allah I pray i will one day. anyways, we decided against coffee here and made our way back to 'our' coffee bar for a night cap :D The perfect end to a perfect day alhamdulillah. I liked Whistler, I will always remember it insha'allah and always remember it being the first place I got a hijab tan :D alhamdulillah. Then we drove back and attempted another early night :D thats another post though :P insha'allah you are all enjoying the updates of my vancouver holiday :D I wont be doing this all the time, so enjoy it while it lasts :P
Peace and salams, Ammena