From: penny@penpal.fsnet.co.uk   
      
   THE X TOUR  *  X-PERIENCE IN VANCOUVER !   
      
   Hi!   
      
   Before I even begin to telling everyone about the fantastic X-File location   
   tour in the city of Vancouver, lets start with a bit of luck that came my   
   way. DD had been promoting the new movie 'Connie & Carla' and it premiered   
   two days before I flew to Canada with Mum. (I knew nothing of this until I   
   got to Vancouver.)  So, first of all on Thursday, April 15th when I got to   
   Calgary, I was channel surfing in the hotel room, and saw the coming   
   attractions for C&C, which was going to be released on Friday! The next day   
   I caught him on a chat show! Couldn't believe my luck! I suggested to Mum   
   that maybe we could go and see the film when we got to Vancouver? She was   
   apprehensive at first, but discovered the female lead (who wrote the script)   
   also wrote and starred in 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' which she loved. So had   
   a feeling she'd enjoy this one?   
      
   On my travels I discovered that DD is still very popular with folks (even if   
   they do accuse him of saying it rained all the time!)  I met a couple of   
   avid fans, a lady assistant on the Jasper cable car, who as I left called   
   out, 'Goodbye another Duchovny fan!' Then there was the lady serving in a   
   Subway in Kamloops who was keen to see the new film as well. I also met a   
   few people who had met him in Vancouver. Well of course there was Boyd (the   
   guy who runs the X-Tour) who had at the time let XF film outside, and inside   
   his mother's suite (Scully's appartment) in Season 2, having no idea what   
   this 'hokey little sci-fi show' would become!  But then after all these   
   years, he recently met DD again filming in Vancouver's Gastown, for 'Connie   
   & Carla'. Needless to say the fans on his tour (Japanese) got more than they   
   bargined for that day! Then when I went on the North Shore/ Grouse Mountain   
   trip, our guide Sean from the local West Coast Sightseeing mini bus tours   
   decided to make me jealous.  He used to be a gardener, and ended up doing   
   the garden belonging to DD's next door neighbour, while DD rented a place in   
   the Kitsilano area (not far from Mulder's original appartment location.)   
   Sean said how DD used to say 'hi' to him over the fence every morning!   
   (Incidently, I thought Sean looked a little bit like Krycek!)  I also   
   found out that one of the Jetsave representatives (the tour co. we went with   
   from UK) played a vampire in "Bad Blood" 5/12. Our Canadian guide from   
   Jetsave, Ron also had a friend in the company who was Scully's double, and   
   he used to tease her all the time by calling her this!  And there was a   
   female tour guide (West Coast Sightseeing) on the Victoria tour who had met   
   William Davis. She said she could smell a heavy scent of smoke on him. (But   
   I thought he didn't really smoke, only menthol ones on X Files? Still that's   
   got a worse smell in my opinion!)    
      
   <>   
      
   It was on the second day in Vancouver, after a trip to Whistler that Mum and   
   I went to see 'Connie & Carla', at the Odeon on Granville Street, a few   
   streets down from our hotel. We both loved it! Two women friends have their   
   sights set on being caberet performers (Nia and co-star had great singing   
   voices.) Then they get mixed up with crooks and accidentaly make a run for   
   it with their stash of drugs! They end up in LA, and are getting nowhere   
   with the singing. Then Nia has a wild idea after seeing a drag show. Both   
   ladies pretend to be male drag queens, and are a hit! Then DD comes along as   
   one of the 'queens' brothers, trying to make peace with him, after the guy   
   left his family. Nia falls hook line and sinker for him, but can't reveal   
   her true self, for fear of destroying the girls' act as drag queens. So she   
   keeps making conversation (and literally bumping into him several times!)   
   He's drawn to him/her, but when they get drunk in a bar and she kisses him,   
   he panics! The drag queens have a thing for him too!  Will he discover   
   that Nia is really a woman? Go see the movie! I also loved it as it had lots   
   of songs from musicals, particularly 'Mame' that they kept singing. Erm, all   
   except DD that is. Well the guy has admited he has a 'bad' singing voice!   
    There was also a special guest from the world of musicals. When I got   
   home I immediately bought the soundtrack over the Internet (it's brilliant!)   
   And I'll get the DVD, whenever it finally gets released.   
      
   <>   
      
   Speaking of Whistler, Mum and I took a trip on the cable car up the   
   mountain, where I took several photos. Then discovered later that X Files   
   filmed the Arctic scenes up there. So I'd already been witnessing an XF   
   location without realising it. This actually happened several times during   
   my stay. I ended up taking photos of areas that turned out to be XF   
   locations - talk about 'spooky' intuition!  For instance on the way to   
   Whistler, we stopped at a small area called Britania Beach. I saw an old   
   Mining Museum and thought it looked familiar, so took a pic of it, and the   
   tourist stores. Turns out it was the mine in "Paper Clip" 3/2 (Lots of   
   files...lots 'n lots of files!), and the stores featured as the diner where   
   M&S met Skinner after being chased in the mine. Then on our return from   
   Whistler, we stopped in a lovely area called Porteau Cove, where I later   
   discovered was the site they blew up the train car in "731" 3/10.   
      
   Ok, now for the news about the X-Tour. I emailed Boyd when I got home,   
   thanking him for the wonderful X-perience, and told him I'd be passing on my   
   news to fans and friends. He thanked me back, saying how he appreciates me   
   telling fans about the tour. Well if anyone is a huge fan and also   
   interested in seeing various locations where they shot the series in   
   Vancouver, you just HAVE to go on this tour! Now nowhere on the website does   
   it tell you exactly what you'll see (then again Boyd did explain that due to   
   traffic etc, the tour is different every day.) But I'll explain what   
   happened when I went on it. It was Friday, April 23rd. I got up early   
   morning for breakfast in the Marriot Hotel, on Hornby Street. It was raining   
   quite heavy! Ok, I wanted an X Files tour, but it didn't have to be THAT   
   authentic!  Luckily it did clear up later though. Just after 9.30am, a   
   huge white limo with a red 'X' on the doors pulled up outside! (Boyd had   
   emailed me in England saying it would either be the limo or customised van.)   
   He introduced himself and his driver, then I discovered two ladies were   
   joining us. A French girl from Paris who's a keen Gillian Anderson fan, and   
   her friend from Vancouver. Her friend wasn't a fan, but had come along for   
   the ride. The first important building we saw (which I'd already seen   
   several times, as it was just up Hornby St, a block from our hotel) was the   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)