Any Vancouver Weekend Review - Martini Tour

I suppose I may have been overly inspired by the latest James Bond. I look a bit like him for a start, I'm single, I have a slight British accent, and I very much enjoy the company of women. In fact, when I saw the film I laughed out loud in places where the rest of the audience was silent because I strongly identified with the decisions he made, both correct and incorrect. By the end of of the film, the child in me wanted to be just a little more Bond. The next week I started (resumed) lifting weights, cut my hair short, and after an incident on a dance floor a couple weeks later I signed up for Aikido. (Side note: This self defense art form is very 007 because it disables an adversary, but does no real damage.)

Not a bad start right towards the goal right? Now, what about the social aspect?

When the opportunity availed itself to do a Vancouver Martini tour (via VancouverMartini.com), I was not only interested, I was determined. Within a couple hours I managed to wrangle an invite despite the full complement having been already met. Surprisingly, I didn't even need to make a statement that I was some persuasion of a weekend promoter. Pretty friendly I would say.

A day later Saturday evening rolled around and at 6:30pm, along with my two Bond girls, the tour convened at Herons Lounge in the Waterfront hotel. The three of us made some quick introductions, and liberated a few drinks from the waitresses and waiters as well as some lobster, pate and salmon hor'dourves. I have always enjoyed Herons. One of our best Christmas parties was held there a few years ago. Getting started didn't take long. My charcoal gray suit may have well been a beacon of light in the sea of black, but before too long some artistic types became involved bringing with them even more vibrant colours.

The good natured party then moved across the street to Cascades where we listened to an opera singer and got to know some of the personalities in the group. Time passed quickly and before long we rallied and illegally ventured through the Skytrain terminal to Steamworks. It's not quite killing for queen and country, but it was silly and fun, and kept us out of the rain. Steamworks is where the party caught, and we started to get noisy. I really like Steamworks, as I have had some successful dates there, as well as a really great Christmas party a few years back. Once the rally sign was thrown, we migrated en-mass to the next stop: the Vancouver Lookout revolving restaurant.

I hadn't been to this place since I was a kid. It was cool looking out and seeing the rip in BC Place stadium, and the ever changing view of light and energy. By this time, several new couples were in the process of forming, and the group was becoming very comfortable almost as its own distinct entity. The group included people from quite a few countries, with many backgrounds and walks of life. My only pseudo-fear of potentially having to deal with uppity people was well abated. Nearly a couple of revolutions later, we all jammed into the elevators and dropped back down to earth to do the final push to Au Bar nightclub.

Au Bar is one of the few clubs that I have not been to before and was definitely a fine location to complete the evening at. The music was pretty old school and... oh how do I put this... familiar, pleasant, yet kind of difficult to dance to perhaps. However, the room was nicely decked out and quite ideal for martini gatherings. The VIP room suited the event exactly right. I was impressed actually, as about 30 of us survived to the club, and many ended up on the floor and danced it out.

What I really liked about this night was that it was far more social that a regular clubbing evening because most of it happens in places that are not so screaming loud that you can't talk to everyone. There were lots of exchanging of telephone numbers and business cards. If you do decide to check out a martini tour, and I highly recommend that you do, make certain that you bring business cards... even if you are a student. People made new friends, new business contacts, and apparently new significant others on Saturday.

Okay, lovely, but this is a Martini tour, so... What About The Martinis?!?! You can't be serious! Did you read the names of the places we hit? They all serve great martinis. In fact, each location had them ready to go for the group on its arrival. Most had several trays of two different types that were made from various juices. Now, I have been on sugary martini evenings before, and from my recollection, too many of this kind of drink virtually ensured the next day was replete with a kick-ass hangover. I mitigated that by asking for olive based martinis. Delicious... every one, and not a a complaint from anyone.

That was the first stellar evening of 2007, and very well suited to continue the evolution of my alter ego. This is not an every weekend kind of thing for a couple of reasons. First, these should be occasional to keep them special. And second, you are probably looking at about $75 to $100 by the time you are done to cover the night. Drinks are $12 or $13 each, and joining the group requires $10. There is one advantage though, and that is that the night covered the entrance to Au Bar. Not bad at all really.