The fact that this apartment faces south is one of its best features. That means during the winter, on the rare days when it's not raining, we will get a little sun directly in the bedroom and living room. The arc during the summer, however, brings it over the building so it doesn't get excessively hot inside.
Unfortunately though there are none of the famous, lower-Mainland mountains in this direction. I can see Mt. Baker in Washington State but the reason it looks so close is only because of the zoom on my camera. If I change to wide-angle, the view from my balcony looks more like this:
With the naked eye, the perceived closeness falls somewhere in between. The weather for this long weekend in British Columbia really is fantastic though!