Vancouver!

So we have four days of performing behind us now. The show is being continually tweaked, and continues to be well attended. Apparently the tent seats a thousand people, and it's at least 75% full. The first two shows seemed sold out, when the school groups were at the festival.

We've also done a couple 45 minute strolls that have been great fun. Kids everywhere make it more interesting for us.

Sharing a hotel and stage with a French-Canadian musical/acrobatic/comedic company called L'Parfaits Inconnus (The Perfect Unknowns in English, and don't hold me to the French spelling) has led to a great relationship. One of the five has his girlfriend and their two kids along. (One kid is still in her belly.) All very nice people, we look forward to being on the bus with them to the next festival as well.

All the festival staff is great, I'm not used to this kind of treatment. The Luxury Bum tour with Will Brierly those years ago was built on a foundation of being on the outside trying to get in. I have that magical "PERFORMER" badge now, and a hotel, and breakfast, and no worries, really.

Vancouver really is a great city. After our show on Thursday, I took a long walk along the water, to the thousand acre park that encompasses the end of the peninsula. The area between the water and the skyscrapers is beautiful, with separate paths for perambulators and their wheeled counterparts. There were beaches, grassy areas, volleyball courts...all manner of great stuff a few blocks from downtown.

Imagine if you could leave your office, walk a few blocks, and be on the beach? With another fabulous looking park across the "creek," grass around? I can only imagine how valuable this is on everyone in the city's state of mind.

The buildings all seem fairly new, with tasteful architecture. Almost nothing looks run down. There's just so much more green than most cities for some reason: trees, grass, ivy. Wonderful.

There's a place a few blocks from our hotel with a sushi special: 18 pieces for $5.50. And it's very good sushi. There's actually lots of sushi places, and the prices are all comparable in price. I can't speak for the quality yet. So the food is abundant and good, there are some pretty rad shops as well. It's a great city to walk around in.

So I've fallen for Vancouver a little. I've already told myself that I would never leave the Northeast; family and friends beat out a nice city. But if we were relocate the clan, this would be a place to consider.

I've put up some more pictures, some with caption that give a little more explanation. I'm busy most of the time, so it's hard to write as much as I would like. We'll be leaving in a couple days, perhaps I'll be able to document the Big Nazo experience a little better when we get into the mountains.

Much love!