British Columbia 2016 – From Vancouver to Victoria

When we booked this trip, we didn’t know yet how we were going to get to Victoria from Vancouver. Rent a car? Private transportation? We didn’t have a plan.

We ended up booking a transfer with BC Ferries Connector and it couldn’t have run more smoothly.

The bus would pick us up in front of the Landmark Hotel at 8:30AM which coincidentally was the same place where we rented our car so we already knew how much time it would take us to get there – no stress. We decided we’d just get up, check out, and have breakfast near the pick-up location… turns out there was a Chez Cora right next door. (If only we’d seen it on Day 2!!)

The bus was right on time and since this hotel was the first stop, we got a front row seat. It drove around town picking up people from various other hotels, stopped at the main bus station for about an hour or so (where the bus filled up to capacity) and the off we drove to the Ferry Terminal.

We set sail at 11AM, but since we drove onto the Ferry in the bus, we didn’t get many shots of the boat…  just its bowels!

We stayed outside for a little while to watch it sail away, but the wind forced us back in side.

Here’s a shot of the Ferry going the other way, gives you an idea how big it was!

We got to Victoria (strictly speaking: Swartz Bay) around 12:30, then it was back on the bus for another 45 minute drive to the city – arriving at the bus station a little before 1:30PM.

From the bus station, it was a short 10 minute walk to the hotel.  The whole thing ran as smooth as silk.

Our hotel (Best Western Carlton Plaza Hotel) was very nice…  doesn’t merit a blog post all to itself like Vancouver’s, but we were very satisfied – especially for the price!!!! It’s one of the least expensive hotels we’ve ever had!  Excellent value.

By the time we were unpacked and freshened up it was almost 2PM! It was time to go exploring!

British Columbia 2016 – Day 6 / Vancouver

Walked 20.51 km / 31 028 steps

This was our last full day in Vancouver and we started it after breakfast at the hotel by walking the seawall around Stanley Park again, but in the opposite direction than our walk on Day 1 (including the Brockton Point Lighthouse that we skipped last time) then Coal Harbour again, and eventually lunch in Gastown.

I wanted to get a better picture of Siwash Rock, but it was hard!! There was always something wrong with the shot or the lighting!!  Still, not that bad in the end.

 

In Coal Harbour, we found a beautiful place to stop for a coffee called ‘6 Degrees Eatery’… it was so lovely in fact, that my husband had a second breakfast!!

I wish I had more pictures of the place, how lovely are these dishes!!!

 

Honestly, I am beyond perplexed that I didn’t take more pictures of the Coal Harbour area given just how much I loved it!!

We were in for a treat this morning, the Olympic Cauldron was lit for a special event – apparently this is a rare occurrence!

We kept on towards Gastown – and lunch!

My burger wasn’t bad, the wine was not good …

   

What impressed me the most about this place was the décor and their “Glass Chandeliers”.  Literally, chandeliers made from wine glasses and bottles! So cool!

 

 

 

 

After lunch, we had a rather sobering experience – a short walk through the Downtown Eastside. It was really sad. People shooting up, puking on the streets, I don’t think I saw one person walking in a straight line…. the most unbelievable examples of poverty and homelessness I have ever seen EVER. Needless to say I didn’t take any pictures, I just wanted to leave. It was tragic.

You don’t need a map to tell you on what side of Main Street you are in Vancouver! Why were we there? Because the Police Museum was nearby…  it turned out to be closed.

From there, we went to visit the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden; it was alright but the surrounding construction sort of ruined the atmosphere. I was underwhelmed.

Cocktail hour was fast approaching, and one vacation tradition in which I like to indulge is to have a fancy drink at a fancy hotel bar so off we went to the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver to have drinks at their Bar: Notch 8.

   

It was great! so relaxy and loungy…  ahhhhh… I treated myself to two! These are: “Lavender Corpse Reviver” & “Bubbles & Berries”.

My husband was dead tired by now and needed a rest before we would head out again for dinner; we walked the 30 minutes back to our hotel where he promptly fell asleep, and I was left to my own devices for about 2 hours.

I wanted to soak up as much of English Bay as possible on this final day. Will I ever return to Vancouver? Who knows! I hope so, but just in case it’s later than sooner I wanted to spend as much time as I could outdoors.

I walked along Sunset Beach for a while… 

… this is as close as your feet can get to the water when you're not willing to remove your sneakers!!

Then I decided a glass of champagne was in order to toast a great vacation! (yes, back at Cactus Club Café so I broke the no repeat rule!)  but doesn’t this look like a good occasion?

Dinner that night (Our Farewell to Vancouver Meal) was just down the street from our hotel. We had walked by it several times and remarked on how pretty the terrace was and how it would be nice to eat out there. Of course on the day we went it was drizzly and we couldn’t eat outside, but it was a delicious meal.

  

Vancouver was just terrific, we had a fantastic time!!! We’d recommend it as a great vacation destination to any one and we hope to be back soon!

 

and now…  onwards to Victoria!

British Columbia 2016 – Day 5 part 2 / Vancouver

I remember now!

My husband was tired after dinner and wanted an early night so I left him in the room and went for a walk. I set my IPhone timer to 20 minutes thinking that when it went off I would turn around and walk back.

I am not sure why I set it to be back by a certain time, was it just because I wanted to get back before dark or what is because he agreed to a night cap? I can’t recall.

So off I went, along the seawall towards False Creek. After some time, I thought to myself: this feel like more than 20 minutes, my timer must be about to go off.  I checked it…  the battery was dead! I checked my watch: I had been walking for almost 45 minutes!!!  

The scenery distracted me THAT MUCH, I just lost all track of time. I was upset because my IPhone was dead, I would be home later than planned and could not reach my husband to give him a head’s up.

Instead of walking back, since I was close to the Yaletown Ferry Dock Stop I decided to take the boat back.

In hind sight, I should have just walked because since I had to wait over 15 minutes for a boat going my way, and transfer in Granville Island, it would have taken the same amount of time!

My husband didn’t even notice I was late! ha!

British Columbia 2016 – Day 5 part 1 / Vancouver

Walked 20.13 km / 30 365 steps

After 2 car-days, today I was on a mission to WALK! And walk we did!!  From our hotel to Grandville Island along the False Creek Seawall.

I am totally in love with this seawall! Have I mentioned that lately? I want to move to Vancouver just because of that walk way.

We started off with breakfast at the hotel. My husband is more of a lingerer when it comes to breakfast coffee than I am, I was getting antsy to get out there and take advantage of the blue skies while they lasted because there was rain in the forecast.  I think he could tell I was itching to start the day because he only had one refill. ha!

This was the view of the skies I had during breakfast (the reflection of the indoor ceiling lights look like oranges on the trees!)

It was a grey overcast walk, but we loved it anyway!

After about an hour of strolling, we thought we’d stop somewhere for a coffee and came across a nice looking place called Provence Marinaside

I ordered a mimosa to make up for that “thing” I had on Day 2!  This was much much much better!

Our intention was just to have a coffee, but everyone around us was having brunch and we got the vibe that we couldn’t “just have coffee” so we thought: What the heck, a little nibble won’t hurt.

I don’t remember what my husband ordered, I had the “Fresh Baked Goods” and TO THIS DAY I regret so much that I didn’t take a picture! OMG.

It was just as described but nevertheless I was not expecting what I got! It was a HUGE basket with a croissant, AND a chocolatine, AND a nut muffin, AND a scone.  I was in a carb coma for HOURS AND HOURS after that. Delicious but WAY WAY WAY too much.

The rest of the walk was slow going after that! It rained a little but not for long. We actually didn’t mind that it wasn’t sunny because there would not have been any shade and a hot walk is no fun for us.

This was taken Heather Civic Marina, I liked the different colours on the rocks.

We arrived at Grandville Island a little before lunch time, but I had less than ZERO appetite – still not recovered from my earlier carb overdose, all I could swallow was a cappuccino. Lunch was NOT going to happen!

  

Our plan for the afternoon was to visit The Vancouver Aquarium, so we took the ferry back to Sunset Beach and enjoyed another scenic walk along the water and through Stanley Park.

The Aquarium was enjoyable, but (naturally) crawling with kids running and laughing and screaming and playing and having lots of fun. Good for them, I’m glad they liked it…  but the decibel levels were too high for me! I have a limited tolerance!  After about an hour and a half, I was ready leave.

  

  

The outside part was the best! We saw dolphins, porpoises, sea lions, penguins, even a beluga whale!

  

But the hands down best of all were the Sleeping Otters. OMG I have never seen anything so cute!!

After this, it was still to early to have dinner (not even 3PM) but since we skipped lunch we were getting a little peckish.  I wanted to walk along Coal Harbour again so we set out to have a cocktail at the Cactus Club Café at Canada Place. The setting is really nice with the Olympic Cauldron right next to it.

I usually have a strict no resto repeat rule on vacation, but since this CCC was not the same location as the one we went to for lunch on Day 1, it didn’t consider it a repeat.

 

As we relaxed, we talked about making “the big decision”…  where to have supper?

My husband being Italian, prefers Italian food above all others, but after that we both enjoy French and German food. Before starting this vacation, I did a few Google searches on restaurants in Vancouver and came across one that had French and German food on their menu! What luck!

We drove by it by bus on the day we arrived, and walked by it again on on Day 2 when we were on our Search for Breakfast.

Decision done, it was to be La Brasserie for supper! (Why is Google giving me this many options for a destination that is right down the road?)

The Restaurant ticked all the right boxes: great menu, nice atmosphere, interesting décor, good service…

 

But the food wasn’t great. It wasn’t TERRIBLE, but it was nothing special.

I think I let myself get too carried away by the prospect of delicious food - it would have had to be way up on the gourmet scale to meet my expectations.

I will say that the foie gras served like a crème brûlée was very original!

No idea what we did after that – nothing on Facebook or in my pictures to jog any memories!  We probably walked down Davie Street back to the hotel…  Who knows!

(Again, what’s with Google and the multiple path options??)