Day 13 Canada - Victoria, Canada
Victoria, Canada
Where I stayed
Fairmont Empress
Whistler is certainly a hip-hop-happening place. Heaps of young folk enjoying those extreme sports that comprise' reckless endangerment'. Like downhill dirt-bike riding. And we're talking very STEEP downhill bike trails! Apparently, the dirt-bike riders take over the resort from the skiers in the summer. The young lads can put their bikes on special ski-lift carriages designed for bikes or else they simply cram their bikes into small gondola carriages. And then they hurtle down from the summit at breakneck speed...only to repeat the exercise until they eventually succeed in killing or injuring themselves! Jeez, they come down the mountain fast!
We were on one such gondola ride up to the top of Whistler Mountain when we saw a mama bear and her two young cubs meandering up the overgrown path below us! Gorgeous family of Black Bears out for a jaunt. What a thrill!
We were actually doing the Peak 2 Peak ride - they've constructed an amazing gondola ride from the peak of Whistler Mountain to the peak of Blackcomb Mountain - the longest unsuspended part is 3 kms long! Truly awesome views of the valley between these two big, bad boys.
Had dinner at an Irish bar in Whistler Village but the music was absolutely appalling (two wannabes with terrible voices) so we baled early and went back to watch the US Open tennis in our room. So Whistler is different again from Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper. Every stop on this trip to the Rockies has proved to be quite distinct and separate from the previous one. You definitely don't get bored or find these places to be 'samey'?! Brilliant variety.
We were back on the coach early next morning and drove to a port where our Scenic Tours bus drove onto this enormous ferry for the trip across to Vancouver Island and the capital Victoria (the provincial capital of British Columbia is Victoria and this city happens to be on Vancouver Island. While, Vancouver, the city, is on the mainland. I know, I know, confusing as hell). This massive car, truck and coach ferry ship landed in Nanaimo Bay and we were surprised to see that the city of Victoria was a fair drive from this Nanaimo. We'd imagined that the ferry would dock at Victoria - we thought we'd land in Victoria - but wrong again.
However, we were soon arriving at our Fairmont hotel in Victoria called the Empress Hotel and this hotel was worth the drive! Set right on the harbour-side in Victoria and covered in ivy- it's a fabulous, gracious old building with so much character and class. Love it! Long wide corridors running for miles - it's pretty easy to get lost in this joint! We all went to the world-famous Butchart Gardens just outside Victoria in the morning - acres and acres of different divine types of gardens - an Italian garden, a Japanese garden, a rose garden and various other styles.
In the afternoon, we took a float plane scenic flight over Victoria and the south east peninsula of Vancouver Island. Taking off from the water of the harbour was a novel experience for both of us but the take-off and landing were both very smooth indeed. No worries, at all. And the views were to die for.
Tonight is our big 'Farewell Dinner' in many respects. We coach and ferry back to the city of Vancouver tomorrow where we board our Holland America cruise ship called the MS Zuiderdam. We'll all be on the week-long cruise along the Inner Passage and Alaska together but on a mid-size ship like that, we won't see much of each other after tonight? We'll bump into one another for sure but we won't be travelling in such close proximity any more. Bit sad this evening. We've really grown fond of some of our travelling companions. Up to us, I suppose, to slowly identify where we all are on the ship and get some drinks organised in particular cabins? We also bid farewell to our marvellous Tour Director (Vicki) and to Canada itself. Vicki got crook for a week like the rest of us but she never missed a beat - keeping us all in tow is like herding cats but she kept it up while she was ill and we're gonna miss her after tomorrow. We liked Vicki. She finishes every sentence with the word 'Right'? and it's going to take us a few days to get out of the habit of mimicking her??!! Who are we gonna tease from now on...?
So we're off to the US of A tomorrow. The last week of our trip. Hope you'll stick with us? Just one more week to go, folks...
Lotsa love Mila and Mick xoxox