Whistler | A Busy Life of Leisure

I woke up this morning from a dream that it was snowing on Whistler. And that dream came true!
We, Piali, Souvik & I, hiked to the village through the very picturesque trail, and hopped on to the gondola that would take us to the peak.

Up that way I had my first ever glimpse of snow, and couldn’t help the tears of joy at that sight.

Up up above it was 0 degrees C, and I was blessed with the lightest, most delicate sprinkling of fresh snow. For all those living in cooler regions, this must seem like much ado about a bit of ice, but coming from 30 deg ++ all my life, I was THRILLED to be freezing and prancing in the cold. Souvik was excited too, but did a much better job of containing it. For that, he was rewarded with some well aimed snowballs.

We did the peak-2-peak ride from Whistler to Blackcomb, admiring the stunning landscape:

We were warmed by hearty soup, jackets on sale and hot chocolate, ever ready to pose in the cold.

With a heavy heart we had to leave Whistler, but the ride back was no less of a treat, with Piali obligingly stopping at every viewpoint for those awesome landscapes:

If day 1 was eventful, day 2 went beyond all expectations. We started off with an early morning run by Souvik, inspired by all the local hyper-sporting people, so now he’s earned his bragging rights on this trip, and I can peacefully plan the rest of the agenda.
We decided to find our way to Granville Island, via a short train ride and a long scenic walk from the olympic village to the ‘island’, past the marina and the parks and the lemonade stands… Straight into a children’s festival gathering up steam.

Granville Island turned out to be an interesting spot for eclectic art, street musicians, and other browse-worthy markets, full of the weekend bustle.

But, as usual, it was the cherries and berries display that made my mouth water!

Later in the afternoon Piali drove us to Whistler mountain, little expecting the extent of squealing and gushing she would have to hear all the way up. Words and pictures do no justice to the beauty of the landscape, so I’ll dispense with the superlatives but let in a glimpse: