About

why this BLOG

We are Philou et Elia, a couple in their thirties who moved from Paris, France to Vancouver, BC in 2016 - then to Bella Coola late 2020. This blog lets us share what we’re up to and impressions to our friends and relatives, and anyone else who’s interested.

note: Sorry, articles are only available in french at this time. Use the FR link at the top of the page to view the content and pictures.

why this site’s name (some history)

Vancouver is a very young city: barely 130 years old in 2016. Its foundation is directly tied to the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway. This 5000km long project, linking the Atlantic to the Pacific, chose in 1884 an “unpopulated” site as the western terminus, where Burrard inlet became the third largest harbor (before New-York) and a major asset for Vancouver. The Pacific Central train station (appearing in this site’s theme) remains a historic monument of the city (which it has few of, considering its recent history).

British Columbia

Vancouver is located in the province of British Columbia, often shortened as BC. As the image French have of Canada is often biased towards Québec, let’s just specify that BC is mostly enligh-speaking and that it’s never snowed under much for any length of time (the climate is very similar to Brest, in Bretagne).