Yesterday we headed out to try and find a supermarket to stock up on some food. Failing to find a decent supermarket we decided to get lunch at a cafe, and look for a supermarket later. We did make another stop on the way back to the hotel though so Stu could buy a new hard drive. Whilst he had enough space for his photos on his current drives he didn't have all of them backed up so needed some extra space.

Back at our apartment - which is quite nice, set out as a mezzanine with living area, kitchen and bathroom downstairs and bedroom upstairs - we were disturbed by the sound of an alarm. We assumed it must be a fire alarm so decided it might be a good idea to get out.

As we left our building we saw a woman just leaving her apartment across the hall. We asked her if the fire alarm went off often, and if it was anything to worry about. She seemed very casual about it and said it was probably nothing to worry about. It seemed that she wasn't actually leaving because of the alarm but just to take her dog out for a walk.

When we got outside we saw a gathering of a few other people from the building, but not nearly as many as you would expect for such a huge building. We even saw people going into the building back to their apartments, clearly not concerned about the fire alarm at all. We both thought that despite the fact that it may not be serious, what is the point in taking the risk? Besides, the electrical display in the lobby indicated that the fire alarm was triggered from the seventh floor and the sprinklers had been deployed, so that was enough for us to get outside.

A few minutes later the fire truck arrived and the firemen headed into the building. Whilst outside we got chatting to a woman with her baby, who had apparently had his nap disturbed by the fire alarm. We took the chance to find out from her where there might be a good supermarket. It appeared that there was one just a few minutes from our apartment block - we had walked in the other direction earlier today and completely missed it!

It wasn't long before the fireman came back outside and the alarm had stopped. It appeared to be safe to return to the building so we all went back inside.

We had a relaxing afternoon watching some episodes of The Office (the American version) as the owners of the apartment had the DVD, and later on I found some interesting books on the shelf. I decided to start reading 'Lucky Man' by Michael J. Fox. A very inspiring story, and found I could hardly put it down. (I would have 90% of it read by the end of the night!)

Today we decided to venture out of the apartment again, as the weather was remaining nice and sunny, and we headed over to Granville Island. This is a peninsula located in False Creek directly across from Downtown so just a short walk from our apartment. Basically just at the bottom of our road we could walk over the Granville Street Bridge and get to it.

Walking round Granville Island we could see there were some shops, places to eat including a nice looking food market. We were both hungry on our arrival and grabbed some lunch at a bar/restaurant there. We both opted for some nice looking salads - both very tasty - and I also went for the local Granville Island lager. It was quite nice, very light but quite nice.

Next we took a further walk around and Stu took some pictures. Whilst the weather was sunny, as it has been since our arrival in Vancouver, it's still not really warm. The temperature has been around 10 to 14 degrees, so we still need the fleeces at the moment. But with the sun out it is still nice.

We had a walk through the food market and spotted a couple of great coffee and cake counters. We were both tempted by a cake each and a hot drink, and took them outside to find a seat in the sun.

After our cake stop we took a walk around the waterfront, admiring some of the interesting looking houses on the water - literally ON the water.

We spotted one of the small water boats which take people to and from Granville Island, and saw it was heading to Downtown so we decided to take this route back rather than walking over the bridge again. It was a nice, if very brief trip back to Downtown on the boat. It probably only took three or four minutes. Back on the shore of Downtown we took a walk back towards our apartment.

Along the way we spotted a video shop and thought it might be a good idea to rent a few movies. We settled on four films - Megamind, Four Lions, Exit Through The Gift Shop and Nowhere Boy. It seemed simple enough to get a card for the video shop and he didn't seem too bothered that we were only renting a place here for a week.

Back at the apartment we watched a couple of the films over the evening. Four Lions was ok, but not as funny as I had expected. Megamind was ok though.

I put together a chicken salad for dinner. Another relaxing day in Vancouver.