Ok, I have SO much to update, so I’m going to split this up into a couple posts. The first will update (with pictures) my trip to Victoria. The second will be a bit of an update on work–if I still have enough energy after talking about Victoria!!! I hope you enjoy the pictures.

We left on a Friday. I had to work a night shift before we left, so I didn’t arrive home until 8:00am Friday morning. I had a quick nap until noon and then started packing. Our plane was scheduled to leave at 8:30pm so at 6:00pm we were on our way out the door to get picked up by our ride. Just before we left, I checked our flight on the internet…it was delayed by an hour and a half!!! AHHHH! It was too late to stop our ride from picking us up, so we went to the airport, mentally ready to spend a few hours there. We had a good time at the airport though. We ate dinner, read magazines and just talked. I love the new Westjet wing of the airport!!!

Our flight finally departed and away we went! It was cloudy all the way, but over Vancouver, the clouds parted and I could the the Vancouver lights for miles in every direction, followed by the blackness of water before landing. What I always loved about flying to Vancouver, was the instant smell of the ocean as you leave the plain, but the smell was even stronger in Victoria! The airport there is so incredibly small, but adorable! We got to leave the plane on one of those rolling staircases, rather than the ramps.

At the airport you’re immediately welcomed with giant pots of flowers everywhere, and even better is the mild air that comforts you, rather than suffocating you. As we left the airport, we had to decide whether to take a cab or airporter. We decided to save $20 and take the airporter. BAD mistake! We landed at 10:30pm, and after waiting for the bus to fill, and about fifteen stops before ours, we finally arrived at the hotel after midnight. We would have been there about an hour earlier if we took a cab. Definitely worth $20!!!

(Note: Sorry for the details, they’re mostly for me to look back on in the future)

The hotel was perfect! It was the dark of night, but the lights of downtown Victoria stretched before me as I gazed from our balcony. From our room we could see the back of the Empress hotel, a slice of the harbor, and all the buildings up Douglas street. On the right is a picture of the view taken the next morning in the light.

We were a little too excited to go to bed quite yet, so we decided to go for a short walk up government street (the main street in Victoria–and the biggest tourist area). It was incredibly quiet except for the screams of local teenagers partying on a Friday night. As we would discover later, in Victoria, it’s the norm for groups of teenagers to wonder around downtown, screaming for joy constantly…seriously! We walked past the harbor and the empress hotel, up past all the closed tourist shops, and found a 7-11. This 7-11 will forever be our special place in Victoria…the first place we went:) By this time we were super tired and made our way back to the hotel in the deafening silence of Victoria at night (except the occasional scream from drunken teenagers…of course) Unfortunately, it was almost impossible to sleep with all the excitement, but finally, our first night faded into the next day…

The very first thing we decided we HAD to do was take the same path we took the night before, but in daylight. So, we walked past the empress (pictured on the left), the parliament (pictured on the right) and the inner harbor (there’s a picture at the very bottom of the post). Then it was up Government street to SHOP! There are so many neat little shops in Victoria. Some are really touristy and remind me of the shops in Banff. Others sell native art and sweaters etc. Then there’s stores that have been there for decades such as: Roger’s Chocolates, Old Morris Tobacconist, Murchies etc. Other stores were newer, but in buildings that were more than 100 years old (not new buildings that are made to look old…like in Calgary).

Our very favorite place was Bastion Square (picture on left). It was the location of the original Fort Victoria. The buildings are beautiful and ancient. It is filled with flowers, benches, little booths selling arts and crafts, little restaurants, and more than anything–ghosts! In Bastion square, we found our favorite coffee shop. In fact, it’s our new official favorite spot in Victoria (OK, at least it’s mine). It’s called “The Blue Carrot Cafe” (pictured on right). It’s in an old old building adjacent from where they used to hold Victoria’s public hangings (the unclaimed buried bodies are still in the ground). Its soup was voted best in Victoria, but the cappuccinos and sandwiches were amazing too! And the staff is super friendly too!

In fact, everyone in Victoria was incredibly friendly. I couldn’t believe how happy these people were! I have known people from Victoria, and the most amazing thing I could say about them was their positive attitude–always so happy. But now I know, it’s not them, but EVERYONE from Victoria!

I wanted to see a specific place called Fan Tan Alley in Victoria’s Chinatown (oldest in Canada). It’s a teeny weeny space between two buildings that is only four feet wide at times (picture on the left). It has the neatest collection of shops around! There was a little store that sold unique instruments, a pagan bookstore, a little chinese import store (we bought a wooden wind chime), a used CD store etc. It was the neatest little place. Apparently, it used to be filled with illegal gambling dens where Chinese men would play a game called “Fan Tan.” It involves betting on the number of buttons the dealer pulls out of a jar. On the right is “The Gates of Harmonious Interest” which marks the entrance to Chinatown.

Already exhausted, we made our way back to our hotel room for a short break. In the afternoon, we decided to walk in the opposite direction through Beacon Hill Park (left) until we found the ocean (Juan de Fuco Straight for the picky people). We found the most beautiful sight! Beautiful rocky beach, followed by gently lapping water, and in the background, the beautiful olympic mountains (I think that’s the right name for them). There’s a picture of the beach on the right. Richard hung out on a log, while I splashed in the water and took pictures. Can I just say…I was in heaven!

That night was our long awaited ghost tour. Richard and I have always been fascinated by ghosts and we were both anticipating this tour for weeks. Our host was a young man with a long black jacket, hat, and walking stick. He told us stories of the Empress Hotel, Roger’s chocolates, and particularly Bastion square. The most scary spot was a little alley called Helmcken Alley (Richard was brave enough to stand there for a picture the next day–I wasn’t). This alley was featured on the show “Creepy Canada” in an episode I clearly remember. Often, as people walk through the alley, they here the sound of chains scraping along the ground. When they turn around they see the ghost of a prisoner following them, dragging his chains. Many people standing in the alley feel a hand brushing their hair, or see the ghost of a boy who died in a well. It was a VERY scary spot and I couldn’t wait to get out of there! I could go on and on about the stories, but this post is long enough already!

The next day was more of the same. We spent a lot of time shopping up and down Government street, exploring all the little stores. On the right is a picture of me buying a crap load of tea at Murchies. I also bought some Haida art tiles, Chocolate from Rogers Chocolates (I have to admit, Bernad Callebaut is better), a new hoodie (I love the nice cool air there!), and other little bits of stuff. We discovered an amazing vegetarian restaurant called Rebar, an awesome sushi place with the best California rolls EVER, and a beautiful old stain glass windowed church that makes me want to be Christian again! Victoria is just so incredible….

In the afternoon, we actually went swimming in the hotel’s pool. I haven’t gone swimming in about ten years. It’s so much harder now that I’m old, fat, and inhale water too easily (seriously, I need to see a doc about it). But we had a BLAST playing around in the cool water (two fat hairy guys was enough to scare off all other pool users). Then we spent some time in the hot tub. Then, before dinner we went to the Royal BC museum.

That night, we decided to go to the gay bar “Prism” for a beer. It reminded me of what Boyztown used to be like when I started going there. Everybody new each other, there were all types of people, and it felt like a community. The drag queen was pissed because we left before her show, especially since she was planning to do back flips in stilettos. I told her that I have seen that before (true), and that we may come back (false). We wandered back to the hotel and fell into a beautiful sleep.

On our last day, we went to mile zero of the TransCanada highway (left). Just behind mile zero was a beautiful beach, which made the perfect place for us to spend time on our last day in Victoria (right). We went to Rebar again for wheat grass smoothies, and then ate soup and sipped cappuccinos at The Blue Carrot Cafe. Unfortunately, it was time to go, we took a cab to the airport and flew home, heads hanging low–I almost cried when I saw Calgary. I didn’t want to be in Calgary.

There’s another theme to this story that didn’t fit right in this post, so I will need to write another post about Victoria. More on that later.

Pictures I wanted to share, but didn’t make it into my story: Richard at the Beach, Victoria Inner Harbor while waiting for our ghost tour, Old Morris tobacconist, and a bear statue at the Royal BC Museum.

Click here to get the full version that includes the pictures