Victoria B.C. Time to Explore!

Whenever I travel now I book my accommodations on Airbnb. So far I haven't been disappointed. Victoria was no exception. The things I look for are: close to downtown but not TOO close, separate quarters from the owners, doesn't cost an arm and a leg, wifi,  a fridge and a corkscrew :)

This lovely setup met all of my requirements. It had a nice living area with a patio...

...a full size kitchen with all the needed appliances... (I stocked the fridge with yogurt and blueberries for my 3 breakfasts...)

...and it was on the main floor of a house with the owner and her two very quiet young boys living upstairs...

...a very comfortable bed and a brand new bathroom...no tub, but a really nice shower!

The location was St. Lawrence St. which was just a few blocks away from "downtown" Victoria. On this particular trip I needed a parking space too and there was a short driveway that was just the right size and was conveniently located next to the patio and patio doors so it was easy to carry things in from and out to the rental car.

It was a nice street with attractive Craft style homes with loads of flowers, shrubs and trees. The section of the street I was on was one way and very quiet.

At the end of my street, two blocks away, was a park that I walked through arriving at the Fisherman's Wharf. I could see clear across to the other side of the bay and watched the activity of the many boats and pontoon planes.

The harbour contains a "working wharf" which is very colourful and full of different kinds of businesses, not just the usual fishing boats.

This became my favourite place in Victoria and my friend Troy and I ate there on my birthday - I had seared tuna for the first time with a lovely chardonnay - it was so fresh and tasty.

It's a very busy place!

 

What I loved the best were the "floating houses"! There are 33 of them occupied year round. There was one for sale - if only I had a spare million lying around! Small living appeals to me very much, and living at the wharf year round sounds ideal.

Some are one story, most are two and many have a rooftop patio and garden. Some people operate businesses from their floating house.

This very colourful one appealed to my artistic side...

Piers become streets...

Most floating houses show the characteristics of the owners...

The green one has a nice rooftop patio.

There were many water taxis to help people get quickly to the other side of the bay...

 I continued on to explore downtown Victoria seeing a well-occupied fountain...

The HUGE Empress Hotel which I would have loved to explore but we weren't allowed...

The Parliament buildings were quite beautiful I thought...

A closer view of the Empress Hotel. If you book far enough in advance you can enjoy High Tea for about a million dollars.  (Now I need TWO million dollars!!)

Here's my high tea :)  After strolling the streets and taking in the sights I found a pub called "The Local" where I enjoyed a cold beverage and a quesadilla.

This is my view of the bay from "The Local" ...

...a different view...

 Remembering the dead in both World Wars...

 

A Sequoia tree that was planted in the late 1800's - it grows about one foot per year! Every Christmas it is loaded with lights.

You can see tiny people on the sidewalk beside the tree which shows how huge it is!

Parliament and First Nations going head to head - saving sacred land is an ongoing battle.

I saw this in a window of someone's home business - I couldn't resist!!

Lots of plants and flowers that I'd never seen before - beautiful!

And that was my first day - I travelled 3700 kms by Uber, plane, rental car and ferry and safely arrived at my first destination. Tomorrow I'll head to the west coast of Vancouver Island for hiking and exploring. The weather forecast looks great!

Solidarity

Today is the first annual Aboriginal Solidarity day in London, ON. Trust our native Canadians to be the ones to extend the olive branch of peace and solidarity to us whities. We stole their land, we oppressed them and stole their children and put them in horrifying residential schools, we've lied and not honoured land treaties and still they extend their hand in peace? It really makes one think.

I can't help but compare this to the Orlando mass shooting. It seems that when a group of people become oppressed, abused, beaten up and killed amazing activists rise out of the ashes. In the movie "Pride" the "gays" helped the Welsh miners and then the miners helped "the gays". I really really hope that a reciprocal relationship can be built between our First Nations peoples and the rest of us. 

Part of that is including each other in cultural rights and rituals. 

The day began for me at 4:30am though I was awake before the alarm went off. I had to leave my house at 5am in order to get to Wortley Village  where a sunrise ceremony was going to take place. I am riding my bike everywhere these days so I have to allow more time to get to where I'm going. Sunrise today was at 5:46am.

A fire was being worked on as I arrived. There was singing, chanting, passing of the peace pipe and thanks and acknowledgement given for our ancestors and things we were grateful for.

 We all had the opportunity to take some fragrant bits of cedar pulp and add it to the fire giving silent thanks to what we valued in our lives. I acknowledged and gave thanks for my grandmother and my parents who have passed on, my ancestors, my child, my family and friends, good health, trees, deer, turtles, birds, and my love for nature which links me to mother earth.

I have been back to the park a second time to see some dancing and singing - I haven't uploaded those photos yet, and I may go back again as there are some bands playing. So far I've travelled 37kms on my bike. Why oh why am I not tall and thin?? Oh well, I'm thankful for strong legs!!

Canada Day Eh?

Some friends from the group I joined, Council of Canadians, invited me to join them at Harris Park for the Canada Day festivities. It was a cloudy and gloomy day but by about 5pm the sun started to peek out and we had NO rain for a change! We are so water-logged around here!

While looking for my friends who did I see? My brother, Gord, on his way to watch a ballgame at Labatt's Park.  I could here cheering from the ball diamond quite frequently so assumed London won the game. (They did!)

This youngster was having a blast playing under the bridge but was making me a wee bit nervous about his safety! I'm sure he came away unscathed.

The river that flows through London is called the Thames of course! It's pretty shallow most of the time but all the rain we've had has created perfect conditions for these kayakers.

People really dress up around here for Canada Day. This must be some sort of First Nations garb. He never came over to me but he had something in a bag that he was sharing with people...not sure what it was.

The lights over at Labatt Park where the baseball game was going on. There is a huge osprey nest on top of the lights on the left. We watched as the parents brought the babies food - we could see "supper" dangling from the osprey's talons. We had to wait for the ballgame to be over and the lights turned off before the fireworks could start.

Hard to tell from this angle but this fellow was dressed as a Star Wars storm trooper!

There was live music from 5pm til close to 10pm. in the bandshell which I thoroughly enjoyed.

You can't really tell from this picture but these fellows' hats had flashing lights on them...

One of my all-time favourite singers - Cheryl Lescom. She sounds a bit like Janis Joplin and Melissa Etheridge - throaty, deep and man can she sing the blues!

Finally it was time for the fireworks - the Canada flag was first:

It was hard to take photos of the fireworks so I gave up and just enjoyed them without a camera in between me and the great show. It was very impressive and worth the long wait.

It alway's mayhem on the streets after Canada Day is over - thousands of people walking all over the place and cars trying to navigate their way through the crowds without killing anybody! I parked quite a few blocks away hoping the avoid the traffic jams. The strategy worked and I was home by 11pm which for some strange reason seems really late!! I'm usually in bed by 10!! It's an exciting life I lead :)