Exploring Victoria

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Geo: 48.4644, -123.38

Victoria, B.C - September 4th

Today Jeff and I wandered hither and yon in Vancouver, once we got out of bed, took (another!) shower and donned CLEAN clothes that is. John texted us while we were at breakfast that he was on his way over to pick up his clothes and pressure cooker. It took him longer to arrive than we thought it might because he was once again waylaid by the wooden boat show. According to him, this is a "must see" event.

Jeff and I decide to walk down to Fisherman's Wharf, which is a couple miles from our hotel, and, coincidentally, we have to walk by the boat show. WOW! John was right! These boats are gorgeous! There were many boats open for the public to board and one of my favorites was the "Olympus." Built in 1929, the Olympus was top notch in all regards.The owner was on board, and, I don't know, maybe Jeff looks wealthy (probably the Tilley), but she wanted to discuss with him that the Olympus is for sale. She wasn't having this discussion with anyone else...she even told him where we could conveniently moor the ship when we (and our crew) weren't using it. Okay...we didn't tell her that the closest we would ever get to buying a boat was the distance to Mars. It really was a gorgeous ship, though.

We looked at the boats, there were a lot of them, for quite a while, before moseying further along on our walk. We are heading for Fisherman's Wharf to see the "float houses." Float houses are a combination of a tiny house and a non-floating boat and there is small community of them next to Fisherman's Wharf.

It was a beautiful, sunny day as we walked up and down the docks where the houses are moored. Some of the houses are quite normal looking, except that they are floating and have barnacles on them; some of the houses are funky - decorated in creative ways as you would expect in an eclectic community. And, I point out to Jeff, one of them is for sale. It looks like an interesting lifestyle as several of the houses have kayaks AND bicycles on their porches, but I don't think I would like a million+ people walking by my house every year.

Starting to get hungry, we stop at a local shop for fish and chips and watch tourists feed the resident seals. You can buy raw chopped up fish to feed the seals- it's great that in Victoria even the semi-wildlife are taken care of and not fed junk.

Apparently Jeff has a plan. He wants to walk to that pier way down there. It is a long walk but made shorter by the very pretty sidewalk/trail that runs around the harbor. As we walk we see a big passenger ferry arrive at the ferry port and giant RoRo (Roll on Roll off) ships on which people, cars, construction equipment, and semis disengorge having made their way from Seattle. Float planes land and takeoff - they sound like they are using tightly wound rubber bands as engines as they taxi around. Speaking of taxis, the water taxis are everywhere, convenient and way cute!

Eventually we make our way to the pier and walk way, way out to the end. It is a pretty view. Suddenly I realize why we are here. It is almost 5pm and the cruise ships are coming into port! One, two, three mammoth ships float slowly by us and dock. Jeff points at the Princess ship and says "That's our ship." Yup, in 10 days we're going to cruise on that very ship! What fun to see it now.

The walk back to our hotel is much faster as we don't stop to peruse anything. We get back to the hotel and realize how hungry we are. Those fish and chips were a long time ago. We break out a package of smoked salmon and some nice crackers that we had bought - ate all the salmon and most of our munchies. Feeling fortified, we decide to check out the local nightlife. I don't know how he did it, but Jeff has found a local microbrewery within walking distance. There are several tap houses around but going to a microbrewery is more what we're used to - being from Loveland/Fort Collins.
We walk quite a ways but don't mind as "Canoe" has outdoor seating by the water. Sounds like a great end to the day. But when we arrive the outdoor seating area is closed. Bummer. Indoors is very crowded and we eventually end up seated at the bar. I order the homemade ginger beer which was "okay". Jeff has a flight of 5 of their beers. We sit and chat with each other and the bartender. The place is super busy with a dance floor and pool table. We're tired, finish our drinks and head back to the hotel. Jeff said two of his beers were "okay", two were not great and one was pretty good. He said none of them were as good as our Colorado microbrews, still we had a nice night out.

With all the walking we did today I know we're going to sleep very well.

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Comments

[Bev]

Cool sign!