Dominion Grand Hotel Victoria

So after an hour or the bus and sky train we arrived at Tsawwassen Bay ferry terminal and boarded to make the trip over to Vancouver Island, we were met at Schwatz Bay by our host Rowena. This was to be our first couch surfing experience in a while, since Calgary in fact, and it was good to have that sense of nervous expectation again when meeting our host.

Rowena was so easy to talk to, she was fantastic in coming to meet us and putting us at ...

... Country in between Vernon and Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley. It was a perfect road trip - music from my Zune loud and clear, dry, uncrowded roads, supreme, constantly changing scenery.
I love BC! Every time I drive through it I'm reminded that it's the most beautiful place in the world.

... world, the construction of a new. Neat bark paths weave past them now, accessible to buggies and wheelchairs. Ropes and fences make people keep their distance, and everything is explained by helpful boards. This accessibility will widen the audience this forest receives, and hopefully make more people value it. But I preferred the other side, where the trails tended to vanish and the air of wilderness remained ...

... welche an einem see vorbei kommt, damit ich meinem liebsten hobby (gewässer erkunden) nachkommen und der hitze entfliehen könnte. verschwitzt und voller vorfreude dort angekommen finde ich ein warnschild, dass die bakterienkonzentration zu hoch sei und ich doch besser eine badewanne aufsuchen sollte... nur leider gibt's keine davon im ocean island backpacker :o(

FAZIT: in victoria gibt's nicht die grossen sehenswürdigkeiten, dafür aber die 'grossen' menschen

This is the part of the trip that I was really looking forward to - riding the ferry to Victoria :). I love riding ferries. That must be just the aquarian in me. I love being in the ocean. We planned starting our day early, well, at least we planned on it. It was almost noon by the time we started our drive to Tsawwassen terminal, just in ...

... as it was so jam packed full of delightful goodies. A quick stop to The English Sweet Shop to satisfy our sweet teeth and then back to the coach terminal for our approx four hour journey back to downtown Vancouver. If we ever come back, we'll have to stay on the Island so we can have a proper look around as Victoria is only one part of the Island and we have been told that other parts of the Island are even more beautiful.

... Anyway, more on that once we move in and the can get some pictures etc. The last couple of days have been really nice and sunny weather, and we spent it all looking for places. At the time I'm writing this (which is the 13th) it's been raining (drizzling in NQ terms) all day and is quite cool. So not much point doing too much outside today.

We're finally on our way...or are we? One photo--in front of the airport, is misleading. The airport and Horizon Air--our short hop to catch our flight from Seattle--was not to be. For those of you who missed the news, the small Bombardier jets that are used for these flights are the same as those in Scandinavia that have recently been seen losing their landing gear, while landing that is...So, there were cancelled flights and we were in a line that didn't move at all for about a half ...

... by getting angry at driver's conduct but instead the easiest route of non-resistance was to comply and to cross streets with caution at your own peril and to stay out of the way of drivers. Even at crosswalks, and the only one's I remember were in Bariloche , there was no inclination to let pedestrians have the right of way. Now, having said all that, there were of course a few instances where drivers did indeed stop unexpectedly to allow pedestrian right of way. I always made ...

... tales. Maybe the cold or the lack of much to do led the country to drinking and smoking so much. But, if they didn't drink and smoke their time away so readily, they'd probably come up with exciting things to do in their free time. They'd probably be more animated normally. 5. SLOW DESTRUCTION OF FRENCH CULTURE - Immigrants coming to Canada are usually tested in English and don't have to speak French. Many of them go to Montreal, even Quebec City, and ...