The rest of our trip was nice. We saw a play at Bard on the Beach each evening. Othello (main stage) was *very* well done and I enjoyed it much more than I had expected. We had been delayed going over the Lions Gate bridge and so were late to the performance. They slipped us and another couple in shortly after the play started, so we had seats down in the front left, which was a very different perspective that we normally have.

I enjoyed Comedy of Errors (main stage) less than I had expected. It was set in an exaggerated Elizabethan-time period, with anachronistic asides and music thrown in and it didn't work well for me.

Richard II (Studio Stage) was the first of their upcoming 'history series' and I hadn't seen it before. It was interesting, although the reasoning for Richard II to yield his throne to Henry was not clear. I'll need to read up on the Henry's before we head up next year. Bard is going to meld the two H-IVs into one play for 2010 and the three H-Vs together into one play for 2011, and I'm curious how that is going to work.

Finally, we say Alls Well That Ends Well. (Studio Stage) which was pleasant enough. I've finding it interesting that I'm enjoying the 'serious' plays more and the comedies less these days and wonder if it is a function of 'growing up', or whether it is just that I've seen most of the comedies several times and so the 'dramas' are fresher for me. Of course, the quality of the Bard on the Beach productions is amazing and that may part of it as well.

Beyond the plays we did a mix of standard things and new. We stopped by ABC Books and browsed. They lost one of their cats last fall and so only have the one now. I found out that bookstores actually keep their cats for a reason: otherwise mice will get in and nibble the bindings. We also swung by Stanley Park and looked for black squirrels and went shopped at Indigo Books (I've caught up with my collection of 'British' Harry Potter editions).

Among the 'new' things: we went on some of the Stanley Park trails which is something I've been wanting to do for years and D. suggested we see the VanDusen Botanical Gardens. It's similar to the Butchart Gardens, and is made up of various 'themed' gardens but on a smaller scale. We ran out of time, so didn't get to see all of the different areas, but did make it to the Maze (and found the center!). Pictures will be up on Flickr some time later this week.