Vancouver

Yesterday, my day had 33 hours. I used this opportunity to take 2 nights after each other. The first night I had after switching planes in Ottowa, but didn't get much sleep. The second part of the night started in Vancouver, when my endogenous clock told me it was 9 am the next day. I got up together with my couchsurfing hosts the next morning and started to explore the city by bike when they had to go to work. Ira gave me directions to some outdoor equipment stores where I spent about half of the day, getting stuff and looking around.
I realized that this is my first time in an english speaking country since I can speak the language. In every other country I have been so far, speaking english is the indication of being a stranger to that place, not speaking the local language. For a moment I was hesitating when someone in a shop asked in english "can I help you?". How does he know that I'm not ... oh, of course, I'm in an english-speaking country. Then I said a short sentence, and he asked "Are you from Germany?" Damn, I have to get rid of this accent. I'll start by writing this blog in english, maybe that helps.
So far, Vancouver is great, it's a cyclers paradise. Even though there are many 4-lane roads, there's always place for cyclists, although it feels a bit strange on the really big roads. If such a road has an extra bike lane, this is indicated on the street sign. Besides that, there are bypass signs for cyclists, leading the way around the big avenues, but going the same direction, only on calmer streets. For example, a big street is called Broadway, and the signs for cyclists say "Off Broadway". Like if Toengesgasse would be called "Off Zeil", for the Frankfurters.
I'm curious about when I'll get tired again, but the sun seems to convince my european rhythm quite fast.