Vancouver | David Furnish | Sophie | Elton John | Toronto

Where would you start your day? Sophie's Cosmic Café. Sophie's has a great ham-and-Cheddar omelet. The walls are covered with weird old photos and weird toys and games from the '50s. Sophie herself is always running around with a pot of coffee. She's like a Bette Midler character. She loves her job and loves kids, and there's a big toy box there for kids to play in while they are waiting for their breakfasts to come. It's got a real homey feel.

Who's the first person you call when you get back to Vancouver? Helga. She and I have been friends since high school in Toronto. A lot of weird people came out of my high school. Helga and I and David Furnish, who is Elton John's partner, were in theater class together. Helga and I went together to David and Elton's wedding just before Christmas, in London. We've stayed close to him. She and I have been friends for 27 years, and she ended up going to Vancouver before I did. When I got there we sort of reconnected, and she now lives four doors down from our place. She's kind of a Kramer. She's the one who will burst in at any moment for a cup of coffee. She takes care of our place when we're away. And then we'll go over to Gabby and Gerry's. Gabby was in my theater-school class in 1982, and we'll go to their place for a barbecue. It's like our family - our unusual family.

But it's all about the great outdoors, right? On the other side, from Stanley Park, if you were looking across to Kitsilano, you would see a series of beaches. They are all beautiful, and they are all quite swimmable in the summertime. I think probably the prettiest is Locarno Beach. It's just volleyball nets and an incredible view of the mountains and of downtown. There's a weird period of time, usually in the summer, where tides can come out for what seems like a mile, and the sand becomes very soft and mucky. It's just amazing to run around there in your bathing suit, and it feels like you're walking on water. It's a really beautiful place. Particularly when the tide is out, because we take our dogs there when we are in Vancouver for longer stretches of time. To run around in the muck with our dogs and our son is probably my happiest time.