We left the alley from Carrall St. and decided to turn into the courtyard on the other side of the bookstore. This, I realized, was "Gaoler's Mews" - a tight cluster of shops and cafes noted in all the tourist guides. And right there was the glassed-in porch cafe where you saw Felicia in FREE FALL. If you turn left in front of it, you can go back out to the alley. Without a doubt, Highlander makes heavy use of all the colorful nooks and crannies of Gastown.

We then walked westward along Water St., took another peek at the "Dojo" building on Cambie St., and stopped in the souvenir store again to buy t-shirts and presents. Further west, we were drawn back into The Landing mall for some heavy duty shopping at the Edinburgh Tartan Shop.

Kathi got an ice cream cone inside the mall and we stood at the picture window with the famous view of the mountains across the inlet. A cruise ship was docked over at Canada Place which explained the mass of tourists and shoppers all around us. Canada Place is that distinctive white structure you see in many of the coastal views of the city (behind the yacht in THE SAMURAI; in the background when Benny calls Duncan on the beach in VENDETTA). It is a low building with white, peaked "sails" which sits on the pier jutting out into the inlet. From our vantage point, you could also make out the Heliport - site of a Victor Paulus scene in BAND OF BROTHERS.

Water St. runs into Cordova St., and we continued west on Cordova for another three blocks, past the Waterfront Centre (hotel), to check out the fountain that I was told was on the other side. Sure enough, Barb - one of the sysops in the B.C. section of the Canada forum - was right. I had e-mailed her an abridged list of locations that I still hoped to find right before my trip. One item was "office building with a tiered, wedding-cake-shaped fountain in front." This is the fountain that Felicia throws her purse into in FREE FALL. Barb knew of this fountain since her husband *built* it! How many tourists know *that*? <BG>

Our next goal was Robson Square, a location used in several episodes, but we detoured southeastward (instead of straight down Hornby St.) to walk through Vancouver's impressive Pacific Centre mall. This is a mall built mostly underground - a useful feature in a downtown setting in a city where it rains alot. Above ground, glass walkways suspended over the streets connect one department store with another. One such bridge is even used as a cafe. We were impressed with how livable Vancouver is. And no, that's not just in comparison to Detroit; Kathi and I know quite alot of cities.

We found a bookstore in the mall with a well-stocked magazine stand. It had what we were looking for: copies of "TV Week" with Adrian Paul on the cover and a two-page article on Highlander inside. Together, we bought up five copies. <sheepish grin> Do you think we looked conspicuous?

We approached Robson Square from the side with the waterfall fountain (seen in SHADOWS). From this angle, and on tv, the waterfall looks like one continuous flow down two levels. But people where walking back and forth across the top of the first level. Clearly, there was pavement up there. Kathi had her hooded, black jacket and volunteered to pose as the Hooded Figure at the top of the falls. Such a good sport! :)

A "Square" sounds so boring and two-dimensional, but Robson Square is anything *but*. It is multi-leveled with open areas going every which way. Wheelchair ramps slice angles right up through the steps the way a road zig-zags it's way up a mountainside. Walkways curve behind dense gardens making you wonder where they lead to. It is a park which every architect wished he or she had when they were young.

We were headed to the top to see if that was where Garrick's art show (SHADOWS) was set up. It was. From there, you can see the Eaton's sign that you catch a glimpse of in the art show scene, and over to the Greek-style Art Museum building. The latter was where I wanted to go to next, so we meandered our way over to it.
The Art Museum, with it's matching stone lions and classical form has been seen in brief establishing shots in TURNABOUT and CROSS OF ST. ANTOINE, but extensively in THE REVOLUTIONARY. Under it is the Robson Square Conference Center - the signs for which you can even read in the scenes which involve the priest getting shot. Outside is where the subsequent chase scene was filmed - down and around that statue of the giant bird with wings spread. Had we had twice as much time to spend in Vancouver, we would have loved to tour the Andy Warhol exhibit which was currently on display. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Perhaps Andy, at least, would understand our preoccupation with a tv show.

Kathi was beginning to drag after all of our walking. I found out later that she was breaking in some new shoes. At the time, though, I didn't know this and coaxed her onward with the promise that I only wanted to go to two more places.

So we went west on Robson and south on Burrard to check out another spot which I got a fix on back home during my armchair sleuthing. (The downtown grid is actually offset at an angle, but "west" and "south" will get you there.) We sat for a bit opposite the grand Sutton Place Hotel so Kathi could rest her feet. When we were half a block away from Nelson St., I almost swore I could smell Rico's chili dogs. <EG> The building to the left felt right and the slope of the hill was perfect. On the west side of Burrard were the YMCA and the stone church (marked as First Baptist on my map) on which I had based my hunch that this was the site of the "British Consulate" scene in EYE FOR AN EYE. But I needed to see the pillars of the building and the driveway to know for sure.

Sure enough, there they were, and if anyone can "high five" themselves, that's what I was doing. I snapped off several shots, picturing Richie thwarting Annie's assassination attempt, and I reveled in finding yet another location on my own.

Our last stop, unfortunately, was not successful. It was at St. Paul's Hospital which was just another block down Burrard. I thought a quick walk along Burrard might reveal the "Emergency" sign seen in SONG OF THE EXECUTIONER, but I can only assume it's on another side of the building.

[New Note: Nope. The hospital for SotE was Children's Hospital on Oak St., near Van Dusen Gardens.]

The crew had also told us that this was where they would be filming Day 3 of LEADER OF THE PACK, but I couldn't see how they might adapt this location from the angle we were looking at it (i.e., there was no hospital scene). Since the circus would probably park in back, any of the buildings around that side of the block could be the ones they'll use. I tried to make a mental impression of the place in case *anything* might eventually match up with the future episode.

[New Note: It did. The front of the hospital was used when Richie first spotted Roszca.]

As we made our way back to the hotel, we stopped at a MacDonalds at 4:30 p.m. for our combination lunch/dinner. Another stop along the way was to visit the brand new Vancouver Public Library to get bus directions to go see the fireworks in the evening. (Although we had a rental car, no cars were being allowed in the area of the fireworks.) Now I know why the locals were making such a fuss about this new building in the Canada forum - it's incredible!

We had been able to see this modern version of a Roman Coliseum from our hotel, thinking it was actually rather threatening looking and uninviting. But as you walk up to it, it's almost like entering another world - again, a great antidote to a rainy climate. One can look down into the enormous children's library and see that *they* get a wonderful view of a hidden waterfall. A special wing was built just outside the main library door - but with a protective ceiling overhead - which housed a bunch of little shops and places to eat. I would love hanging out at such a library.

The lady at the information counter told us about the shuttle buses which would be running to take people from near the B.C. Place Stadium out to English Bay where the fireworks were being held.

That problem solved, we walked the last two blocks back to our hotel, changed into swim suits and made a beeline to the jacuzzi. After three, incredible days of traveling, observing on the set and sightseeing, the jet sprays of deliciously warm water worked wonders on our tired bodies. We emerged renewed and refreshed and ready to face our evening.

After some more note-writing in our room, we headed out at 8 pm to find this shuttle bus. We walked around the raised stadium promenade where we passed the "G Gate" seen in SEE NO EVIL. Now, we were clearly on a *walkway* - and it was difficult to see how they managed to bring the cars up here to casually drive up and park outside the doors. I can only think that they used a pedestrian bridge which connects the promenade to the street.
Don't you just love it how people on tv can always drive right up to doors?

The road around the stadium is like a raceway - which turned out to *not* be an understatement. One car went by so fast I *swear* it would have qualified for the Molson Indy (being held in Vancouver as I write this: Sept. 1-3). Being totally at a loss where these buses picked people up, we darted back and forth across this street and managed to track them down.

The bus let everyone off at Thurlow St. and Beach Ave. which is the beginning of Sunset Beach Park. Since it was still quite early for the 10 pm fireworks, crowds of people casually made their way down past Sunset Beach and on to English Bay Beach which would be front row seating for the fireworks. But we saw no need to go any further. We were up on a steep hill with a decent view of English Bay and we could easily see the fireworks barge from our vantage point. This is the same barge which you see behind Duncan and Anne at the terrace restaurant in COURAGE with the words, "SYMPHONY OF FIRE" painted on the side. (OK, you have to freeze the frame. ;j)

Boats of all sizes - from the tiniest motor boat to large cruise ships - formed a floating amphitheater around the barge. And just like individual bystanders elbowing their way into a crowd of onlookers, new boats continued to sail by to work their way into the thick of the flotilla. By the time the fireworks started, the boats numbered in the hundreds. How they would all sail away when the fireworks were over is beyond me.

Just across False Creek from our viewing spot, another crowd of spectators was forming at Vanier Park. If people chose to stand, the Burrard Bridge could also make a good vantage point. Nevertheless, out of all these half a million people, who walks *right* by us (without seeing us) to sit some twenty yards ahead of us? Ken Gord's teenage daughter whom we had met at the studio just the day before. What impressed us about this odd occurrence had nothing to do with Ken's daughter in particular. It just felt like a sign of some sort having to do with probabilities and the incredible luck we were having.

[New Note: Ken's daughter has a great close-up as an extra in THE ZONE. Right after Charlie follows Duncan and the two take their first look at the residents who are hanging around, she is on the right side with another woman wearing a black t-shirt off one shoulder and studded leather wrist bands.]

The fireworks started at 10:15 pm when the last photon of sunlight was finally out of the sky. They were truly incredible. Kathi and I both marveled at some new atom-looking ones with red, green and blue ellipses. I loved the super-duper ones with balls of colors exploding within colors. Kathi loved the golden "weeping willow trees." The whole thing was choreographed to music, which we could barely hear. However, we gathered that it wasn't the usual military-type symphony that Americans are used to. There were slow parts and upbeat parts. Although there were tiny breaks between sets of fireworks, each new set contained *alot* of (for lack of a better word) "stuff." YKYHBWTMHW (you know you have been watching too much Highlander when:) you look up at all of that sparkling beauty and think, "That was a *really* big Quickening!"

Despite the non-American pacing of the display, it still ended with a fabulously satisfying amount of loud reports. That being our cue, Kathi indicated that we should make a hasty retreat and we hightailed it to the first bus out. We were on our way back at 11 pm at the head of a crowd numbering in the hundreds of thousands. I couldn't remember a more perfect weekend in my entire life. I joked to Kathi that I should buy a lottery ticket. This is where The Big Director in the Sky cues the music, "Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, Life is but a dream."

Perhaps more like a Kind of Magic. <BG>

Copyright (c) 1995, Janine Shahinian
Photographs (c) 1996, Janine Shahinian -- Do Not Reproduce!