Canada – Part 1
Part one of our trip to Canada began with the Victoria Clipper boat from Seattle to Victoria, British Columbia. It is a very convenient way to get between cities if one is not driving. The boat was at capacity partly due to the number of Canadians who had gone to a U2 concert held in Seattle the night before; the GAS conference closing party that same night was a sedate little affair by comparison.
Victoria, on Vancouver Island as distinct from the city of Vancouver on the mainland, is the capital of British Columbia. As such it has the provincial parliament building and other governmental offices. However, in general Victoria is a bit of a touristy town, especially in the small area we traversed around the inner harbor (or should that be harbour). Our tour with Peter showed us that Victoria is a full-fledged, but somewhat sedate, city. It seemed like a most pleasant place to live.
Vancouver on the other hand is a metropolis of 2 million+ population. It had the normal hustle and bustle of a big city. Downtown takes in a fairly large area but there is a very good public transportation system. We were not able to explore much of the metropolitan area which spreads out quite a bit. We were able to take in a few of the more popular sights.
Mrs.T provides a summary of this phase of our trip:
Before we got on the boat to go from Seattle to Victoria the lady told us we should check our luggage. We didn't have to but if we did not we would have to lug it around. Since there was only one boat the chances of it getting lost seemed remote so we each checked our largest carry on. The boat trip was nice enough, only a little rough. When we got off to pick up our luggage it was in two long lines of shelves. You walked down the middle and picked your luggage off from either side. Dan suggested I take one side and he take the other and when we found one piece of our luggage then we would tell each other. We were almost to the end when I spotted his carryon. I got it down and we decided to continue on because we should find mine soon. Well, no.
"Are you sure you didn't miss it?" I asked.
"No, absolutely not; I didn't miss it!" Dan replied.
"I will wait here with mine and you go tell them you can't find your luggage," Dan commanded imperiously. (The editor will let that slide through. –dt)
This did not seem fair to me but rather than argue, I agreed.
When I had explained this, man said (rather condescendingly), "Why don't you go look one more time first."
Well I knew I had not missed my carryon so I started back up the side Dan had checked. I had not gotten very far when there it was in plain sight.
I got my carryon and returned to where Dan and the luggage guy were standing.
"Oh I'm glad you found it," the luggage guy said.
Dan, very wisely did not say a word.
We proceeded to customs. Dan went first and zipped right through. When it was my turn a rather bored customs guy asked why I was coming to visit Canada.
"To visit my friends," I replied with perfect honesty.
"Where do your friends live?" he asked.
"All over the place," I replied. (this might have been a slight exaggeration but Dan had the list with everyone's' addresses and I did not remember.
"Where did you meet your friends?" he asked.
"In Mexico," I explained.
"Are you bringing anything with you into Canada?" he asked a little more firmly.
"Well my clothes, a few books, some glass samples, my pills,…" I wasn't sure quite what he was getting at.
"What pills are you bringing?" (Was it my imagination or did he seem to be paying more attention?)
"Well the purple pills are for my tummy; the little yellow pills are for hot flashes, the little pink pills are for depression, the big white pills are for anxiety, the large blue pills are multivitamins…"
"So all these pills are prescription medicine?" he asked.
"Well I did bring some Rolaids, some anti diarrhea pills and some cold pills," I admitted.
Suddenly light dawned. This man thought I was a mule carrying drugs into Canada.
I glanced over at Dan's face and had no doubt that he thought I was an ass!
"How long have you known these friends from Canada?" the interrogation continued.
Eventually it was all sorted out and I was allowed to enter Canada (no searches were involved). I slunk over to where Dan was waiting trying to pretend he had never seen me before. "Never mention Mexico!!" he hissed.
Our travel agent (dt) had done a good job and our hotel was right across the street from the dock. When we checked in we found two messages, one from Paul and Kathleen welcoming us to Canada and one from Serah saying she was on her way. (I love getting messages at hotels!) In fact Serah was there by the time we finished checking in. She drove us around Victoria showing us some sights and we had dinner at a seafood restaurant that looked out over the Inner Harbour. They made their own beer there and Dan had one. Going back to our hotel we passed the Parliament which was outlined with lights; it looked charming. There were horse carriages parked beside it that would take you for a short tour. That looked like fun but I was too tired.
The next day we walked around seeing the sights of Victoria. We took a self-guided tour of the Parliament. We looked at lots of totem poles and statues. We went to the undersea museum. This was a very large aquarium with lots of local fish, octopi, shellfish, anemones and so on. Then we went on a carriage ride; silly I know but I enjoyed it. The horse was a Belgian whose name was King. When the driver said gee step King would go right. When she said haw step he would go left. Step meant straight ahead. As we rode the driver gave an interesting commentary about the history of Victoria. All went well until a large semi screeched to a halt right in front of us. "
"Gee step!" the driver said calmly.
King turned his head completely around and stared at the driver in disbelief. "Do you really want me to go out in front of that big noisy thing?" he seemed to ask.
"Gee step!" the driver repeated.
King shook his great head; heaved an immense horsey sigh, and made a right turn.
That evening we had dinner with Paul and Kathleen. It was good to see them as we had missed them in Mexico last season. They both were doing well.
The next day we went to Butchart Gardens. This is probably the most beautiful garden I have seen. I especially liked the sunken garden which was built in an abandoned gravel quarry. As our home is on an abandoned strip mine I immediately began to see similarities and possibilities. At the gift shop I bought 3 packages of seeds. Since I could not bring home the 54 gardeners they employ I suppose my efforts will continue to pale by comparison but we do what we can. One flower that was especially beautiful was the blue poppy. I bought some Canadian lily seeds so that I could commemorate our journey, if they grace us by growing. (It was a bit rainy that day, but no worries. The garden provided umbrellas which they even brought out to folks when the showers started. –dt)
That evening Peter picked us up and took us to some of the interesting spots around Victoria. We climbed the highest lookout point and from there we could look down and see both sides of the island. There was a little map that showed us the names of other islands across the bay. There is something wild and free about being on an island. The world flows by around you, it seems to me.
That evening we went to dinner at Peter and Judy's home. They had prepared a lovely salmon dinner for us. And for dessert our mutual friend Daphne had made a lovely trifle. We had a wonderful evening with most pleasant conversation. We talked of things we had done and places we had been and made plans for next winter when we all will meet again in Bucerias.
Sadly we missed seeing Brian and Susan and David and Lorraine; we hope everyone is better and we catch up with you sometime.
(Pictures from Victoria: http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157627147799092/ )
We took a bus to Vancouver – sort of. To go to Vancouver we first rode on a bus and then on a ferry and then on the bus again. The bus from downtown Victoria drove right onto the ferry which was docked at a bay on the other side of the island where we disembarked the bus for the ride to the mainland. Then we reboarded the bus for the trip to downtown Vancouver.
Although we probably could have walked, we decided to take a cab to the bus station In Victoria for the first leg of the trip. A little confusion with Canadian currency left a very happy cabbie with an $8 instead of a $2 tip for a very short ride. (I counted 1,2,3,4 when I should have counted 2,4,6,8. –dt)
"Why didn't you tell me?" Dan asked. What was he going to do demand a refund?
We settled in for a short but rather rowdy stay in Vancouver. No, we were not rowdy but it just so happened that the days were there were the days the Vancouver Canucks were playing in the Stanley Cup. But we did take in some of the sights.
In Vancouver we visited China town. At one of the herb stores I talked to a man who sold ginseng. He was eager to buy from me direct until I told him we were only allowed to sell to government registered dealers. We went to Stanley Park (Good recommendation, Gord. –dt) where they had a great aquarium. While we were there we saw a Beluga show; they were charming animals. Then we rode on a little train and saw a Disneyesque enactment of a Indian folk legend. (In Canada they are called 'First Peoples.' -dt) I enjoyed it but I think it may have been a bit hokey for Dan. (He just is not in touch with his inner child.)
The next day we checked out but still had lots of time before our train departed. (For the second part of our Canadian adventure -dt), so we wondered around downtown a bit and visited some art galleries. Returning to the hotel to collect our luggage we saw many locals with blue faces carousing in the streets. We took a cab over to the train station and after checking in for the train watched the end of the hockey game on a big screen TV in the waiting lounge.
"Do you think we should be rooting for the US?" I whispered to Dan.
"Don't even think about it!!" he replied.
(Pictures from Vancouver: http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157627028690663/ )
The next adventure will be about the train to Manitoba and our wonderful visit there. If any of you in Manitoba have additional photos to share, forward them soon so that they become part of our next newsletter.
Best wishes to all. Stay cool.
Dan and Rebecca
www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com
