Like a Canadian Hogwarts

Like death and taxes, rain in the Pacific Northwest is a sure thing. We'd managed to avoid any significant downpour the entire trip, but Friday morning was a bit on the cold and damp side. Fortunately, we did the outdoor stuff Thursday, and could work a relaxed travel schedule.

First up was brunch, in the local restaurant chain White Spot. Unimpressive. My burger lacked structural integrity and was heavy on the mayo-esque sauce. And their near-5-dollar milkshake was probably not of Jack Rabbit Slims quality.


Vancouver has a tented Shakespeare festival called Bard on the Beach that begins the first week of June. We came to catch the first show, As You Like It, but later in the season (starting July 13) the troupe puts on productions of Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. While the concept of seeing both plays the same day is thrilling enough, what makes it particularly cool is that the same actors play Hamlet, Polonius, Ophelia, Gertrude, Claudius, etc. But the icing on the cake is that the actor who plays Rosencrantz in one becomes Guildenstern in the other, and vice versa. And I thought Crabbe and Goyle were confusing.

Speaking of Hogwarts, we discovered the Canadian equivalent on the uniforms worn by about half of our matinee audience. They attended the Mulgrave School, which is actually divided into four house teams. (Seriously. Click the link.) The students provided an interesting perspective to this show, which was heavy on the girl-girl kissing and homoerotic man-wrestling. Of course, in this crowd, you couldn't see a codpiece or hear the word "ass" without a few unstifled giggles. The actress who plays the cross-dressing heroine Rosalind -- Lara Gilchrist -- has that look of someone who is bound for bigger things, seeing as how our TV shows stateside have placed a premium on Canadian ingenues in their quest to find the next, say, Evangeline Lilly.

After the show we drove south to the Kitsilano district, where stumbled upon another Cobs Bread location. We couldn't resist. Their spinach and feta cheese croissant is such a simple marvel.

To wrap up our trip we dined on coupon-friendly fondue dessert at Inlets Bistro in the nearby Blue Horizon Hotel and late night appetizers at our hotel's jazz bar, and sandwiched a visit to the Pacific Centre in between. All in all, time well spent.


Next year: the fully planned Smallville tour. Failing that, a Degrassi tour.

HOLDEN: You got a weird thing for Canadian melodrama.
BANKY: I got a weird thing for chicks who say "aboot."