We checked out of the hotel in Victoria by 8:30 and started driving north towards the ferry terminal to Vancouver. We paid and sat in the line for about 40 minutes watching the families around us deal with whiny kids and impatient adults as they too waited to board the ferry.
Once loaded, we left the car and made our way to the forward observation deck. The sun was peaking out at us through heavy clouds as the ferry got underway. It was much warmer than our ferry crossing 3 days ago.
As we stood by the front railing, a gentleman walked over to take pictures and I got to talking with him about his journey. He and his wife live in central British Columbia and have been looking for a retirement home that doesn't have so much snow. 2 nights ago, his realtor called to tell him of a new property that just came available by Victoria, so he and his wife drove down at 5:00am and took the ferry to Victoria. They saw the home at noon, made an offer at 2pm and it was accepted by 9pm. Now he just needs to sell the home he's in, retire from his job, and he'll have no more snow shovelling to do. They are very excited.
As we chatted, the ferry crossed a small bay, then swung in a big turn to enter a narrow passage through some islands. We made a couple of turns as we navigated the passage, then entered the big stretch of water that would take us the rest of the way to Vancouver.
It was getting windier and colder, so we finished our chat, wished each other well, then Mike and I went inside to find some seats for the rest of the crossing.
Not long after we left the ferry it began to rain. There was no wind or storm front, it just began to rain a steady drizzle.
On the ferry, we had talked about where to have lunch and decided on a chicken place called Nandos. Mike had pointed it out a few days ago and said it was a great European chain that he eats at often when he's abroad. We followed the GPS through a few interesting turns but eventually found it. The chicken was really good and a bit spicy. I ordered grilled vegetables with mine and loved the charred flavor on the onions and bell peppers.
We had planned on going to a Jazz festival, but the rain seems have squashed that idea. We threw around several other ideas but nothing seemed to stick, so we just drove to the hotel and checked in. The rain continued falling and we kept trying to figure something interesting to do. Eventually we decided to go watch a movie. Neither of us had seen the new X-Men Days of Futures Past, so we took our coats and an umbrella and headed up the street to find the theater.
The umbrella did it's job. The rain stopped by the time we reached the lobby and didn't return all day, so I just carried the umbrella for the next 10 hours just to make sure.
On the way to the theater we stopped for crepes at "The Crepe Cafe". As we neared the theater we say another Crepe Cafe. We bought tickets but still had 40 minutes before show time so we decided to walk around and spotted a couple more Crepe Cafes in the area. I could understand having a few of the same food stands in a city, but 4 within 4 blocks? Canadians must really love their crepes.
Another thing we saw while walking around was a large section of street being blocked off. We found some signs that told us it was a "Busker Festival". If you don't know what a Busker is (and I didn't), they are street performers that ask for donations. They can be musicians, actors, acrobats, mimes, magicians, almost anything. There were 3 blocks and 6 stages setup for the buskers and a schedule of when the different buskers would start shows. The festival didn't start for a few hours yet and we decided to come back after we watched our movie.
The movie was pretty good. Some parts seemed a tad weak but it was pretty fun. From the movie we went to a Japanese place for dinner, then walked to the busker festival.
We wandered back and forth looking at the various performers. Some were pretty good and others not so much. My favorites were a band that played Nigerian music (lot of percussion), a husband and wife acrobatics team, an escape artist/commedian, and a chinese acrobat. I really enjoyed wandering around and watching the shows. It was a real street crowd atmosphere with little kids running around, street food, and the occasional roudy drunk. The husband and wife team had to ask security to come control a man that kept walking out into the middle of their act.
We left as the festival shut down at 10. Back at the hotel I uploaded my photos and am almost done with this blog. It's hard to believe that 9 days are almost gone. Tomorrow we have to be to the airport by 11, so no more touring, just travel. I won't do another blog report after this one.
My best memories of this trip in chronological order are:
1) The Jazz festival - Company B singing 50s songs and another band I can't remember doing real Jazz
2) Shakespeare on the beach
3) Capilano bridge - the cliff walk, the board walk, the tree walk, and the bridge itself
4) Grouse Mountain - The incredible tram ride up, the lumberjack show, the wind eye
5) Granville Island - The broom store and the market
6) Whistler ski resort - all of it, just beautiful
7) Ferry rides
8) Pacific Coast National Park - beaches, boardwalk trials
9) Tofino - Whale watching boat ride
10) Victoria - Museum, Red Fish Blue Fish for lunch, Butchart gardens
11) Busker Festival
The best thing about the whole trip was just spending a week with my great friend Mike. But if I had to pick my absolute favorite activity, it was probably Whistler. The views were epic.
On board the Ferry, looking back at the terminal
A view form the ferry
Nandos for lunch
Unicycle Juggler
Unicycle Juggler
Nigerian Band
Escape artist (comedian)
Acrobatic team
Acrobatic team
Acrobatic team
Another of the band
