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What to do on the weekend?

The weekend is here, finally! Time to relax again and join gone of the many activities/events in and around Vancouver.

Midnight Mass Bike ride
Riding bikes with a massive group of people at midnight on Friday, sound fun eh! Also a good way to discover Vancouver by night, meet them at Cenotaph in Grandview Park at 11.30pm. And other fun fact, it is for free! For more information click here.

Revenge of the Art Show
If you like the combination of movies, Footloose, Start Trek III, footloose and many 1984 movies and art, wyou will love this event. The Revenge of the Art Show is an an art show 30 shows in the making inspired by 1984 movies. The show will go on until the June 28th, it is located on 2206 Main and opens every Wednesday till Sunday from 12 – 5pm. More information can be found here.

Vancouver Full Moon Beach Party
On Friday the 13th the full moon will be out again and a perfect time to party on the beaches of Vancouver. However it is not yet clear where and when this party will start. For more information about this event join the Facebook event.

Spartan Sprint Race
For those whole love to get dirty while working out the Spartan Race is made for you. You can choose between a 5km, 13km or 2okm race with different obstacles blocking your way. The tickets start at $85 and already 60% is sold out, so make sure you buy them on time. The race will start on Saturday at Mount Seymour. To book your ticket click here.

World Naked Bike Ride
You like cycling, but are bored by it, then try the naked bike ride on Saturday. This is not only for fun, but also to protest against the pollution of the cars. If you want you join, make sure you are there (naked) at sunset beach near the corner of Beach Avenue and Bute Street at noon for body painting and performances, the ride will start at 2pm. More information can be found here.

Saturday Markets
And of course we have some markets on Saturday, the International Summer Night Market at Vulcan Way, behind the Home Depot, the entry is $2. Or the Richmond night Market at 8351 River Road also an admission for $2.

Seek the Peak Relay
For the extreme runners underneath us the Seek the Peak relay is coming up on Sunday at Grouse Mountain.  The course is 16km long and the price for this fun activity is $63. You can register online till the 12 of june or just before the race in person til 7.30am. For more information click here.

Car Free Day in Vancouver
10 Years ago Car free day began on Commercial Drive as a protest to the Gateway Program. In Kits there will be  individual block parties hosted, on Main several mini-festivals will be held, on Commercial rollers discos will organized and many more activities can be found here.

Enjoy your weekend and hopefully see you on Saturday for our bike ride!

 

Nuria’s Story

Today I would like to share Nuria’s  little, but memorable story from Vancouver! Nuria participated in the INTERNeX Canucks Contest, but unfortuantly she did not win one of the Canucks tickets. But since we really liked her story we gave her another prize, namely 2 tickets for the Maritime Museum in Vancouver.

It was on a normal evening in Vancouver we went to english bay to celebrate Lies birthday. We were hangig around, playing volley-ball, singing the birthday song, looking at the beautiful sunset, eating the birthday cake, telling stories… So we decided to go to a pub to clink glasses, so we were on our way to the city.

Somebody saw a black limousine parked in a parking area and we saw people coming out of the limosine, so we thought it would be cool to ask the driver, how much it would be to take a drive. So we went and asked.

The thing was, that the guy, who owns the limosine, buyed the car on this day (from a friend)! It was his personal car!!! So he invited us to join him and his friends for a ride… „Are you kidding me, of course we are coming.“ We went into the limosine and drove around for an hour, over the lions gate bridge (at night, with all the lights from downtown), into the stanley park and through downtown. It was amazing. It was the perfect birthday present for Lies and a perfect ending for this day for all of us… just unforgettable.

You will never know what is going to happen in Vancouver, you will never know… but it will happen… so better be prepared…. muhahaha!

I would like to thank Nuria for sharing this great story with us! Great to see that you have an awesome time in Vancouver!

Cheers, Lydia

INTERNeX International Exchange
Suite 200 – 211 Columbia Street
Vancouver BC -V6A 2R5-
Web: www.internexcanada.com
Email: pr@internexcanada.com
Phone: +1 (604) 662 8149

Sleep at the Athlete’s Village in Whistler!

On our trip to Whistler  Laura, Mette and me had the change to stay in the new HI  Whistler Hostel.

Before the hostel opened its doors it was part of the athlete’s village during the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Since the opening, on July 1, 2010, it has been attracting people from all around the world.

My first impression  was that it is a modern and clean hostel. What I particularly liked is that you share the bathroom with 2 rooms. So instead of sharing it with an entire floor (what I am used to during my time backpacking in Australia) you only have to share it with the people in your room and in the adjacent room. The TV-room is really big and has some comfortable seats; I can picture myself sitting on the couch after a long day and watch a movie. The hostel also has a event board were the hostel staff posts the events in and around Whistler for the week!

The hostel has a lounge area that is perfect for reading a book or relaxing after a long day. The dining room offers more than enough space to have a relaxed dinner and if you would like some fresh air while eating you can choose to eat you dinner out on the patio! To see some pictures of the hostel, click here

The hostel is located about a 10 minute bus ride from Whistler, but with busses stopping there every half hour you will be in Whistler Downtown within no time!

Some facts about the HI-Whister:

  • Two floors of dorms with ensuite bathrooms
  • 14 private ensuite rooms
  • Family-friendly rooms
  • On-site café with outdoor patio
  • Theatre-style meeting room (seats 60)
  • TV lounge and large games room
  • Self-catering kitchen with dining room
  • Outdoor patio and BBQ deck with mountain views
  • State-of-the-art ski/snowboard/bike storage
  • A beauty of a fireplace

Want to go check out this beautiful hostel? Moose’s Sea to Sky tour give you the perfect opportunity to see all what Whistler has to offer in just 2 days. You will sleep in the HI-Whistler hostel, so don’t wait and sign up to for an awesome tour to Whistler! You can book your trip at INTERNeX! Would rather go by yourself? Check out the HI-Whistler website to see which dates are available!

– Manouk

Bike Ride Through Stanley Park

Hi,

I want to thank everyone that came to the Bike ride yesterday. I had a great time.

We started our day at the Bayshore Bike Rental company so that those of us that did not have a bike could rent one. Rentals cost are $6.00 per hour or if you are a student $4.00 per hour. You can also rent roller skates for only $5 pe0r hour.  For more information about Bayshore Rental, see their website.

After getting our bikes we started our journey to Stanley Park. Before reaching Stanley Park we biked on the Seawall. The Seawall is 22 km in total and takes you all over town, including Stanley Park. For more information about the Seawall can be found here.

When we arrived in Stanley Park we decided to first bike around the park so we could enjoy the beautiful scenery. When biking around Stanley Park you will come across the the totem poles, the girl in the wetsuit and many more.

The bike ride is pretty easy throughout the park, although at one point the hill we had to bike up was to steep for me and I had to walk the rest of it.

After riding all around Stanley Park we decided to also go through the park. That turned out to be a great idea as we saw a lot of wild life. We saw a raccoon, squirrel, a woodpecker and many other birds. Especially around Bever Lake we saw a lot of birds.

After a day biking through Stanley Park we still have not seen everything so we will definitely go back another time, hopefully you will join us next time!

– Manouk

Other Upcoming Events:

July 7 PuB NiGHT @ The Cambie

Top 5 things to do in the Rockies!

If you are working in the Rockies or are planning to go there be sure to check out this top 5 things to do.

  1. Banff Gondola

Take the eight minute gondola ride up to the top op Sulphur Mountain to enjoy a 360° view of Banff and its surrounding peaks, Lake Minnewanka, and the Bow Valley stretching from east to west. At the top of the mountain there are several scenic hiking trails you can do. You can also encounter the local wildlife, including bighorn sheep, squirrels, marmots and many more. For only $25 you can go up and down the mountain. Looking to save a few bucks? You can also hike up the mountain. It’s a 5.5 km strenuous walk that will take you about 2-5 hours but I am willing to bet you enjoy the view so much more when you hiked up the mountain

2.   Sunshine Meadows

The Sunshine Meadows are known as the most stunning alpine setting in the Canadian Rockies. At 2220 m high, the meadows straddle the Continental Divide and the boundary between Alberta and British Columbia. Surrounded by some of the Rockies’ highest peaks, the unobstructed views are beyond compare. Wildlife around in the meadows, and the brilliance of the summer flowers and autumn larches guarantees spectacular scenery on every visit.

Spend your day on top of the world and away from the crowds at Sunshine Meadows. Mt. Assiniboine, “the Matterhorn of the Canadian Rockies”, and Banff National Park’s highest peak, can be your backdrop! A network of gentle trails wind their way through the Meadows and offer a range of walking for all abilities; from easy one and two hour strolls, to challenging full day hikes to Quartz Ridge, Healy Pass, or beyond.

3.   Tunnel mountain and Hoodoos

One of Banff national park oldest trails Tunnel Mountain is a still one of the most beautiful walks in the area. It takes about 2-3 hours to hike and it is a 4.3 km (2.7 miles) round trip. It is the smallest peak in the Rockies to be called a mountain. Standing guard around the top of the mountain are hoodoos. People looking to do this track often have two questions:

  • What are hoodoos? They are giant freestanding pillars several meters tall that are made of silt, gravel and rocks cemented together by dissolved limestone. That was the technical answer, to make it so that everyone understands here is a picture.
  • Where is the tunnel? That is the other frequently asked picture. Because the trail is called Tunnel Mountain people are wondering were the tunnel is. Well… there is no tunnel! So why did they call it tunnel mountain? That’s because of a proposal from the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1882. They wanted to blast a half mile tunnel through the hillside, but luckily they quickly decided that this was to expensive and that it would be easier to go around.

4. Lake Minnewanka

It’s the largest lake in Banff National Park at 24 km (15 miles) long and 142 m (466 ft.) deep. Only scuba divers can view the remnants of a small town called Minnewanka Landing, after a dam was built in 1941 causing the lake to rise by 30 m. But you can walk along the lakeside trail or sing up for the interpretive boat tour to learn about the history, native folk lore and geology.

5. Vermillion Lakes

This is the perfect place for a picnic lunch on the dock, with stunning views o Mount Rundle and Sulphur Mountain.There are three lakes along this road, where bald eagles nest in trees, Canadian geese breed in the marshlands and tundra swans stop by during each spring and fall migration.  A natural hot springs bubbles into

the third lake. You’ll hear the mournful whistle of the Canadian Pacific Rail trains as the cross the tracks at the far side of the lakes, a sound which has echoed through the Bow Valley for more than 100 years.

If you are a big fan of nature and love to go on hikes, the Rockies are the best designation for you.

There is so much to do and see that even if you were to live there your whole life you won’t get to see everything. But this top 5 gives you a start.

Are you in the area at the moment or have been to the Rockies and would like to add an something to our top 5? Let us know by sending an email to pr@internexcanada.com

–          Manouk