Western Canadian Rockies (WCR) – Day 2 – To Victoria

Western Canadian Rockies (WCR) – Day 2 – To Victoria

Today, we are heading to Victoria, but first I took a picture last night of the Expo Building created for the Olympics from the ninth floor of our hotel. 

Before leaving, we will do a quick tour of Vancouver.  Downtown we pass many high rise buildings with polished glass walls.  The reflections from the glass show buildings opposite.  I thought the reflections were great.

As we go by the water front, we pass the old Olympic torch, not on fire but it is still impressive. 

Continuing around town, we make our next stop at Stanley Park and the Totem Pole exhibit.  From here, we have a great view of the Port of Vancouver from across Coal Harbor.   You can even see one of the many planes with pontoons that take off and land. 

Back to the Park, we see a number of Totem Poles that are quite unique. 

 

I really like the ones that have beaks or other Totem extensions like wings and other things.

We continue our drive around Stanley Park and make a short stop at Prospect Point.  From here, we can see the Lions Gate Bridge which has a similar feel as the Golden Gate Bridge. 

Before making our way to the ferry to Victoria we stop at one of the local markets.  This market was fantastic, so many different foods including fresh seafood.  Carmen and I pick up a sandwich for our lunch along with a couple of pastries.  I cannot wait to eat the pastries.  There are a number of booths that sell fresh fruit.  Couldn’t help but take a picture of the berries.

We get to the ferry and after a short wait; we drive into the ferry and then leave the bus behind.  After eating our lunch we picked up at the market.  It is about 20 miles to Victoria and along the way we pass into the US, then back into Canada.  Good thing we didn’t have to go through customs.  While going through a channel between two islands we pass an oncoming ferry.  This is what we look like, only we are not on that boat.

Shortly after passing the other ferry, I saw an eagle.  It was quite some distance but I was able to get a picture.  This is our first picture of an animal, hope we see more.

Here is Carmen (on right), Helen (my sister) in the center and her husband next to her.  We were on the upper level of the ferry checking out the scenery as we boated by.  No, we did not see any whales, dolphins, seals, sea lions, or otter; maybe on our trip to Whistler.

After leaving the ferry, we proceeded to a cider farm where we sampled three different hard ciders.  Now I have to tell you I like it when Carmen and I do a sampling of alcohol drinks.  Carmen does not drink alcohol and does not like the taste of these types of drinks.  So I get hers, I love sampling; I drink Carmen’s and mine.  While there, we noticed a ball of bees.  Very unusual and is a first for Carmen and me.

There were many bees around and I was able to get a picture of one of them in the flowers.

Driving around Victoria, we drive through Chinatown.

At our hotel, we have a nice view of the water front.  Here you can see the float plane fleet parked at the dock.  We were watching several planes land in the water then taxi up to the dock where they unloaded their passengers.

So the government building across the water from the hotel is lit up at night, so I took a picture of the lights of Victoria.

Tomorrow we have the morning off and then in the early afternoon head off to the Butchart Gardens where we will also eat dinner.

Until tomorrow, Bob and Carmen.