A Family Vacation! Day 2

We recently returned from our vacation to 

BEAUTIFUL

Victoria, British Columbia; Canada.

On our 2nd day, we woke up early
(in Friday Harbor, San Juan Islands, USA)
and walked to a nearby cafe.

The Rocky Bay Cafe is a popular place!

As we were eating, the line outside got longer and longer...

Wow!

We were glad that we had gotten in to eat 

just before the crowd arrived!

Then we packed our car up

and drove to the ferry.

Again, 

getting onto the ferry boat...

is 

ALWAYS

exciting!

We arrived in Sidney, Canada after about an hour.

As we handed the border patrol our passports...

Bob and I were

hoping !!

they would stamp our shiny, new passports...

but, sadly,

no.

:: Sigh ::

They are still shiny and new looking.

Next, we drove from Sidney to our destination:

Victoria !!

It's a 27 kilometer drive and took about 30 minutes.

Our children enjoyed a few giggles while 

making comments about observing

Canadians in their natural habitat.

We were so happy and vacation-y when...

we turned down the street to our hotel.

Ummm....

I think we all went into a bit of shock.

NO WONDER 

the price was so inexpensive.

With pasted on smiles, we checked in and unloaded the car.

We wrestled with the rickety trolly cart to take it all up to our room...

using, of course, the ONE working elevator.

hmmmmmmmm...........

You know a hotel is due for an update when....

you get REAL KEYS for your door.

You know your hotel is due for an update when...

your bathroom door is 1960's on the outside...

and 1980's on the inside.

You know your hotel is due for an update when...

the clock radio is EXACTLY like the one you had...

when you were 8....

in the 1970's.

You know your hotel is due for an update when...

all of the furniture is really old..

but not in a cool, vintagey way.

You know your hotel is due for an update when...

the bathroom sink has a sink rimmed in steel...

and fat, cloudy "crystal" knobs-

cheap 'n kool from the 1960's.

You know your hotel is due for an update when...

the picture in your room is faded to two different shades of color...

because of DECADES of sun shining onto it thru the window

with a shadow from the curtain.

You know your hotel....

okay...

I'll stop. 

Now, don't worry...

we managed to cheer ourselves up!

and took a walk around the historical area.

Look at the gorgeous flowers!!

Here we are....

ready to walk around the inner harbor.

erm...

harbour.

Remember...

we WERE in Canada...

L to R:  Rosie (our college girl),

Bob (da man!),

Emmaline (squeegy)

and Robbie (da boy!)

The background:

The infamous Empress Hotel...

and the harbour.

We were starving and soon found a little French restaurant....

complete with a sweet, elderly French maitre de

who delighted us with his French mumblings...

The food was dericious !

Our tummies full, we started to wander around the historical district...

and found the Bedford Regency Hotel...

where Bob and I spent our honeymoon...

AND

10th anniversary...

When we were there for our honeymoon,

the hotel had a proper British doorman...

sadly, he is no longer there.

A few blocks down...

we went into a big set of doors while looking for a certain shop...

and found a 5 story mall on the inside !

Completely unexpected.

For some reason !

We found a cute display for the Natural Museum...

they have a new feature with dinosaurs...

and since one of our Rosie-girl's nicknames at college is "baby dinosaur"

we NEEDED a picture...

of Rosie with one of her peeps.

We exchanged our American dollars for the oh-so-colorful Canadian dollars.

Later that evening, my son described Canadian money as...

"having a garden in your wallet."

How true.

Then we wandered over towards the Empress...

Look at this shrub sculpture !!

An orca whale and her baby...

Now for a montage of the 

Always.

Impressive...

Empress Hotel.....

 

Right outside the property, 

we found this adorable sculpture...

Bob gave some luv to the darling monkey...

and this is the sculpture from the front...

Wow!

The Empress hotel

is.

just.

gorgeousness.

It's...

ALL...

so...

very...

British-like !!

We returned to our hotel
and all voted a big, fat
"NOOOOOOOO"
on swimming in the ugly, little outside pool....


AND
because our shabby (but not chic) hotel
did not have a gym of any kind...
my husband and the girls went to a nearby hotel 
to check out their gym's drop in rates....
and came back with a 
S U R P R I S E !! 


Guess what?


We would stay only one night here....
and then move to the 
GRAND
PACIFIC
HOTEL !!!
for the rest of our stay in Victoria...
for
(get this)
less $$ per night.


No way!
Way!
Yeah!!


Yee-haw to my husband!!
He's da man!
He's asker of questions!
He's THE BOB!!


After a bit of rest,
we walked down to Ric's...
a beautiful restaurant.


At one point, I asked everyone...
where is the violinist?
The music had been turned down...
and we could hear a violinist...
but where?

It turned out...as we discovered later...
a street performer sometimes stands outside the restaurant and plays...
her music is so amazingly beautiful
that the waiters turn down the piped-in music so the diners can enjoy
this gorgeous music being played outside...
under the window.

AND...
I think...
this street performer is completely unaware of this fact.

Interesting.

On our happy stroll back to our hotel,
I took this picture....




L to R:
See the double decker bus??
the British car??
Now, look up and to the right and see the Parliment building...
with the colorful Canadian flag flying in front.
Flowers are abundant here...
look at all of the flower baskets on the light poles.

Now...we were all off to bed...
our feet a bit sore and tired...

and I will tell you about Day 3 tomorrow!!

Thanks for tagging along with us!

VICTORIA !!

:: happiness ::