After we were nice and full, we transited down to Yaletown for the Warhol art exhibition. We arrived a bit too early, so we took a walk around False Creek since the weather was just perfect (#nofilter).
When it was almost time for the exhibition to be opened, we started heading back. All the artwork were impressive and the little information cards on each piece were quite interesting as well.
"Warhol: A Different Idea of Love". Throughout the exhibition, the information cards had references to his lifestyle - especially the luxury side of it where he was obsessed with stardom and money. I think that's what they meant by "a different idea of love."
The iconic Campbell's soup can.
The artwork of the different men all have a unique background story to them. Some of them are famous, and some were "little information is known about this subject." I remember one of these men committed fraud to gain his riches.
The picture on the left with the dining table full of a cluster of wine glasses represents the excessiveness of luxury. The information card said that with the mess on the dining table and rainbow colours of the artwork, it shows how excessive and messy as a result the riches are.
The picture on the right is of Ali Muhammad. There's a interesting story to this. Apparently, although Warhol was interested in celebrities and stars, he was never really into the sports stars. He did admire Ali as a sports star, however, and at first Ali did not want to be the subject of Warhol's new painting. But, Warhol didn't give up and took some pictures during Ali's fight and painted them. Now, even Ali has a series of himself - I guess Warhol won him over with his style of artwork.
The left picture is scary.
The left picture is about "Space fruits." I have no idea what that means.
Although some of the artwork were not originals by Warhol, they used either his style or print to recreate some of the artworks. It was a bit disappointing, but at least I got a close up on how he achieved his pop art style. I was fascinated with how he used little lines and vibrant colours to paint people - and still be about to get their features right to be recognizable.
After Warhol, we went to Canada Place to try the FlyOver Canada flying ride. I can't believe we didn't go sooner - the whole experience was exhilarating and exciting! Now I know why so many people are recommending others to go - and I would too!
We managed to catch the special AboveUSA and FlyOver Canada back-to-back for a limited time only showing and it was just... amazing. Words cannot describe how cool it was - figuratively and literally!
While walking towards Stanley Park, we passed by this high rise apartment building and outside it has a fountain walkway kind of thing going on, and a Canadian goose was just waddling in it.
I think it has either mistaken that for the pond, or it likes the fresh, calm waters of the apartment. If I were a goose, I would probably do the same thing - don't have to share the waters with other geese and don't have to endure their annoying squacks.
We also saw the police on horseback. The horses were gorgeous and it was like they escaped from Prince Charming's hold. Too bad the policemen weren't very Prince Charming-esque (haha).
Anyways, we finally got to our destination to rent some rollerblades to cruise through Stanley Park. It was both our "first time" rollerblading... as in the last time we did was when we were really young.... It was really hard trying to go downhill. I had to ask an employee from another store while trying to make my way down to the park for help as I didn't know how to brake and traffic was right in front of me.
I only got two bruises and a somewhat sore ankle, but it was definitely an experience and great memory to remember! The whole time the sun was shining, birds were chirping, bikers were passing, and people were selfie-sticking (haha). It was a great weekend to rollerblade, but I don't think we'll be doing that for a while.
Unfortunately, I couldn't take as many pictures as I'd liked considering the weather was perfect for selfies. But, I'll rather not risk falling down on my butt just for taking a few narcissistic photos of myself. It's too dangerous in skates.
Around two hours later, we had skated all around the seawall and started heading back towards the rental shop. We returned our skates and, finally, our feet could breath again. It felt insanely nice to be able to walk in shoes-without-wheels again. My legs hurt, my calves hurt, my feet hurt, my ankles hurt. But, it was all #worthit! We slowly slowly slowly made our way back to Canada Place for dinner. We had a reservation at Five Sails and it was located inside the Pan Pacific Hotel.
"Amuse bouche" that I could only enjoy half of because I can't eat raw things. Good thing B can.
For appetizers, I had the Lobster Bisque "Cappuccino" with fresh Atlantic lobster. The bisque was really rich and flavourful! B ordered the Caramelized Weathervane Scallops with root vegetable purees & caper emulson garnished with egg & finger lime "caviar."
As for the main course, I had the Crispy Sea Bass pan seared chickpea & fava bean cake, saffron aioli, maple caramelized vegetables, citrus butter emulsion. The one thing that really fascinated me about this dish was the fried leaf. It was actually surprisingly really good. Who knew?
B, of course, had something raw and deathly as usual. He asked for the Lemon Glazed Roasted Rack & Loin of Alberta Lamb with garlic infused whipped potato and ragout of vegetables in season & natural jus. Lamb was medium-rare of course (or as I'd like to call it - asking for a trip down to the ER). He really liked it and said the lamb was very tender and cooked to perfection. I think I'll stick to my cooked seafood though.
Once the main course was over, we talked for a bit before the dessert menu arrived. If you don't want to eat the appetizers or main course from Five Sails, at least definitely try their desserts. It was oh so delicious. I love dessert. I'm picky, but once I find that perfect dessert it's like I'm floating on cloud nine.
The plating was on point and it was almost too beautiful to eat... keyword: almost. It tastes as good as it looks and definitely did not disappoint! I can still remember the taste... just... heavenly.
I had the Luxe Lemon Mille-Feuilles with its delicate layers of crisp phyllo pastry and chilled lemon cream & lemon parfait, fresh berry puree topped with pearls of orange "caviar." B had their Chocolate Opera Slice with Bailey's truffle, caramel ice cream demi-sel, and hazelnut garnish - it really looked like a piece of artwork with the cool chocolate spiral.
After dessert, I quickly went to the ladies' room and came back to this:
Apparently, they had called B a day or two ago inquiring if our visit was for a special occasion, and he had told them that it was for our anniversary, so they prepared a little something for us. I finally get to blow out a candle that's been lit just to be blown out! It was really sweet of them to prepare this for us - that level of service is just simply amazing. Especially their French - so good that I didn't understand a word of it (haha).
And to finish the already amazing dinner off, we were greeted by this gorgeous sunset.
With the clouds and precipitation in the air (or so I was told by the man dining next to us), it created this gorgeous and rare pink northern lights-like effect in the sky. Simply stunning. Many people were going up to the windows to take pictures and I wouldn't blame them - I did the same thing! It's not everyday you get to witness such a beautiful sunset like this!
After that, we left for... more dessert at our usual place (True Confections). We just can't celebrate our one year anniversary without going to True Confections - it's tradition. And who would argue against getting more dessert anyways? After our second round of dessert (no guilt), we headed back to my place to re-watch "Just Go With It" starring Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler. Although it was rated 19% on Rotten Tomatoes (unbelievable!), we both really enjoyed it - even the second time around!
As for presents, even though we agreed not to get presents for occasions like these (eg. Christmas, Valentines', etc.), we still got presents for each other. I walked around all of downtown Vancouver the day before to get all the necessary components of my presents for B and let's just say it wasn't easy, but I was pretty lucky with each one of them.
I got B a white Polaroid camera knowing that he takes pictures on his iPhone but never prints them out So, with this instant camera, he'll get the pictures he wants whenever he wants. Also included some films to get him started. In addition, I saw this cute book from Chapters - it's a book that gets you to list reasons of "What I Love About _____ by _____" and I had to get it. Of course, a card is also included and a striped bag with pink details - gotta love the pink accent!
B got me a really pretty bracelet from Pandora. It has "Always in my heart" etched onto it and differently shaped heart charms. It's hard to put on and take off by myself so I had to ask B to help me with that. I guess this is never coming off seeing as how I have two left hands (instead of two left feet) that can't even take off a bracelet by myself. Oh well, I quite like it on me at all times anyways. It's very sweet.
Overall, it was an amazing day spent with an amazing boyfriend. I can't wait to see what our second year will bring us and I hope we'll have even more good days like these.
