I think you sometimes need to treat where you live as if you are on an holiday especially when for the first time in 33 years you aren't going to work after Labour Day (I had a break when I moved out here and they had paid me to quit my teaching position in Montreal due to changes due to language legislation they had a teaching surplus situation).
Today I decided to go for a walk before breakfast and then after a stop at Starbucks I decided to keep walking...
I crossed Oak and then you are in a slightly different world, Shaughnessy.
Long ago when I first lived in Montreal I lived in St. Henri, a mainly French speaking, working class area, and we used to laughingly call that Lower Lower Westmount. Westmount was the most expensive area of Montreal with many big old mansions etc. Lower Westmount was nice but the homes weren't really mansions.
Shaughnessy was traditionally Vancouver's Westmount and one of my neighbours called our neighbourhood Lower Lower East Shaughnessy. is there a pattern here?
But now we have crossed Oak. Almost immediately it becomes silent and empty!
The lots are way way bigger. in my neighbourhood they are mainly 33 feet wide and 120 feet deep...
That wouldn't fit the houses here!
Interesting combinations of old and new and sometimes even abandoned and so very quiet...
Here is one historic estate!
I think I once did a garden tour of the house above and it was amazing!
Many have locked gates. What I hate are the ones where you can't see anything. You should at least let the plebeians admire your beautiful house and garden.
It is entirely possible to become hopeless lost in Shaughnessy. The roads often circle around and you ask yourself how did I end up here? Today I had a GPS on my iPhone but I missed the street I wanted out of the Crescent and went around an extra time.
The Crescent is the centre of the maze. The house that I have been in many times is Hycroft, owned by the University Women's Club and used for many public events.
It is a bit ironic that some of these homes are owned now by Chinese immigrants and once when the original houses were built, the servants were Chinese immigrants. Nice irony...
Some more modern house designs and lovely gardens...
Some substantial homes...
I bet quite a few gardening firms are employed...
I crossed back over to east of Oak into Douglas Park where lots became smaller and there is vitality!
but gardens were up close and personal...
Some enthusiastic gardeners cultivate right into the street.
Here is Douglas Park and its community centre that I enjoy using!
and then you hit Cambie a couple of blocks away and you are in what since the Olympics has been called Cambie Village
I found myself back on my street and I thought I like it so much better here than Shaughnessy! A reasonably priced neighbourhood when we moved here in 1985, due to its location and the insane cost of housing in this city,it has become expensive as well and I feel fortunate to call it my neighbourhood!
I hope you enjoyed a walk through some streets in Vancouver!
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Location:Vancouver
