It's hip, it's modern, it has kick-ass coffee, and it has a view of the mountains. Well, it has a view of the mountains when it's not raining. I'm talking about Vancouver's Eight East Coffee House on Broadway.



This place will BLOW YOUR MIND. The music, the decor, the dancers, the juggling troupe, and -- not least by far -- an olympic-size ice rink. Come for the coffee, but you can also watch the out-of-work NHL players vie for coffee and biscotti in a series of no-holds-barred blood matches. Sundays and holidays are family days, when they replace the players with clowns. Instead of sticks, they go at each other with balloon animals. Yesterday a clown had to be rushed to the hospital after being garotted with a giraffe.

Well, to be honest the ice rink isn't yet past the planning stages, and may have been just my own caffeine-induced hallucination. And the dancers, clowns, and juggling troupe never really existed. If you're lucky, though, you can catch sight of a cyclist or two from the bike shop next door.

In the meantime, Dan, Pam, and their staff have themselves a nice little coffee house. I think I'll definitely come back, even if it's a while until I see the rink.