Hello Darlings, The final stop on my west coast trip was a weekend exploring beautiful downtown Vancouver. With many friends from Canada's western capital, I had some advance knowledge about where to go and what to see - but of course there's nothing like experiencing things for yourself.

As with Whistler, staying at a Westin Hotel was a good decision. The Westin Grand is located in the heart of downtown, a few walking blocks from pretty much anywhere I wanted to go, even wearing heels! There's about ten more nice things I could say about the hotel - including that I am a huge fan of the signature Westin Heavenly Bed - but most of all it's reassuring to stay at a Westin to avoid drama like what happened in Hollywood staying at another brands' hotel.

Arriving on a Friday and departing on a Sunday, I was curious to experience the Vancouver nightlife. The two neighborhoods that I was told to explore were Gastown and Yaletown. Both nights I opted for Yaletown, and in particular Hamilton Street, where the crowd was mostly twenty and thirty-somethings dressed up for a night on the town.

Craving all-things seafood, I loved Blue Water Cafe on the first night for their Seafood Tower. The real fun came after though at George Lounge just down the street, as I had my first brush with con artists! George is stylish and welcoming, but it is relatively small. So what seemed a pleasant enough father and son pairing invited me to sit with them as I waited for my own place to come available. They engaged in 10 minutes worth of chit chat, and then suddenly left WITHOUT PAYING THEIR BILL. In retrospect the idle chit chat seemed clearly just to create a diversion in order to skip out on their $100+ bill. Of course sad for the manager and waitress, but more sad considering the con artists were 30 and 50 years old and dressed relatively well, so what's up with living life like that??

Night two was a little less dramatic. I made a big effort spending almost an hour walking around Gastown in search of a dinner spot - yes wearing heels - but finally gave up and took a taxi back to Yaletown. Rodney's Oyster House was a good choice, since more than just seafood these days I am craving lobster. I know it's not a west coast thing, but still a good choice and a fun spot.

Brunch has become more appealing than dinner, so on Sunday I checked out what seemed to be the trendy Cafe Medina. I'm not a huge fan of places that don't take reservations, but it came so highly recommended that I made the effort to put my name on the list and took picture in the neighborhood nearby while waiting the hour for my table! I would say it's worth checking out because the food was good, but certainly I wouldn't wait an hour again!

Where are your favorite restaurants and lounges where you live?

With Love...

Marta