Day 13 - Victoria - Vancouver Island

Today I awoke to very rainy skies… so went back to sleep for a hour or so as I figured there wasn’t much I could do until the skies cleared up.  Because I wasn’t going on the whale watching I went down for breakfast at the hotel as well to get Tania some dry toast so she had something to eat. Had a nice breakfast with Frank and Salena.  

The Stain Glass Windows 

Took Tania some toast. She was up and about also looking better which was a relief as i had been so worried about her. The girls were just leaving their room so they came in to say hi.  They also came for a personal tour of the directors suite….  They couldn’t believe how big it was.

The Stain Glass

I did some photo uploading to FB of the Columbia Icefields.  I can’t believe it had taken me that long.  I also backed up all the drives onto my 1TB drive as I didn’t want to take the risk of something happening while I was flying across the globe. 

The Monarchs 

I wandered through the Parliament building which was very pretty and lots of monarchy stuff. I had just missed the tour but decided I would forgo the next one at midday and just wandered myself.  You can definitely do that building fairly quickly… 

Entry to the Mammal Exhibit

So I took off to The Royal Museum of British Columbia in the pouring rain.  Wandered through the Mammals and got the left in the dark at one stage when the lights all went down in the lower exhibits.

Big Woolly Mammoth

I wandered through the history of British Columbia and Vancouver. They had created an ole town feel to the Vancouver exhibit and it was great. 

The sea lion which looked really realistic

But hard to photograph because no flashes were allowed and it was done all on the auto with no flash in very low light.  But it was really cool. 

Old Town Vancouver

Canadian Pacific Teddy in Polarised Texture

I highly recommend the $16 to go see it and it was perfect way to spend a rainy day. 

Canadian Pacific teddy pair with Vintage Eye Candy at 70%

I also wandered through the First Nation exhibit which was really interesting. I had always thought it was the fighting with the white settlers that killed most of the first nations but it was disease.

Capitan Curious really exists in a whole range of unique exhibits 

I was however, running out of room on the memory cards so I almost went back to empty but decided not to which I would regret later. 

Capitan Cooks Boat 

Carrying around the jacket, brolly and cameras was giving me sore feet.  But I decided since it was only 1pm that I would carry on and go miniature world.  It was cute little bit of fun. 

The Maritime Exhibit 

While I was on the way there I wandered through the downtown area which was really quaint.  Miniature world is a bit overpriced but it was a lot larger than I thought it would be. 

Story of the First Nations

There was a lot of local history as well as fairy tales in there.  But I did have to go through a camera a few times to empty some photos so I took the time to rest the weary feet while looking at snow white J. 

First Nations 

After I wandered around there for 2 hours I headed back to the hotel to empty the cards. Also took the time to relax and spoke to a friend in the states. I had a nice relaxing 1 hour break and the feet were feeling a lot better. 

Christmas Village at Miniature World 

I headed up to Beacon Hill park but only saw a little bit because of the fading light due to the pouring rain.  I saw the beautiful stone bridge which reminded me of the one in central park.  And it was really pretty with rain falling around and the autumn colours coming through. 

Nursery at Miniature World 

I headed back to city downtown and it was freezing right then…  Once it hit 5.30pm it was so cold.  But found a chemist/pharmacy and some stuff I needed for the next days because I had run out of my travel size stuff. 

Santa's Workshop at Miniature World 

Also to try get some isotope stuff and pink rubber to try something on the camera that Alison had found out. I went to maccas because I couldn’t find a Thai place which I was really craving and didn’t really feel like battling the long queue at subway.  I tell you even though there was a chandelier in there it was so dodgy even saw a drug deal go down so decided I was plenty warm enough and hightailed it out of there. 

World War 2 replica at Miniature World 

Went walking around bastion Square and went shopping for some souvenirs and got some shirts for me and stuff for the kids. 

England at the ports at Miniature World 

Headed back to the hotel and did the laundry and also some prank knocking on a certain someone's door giggle while I was running back and forth to the laundry. Repacked the suitcase so it was going to be easier at the Vancouver hotel to just transfer the clothes between bags and also did a mass throw out of stuff I didn’t need to take back to the States. As I was sitting there at 11.30pm thinking why I am doing this – I don’t really want to leave.  I love my new friends and the experiences that I have been so fortunate to have.  But sucked it up and got packed to leave early in the morning. 

Stone Bridge at Beacon Park

It was kind of nice just to have a day to myself which I hadn’t really done since Banff the week before. Wow I can’t really believe that a week had gone by so quickly. 

Stone Bridge at Beacon Park

The only thing that I was really sorry about and one of the reasons why I was looking forward to Victoria, was to catch up with my wonderful Canadian friend but his roster got changed and wasn’t going to make it back in time.  But he was going to try and catch up with me in NYC which cheered me up no end.  One of the reasons why I wanted to go to Canada was so I could catch up with him finally after 12 years. So I can only hope that he makes it down my way one day or I go back… personally I prefer that option. 

Crab apple trees at Beacon Park

Headed to bed about 12.30am (see this is why I need a roomie makes me get to bed early) ready for Butchard gardens in the morning and heading back to the Vancouver can’t believe it is our last full day on the tour.