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Published: September 20th 2006
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Victoria Harbour
Where the seaplanes to Vancouver fly from “So we are staying at a B&B called ‘If-n-When’” Lins said. “No, ‘Ifanwen’ It’s a Welsh name you muppet!” I replied. Having given up on getting accommodation in Seattle we had booked a B&B in Victoria, the Provincial capital of British Columbia and were waiting for the bus to take us to the ferry. Victoria is on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, an island about the size of the UK just off the coast of BC. It is also the only Canadian city below the 49th parallel, so right across the water from the US.
The ferry ride is a 90 minute jaunt through the maze of the Southern Gulf Islands which offers spectacular views of the islands as you pass. Unfortunately Lins had decided that ships aren’t her thing so remained indoors and concentrated on not getting seasick. We were soon on dry land though and whisking down the peninsular to the city itself. Despite being the size of the Britain the island only has about 900,000 inhabitants over a third of whom live in Victoria. The bus pulled into the bus station and we checked a rather dodgy tourist map to find our way. The website had
insisted that it was only 7 blocks from downtown so we decided to walk it. We walked with all our a luggage up the street past block after huge block. Finally we arrived at the street we needed. The house number was 44 - I looked up at the sign post - 600! 556 houses later we were outside Ifanwen just in time to see an old lady of at least 80 heading up the road with a concerned man waving her off. “She’s in her 80’s you know and is off to town to find a Guinness - I’m not sure her son will be happy but he’s kayaking. Are you staying with us too?” The worried man said. “I’m Ron your host, do come in. Where are you from?” “I’m from Leeds and he’s from Wales.” Lins told him. “Oh that’s wonderful, Molly the lady who just left is from Wales too so we have two Welsh people tonight.” Ron said enthusiastically “I noticed the house has a Welsh name.” I said “Oh some people told me that once but its not Welsh at all it’s a play on words you know - if-n-when” he beamed. “Oh!” I
Empress Hotel
The hotel you can't get away from said. Lins smiled.
Having settled our things in our room we headed back into town this time with a map from Ron showing us the quick way along the waterfront. Victoria’s waterfront is as beautiful as Vancouver with the lush green trees in the background and the seaplanes buzzing in and out to Vancouver. The waterfront walk ends near the huge British Columbia provincial parliament building with the equally grand Empress Hotel demonstrating the importance of this little town. We looked around the town a bit before finding a nice pub to settle down in and have a spot of dinner before heading back to the B&B.
We were back not 10 mins before Ron was knocking on the door - “Oh your back you simply must meet Molly she is fantastic - she’s 80 you know” We were ushered into the living room and Ron went to fetch Molly and her son from their room. Molly greeted me in Welsh which I did my best to answer though she didn’t seem to understand - I think a combination of her deafness, lack of welsh and my awful welsh kind of spoilt it. “But I bet you
Parliment Building
The parliment building by day can sing.” she cried. “Er no not really” She seemed really disappointed. Molly was a fascinating character who had lived in Wales, England, France and Scotland at various times. (She currently lives in Scotland because the NHS gets better funding up there!).
Next morning it was breakfast on the patio as the sun was warming up the deck, the birds were singing and the couple next door were knocking down their house - literally! Even though walls were going down it was a lovely morning and Ron served a wonderful smoked salmon omelette on very fine china. Accompanying the breakfast was some reading of famous British Columbians.
Breakfast done it was time to get on and we needed to do some more planning ahead on the internet. Ron had suggested the library for free internet access so that’s where we headed. I sat down at the computer and worked out in about two minutes that you needed a library card to use the facilities. We left again and went to find the paid for internet. We were happily trying to find accommodation when Lins asked where the guide book was - that’s odd I had it a minute
Parliment Building 2
The Christmas cake - I mean parliment building by night a go. Come to think of it where is the camera and then it dawns on me - in the two minutes I was in the library I have managed to leave the damn things behind. Two cameras in two weeks. I shot out of the internet café and ran all the way back to the library and to my amazement despite having left them over a half hour earlier they were still where I had left them. I did comment to Ron that that might demonstrate how many people actually use the library in Victoria but he insisted that it just proved what honest people Victorians are.
After the excitement we decided to get on with the rest of our day we headed to the Museum of British Columbia. This is an excellent museum. The first exhibits were based on crazy golf which of course I won. We then went on to some other interact exhibits which didn’t seem to have much in common as they included stop frame animation and detailed (though not particularly understandable) explanation of Einstein’s theory of relativity. Apparently though the theme was Speed so there you go. The museum moves on to look at the environment and the effect we are having on it which is a bit depressing - basically we suck. The other notable display is the First Nation display which looks at the history of the first people to live in British Columbia. Also in the museum is another Canadian invention - an IMAX cinema churning out the usual 3D stuff but also some normal movies which gave us an opportunity to finally catch Superman Returns which was OK I guess. When we came out it was dark so we started to head back to the B&B via the waterfront and were treated to the sight of the parliament building lit up in all its grandeur. I have to say it looks a bit like a huge Christmas decoration and I’m not sure it adds any respect to the building.
The next morning it was breakfast on the patio again and Ron once again outdid himself. This morning it was ham and eggs and a completely different set of china to eat it from - the history of the pattern making up this mornings breakfast reading. I’m afraid it went a little over my head!
It was time to get the bus back to Vancouver and spend our last night there before we picked up the hire car and moved into the mountains. The ferry ride was once again pleasant and we were soon in downtown Vancouver. We had booked the cheapest hostel we could find online and were a little worried what it might be like. We had seen a very scary looking doorway with a big fat bloke sitting on guard so we were hoping it wasn’t like that one. It turns out it was that one. The taxi dropped us outside the door and the guy outside seemed to realise we were staying so running wasn’t an option. Lins still looked like she wasn’t coming in. The guy on the door turned out to be pretty friendly even if he was hyper and absolutely convinced that he was going to make millions on currency speculation in the next half hour and wouldn’t have to look after a hostel anymore. He explained his plan to us in immense detail and it was clear he needed a reality check. We got our key and went upstairs and it really wasn’t that bad - not the Hilton but not the worst place we have stayed. Well it was only for one night - tomorrow we head for bear country.
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