Evenings in Nelson, BC, Canada

My new job often takes me to different cities and towns in the interior British Columbia. One such trip was to a city called Nelson in the Kootenays region of BC. Nelson, a city of 10,000 is the cultural hub of the Kootenays. Boasting of an impressive collection of heritage buildings it is the kind of city I love to visit. I was going to spend a couple of days here. Mostly working during the day I found a way to spend my evenings exploring the city. 

My first day of the trip started with me and a colleague's drive from Kelowna to Nelson. On the way we stopped at Grand Forks and only reached Nelson around 4pm. Immediately after checking in the Hotel I made my way out into the streets. Our hotel was located right at the end of the most happening street in Nelson, called Baker street. I strolled along the whole stretch of the street till the very end. Nelson, true to its 'hippie' image features a lot of boutique and offbeat stores. I was soaking in all this hippie 'vibe' when suddenly out of nowhere I heard the hugely popular Telugu song 'cheliya cheliye' play out somewhere. Turns out there was a big store selling Indian products and they were playing this song on the loudspeakers. I casually walked inside the store and had a nice little chat with the cashier about Nelson. Later, I aimlessly wandered around the streets here just going where my heart led me and by the time it was 8pm I had covered the downtown area and the river side area. This whole part is beautiful with some pretty old buildings and shop fronts. This was a delight for me as I love old buildings. I called it a day by 9pm and made my way back to the Hotel. 

The City Hall in Grand Forks

Random streets in Nelson

Next day threw up an unexpected surprise. For our work we had to go to the nearby town called Kaslo. Now from my previous googling about the region I know that Kaslo, apart from being very pretty, was also home to a very important landmark. Kaslo houses the SS Moyie sternwheeler. A National Historic Site of Canada, SS Moyie is the oldest intact sternwheeler in the world. Somehow in between my work I made sure to check it out and took a few pics. It looked magnificent sitting at the waterfront near the row of pretty shops. 

The main street of Kaslo

SS Moyie

We were back in Nelson by 5pm and this time I went in the opposite direction to where I went the previous day. I badly wanted to check out the railway station here and made my way to the quaint station. There was not a soul there so I strolled around the deserted area and finally sat down near the tracks. A locomotive was shunting far away and railfans know how dreamy is the sound of a locomotive shunting in a lonely area. I sat there for sometime lost in thoughts with the sound of the locomotive shunting taking me back to my travels in India. After my reverie was broke my a slight drizzle I quickly got up and left the station. I still had one place to check out and even though it was drizzling now I was determined to check it out. I had heard of a tram operating in Nelson and knowing the late hour I knew it was not operational at that time but I still wanted to just take a look at the tracks and maybe take a pic at one of the tram stations. Which is exactly what I did. There is a lot of history behind it but suffice to say that a volunteer group called the Nelson Electric Tramway Society still operates one section of the tram line along the waterfront. After this mission accomplished I made my way back, still in that drizzle, back to my Hotel. The next way we departed for Kelowna. Overall, even though it was a work trip, I made the most of it and it turned out to be a hit both workwise and my travel wise. 

The deserted railway station

One of the tram stations