Vancouver Island
Veronika on the ferry on the way to Vancouver Island
Monday 12th July - Wednesday 14th July 1999
From the city of Vancouver, we caught a ferry early in the morning to Vancouver Island, a huge island some 500 kilometres long off the coast of British Columbia. Victoria, the largest city on the island and the capital of BC, is a charming town which, as the tourist brochures put it, "exudes Old World charm". It has avoided the ultra-modern development of many (most) North American cities and retains a small town feel about it.
The ferry journey from Tsawassen to the island was described as one of the most beautiful in the world; unfortunately for us, the weather was just a little bit too hazy for us to see clearly how this description came about. Certainly we passed through what appeared to be some spectacular inlets and channels, but we were wishing for a clearer day. We did manage to see some seals who followed us in the ferry for a short while, but too briefly for me to be able to catch a picture of them.
One of the many beautiful bays on the way from Tsawassen to Swarz Bay on Vancouver Island
We were met off the bus from Swarz Bay by Pat Patterson, our host in Victoria and a fellow Internet genealogist. She and her husband drove us around Victoria for a while showing us the sights; in particular, the views of the Olympic mountains over the water in Washington state were quite stunning, although again the haziness meant that I was unable to take any decent pictures. The Pattersons live in a fairly secluded area set in the hills outside of Victoria surrounded by forests. Deer also make their home in the forest, and we were fortunate enough to have a close encounter with a family of foraging deer who were sufficiently bold that we were able to come right up close to them without spooking them.
Deer foraging in the gardens outside Victoria - nice if you're a tourist, a nuisance if you're a local!
As I said earlier, Victoria is the capital of British Columbia, and as such is the home to the provincial parliament. The parliament building itself was designed by a 25-year-old architect who was newly arrived from England. The design was spectacular, but the construction work itself was plagued by problems and cost over-runs (some things never change!), so much so that the building actually cost twice as much as the architect planned. The legislators were so annoyed by this that they refused to invite the architect to the formal opening ceremony, and he returned to England a bitter man. As in the US, free tours were arranged round the parliament building, and anyone (including foreigners) were free to wander around the building unsupervised, without more than a cursory security check. Somehow, I can't imagine the same being true in the UK (or Slovenia for that matter), although I've never tried to find out.
The parliament building sits overlooking the harbour in the heart of Victoria. Nearby we encountered several pipers (inevitably, it would seem by now). A mock classical temple building turned out to be a wax museum, which we were advised was not terribly interesting and wildly overpriced (Victoria is after all a major tourist destination, described by Conde Nast as one of the top ten cities to visit in the world - I would probably take issue with this claim, but not to forcefully). Along the waterfront, there were numerous buskers of varying talent as well as a number of native artisans producing and selling wood carvings on the spot. There were also whale-spotting tours which offered a 90% sighting chance, but they were more than a little beyond our restricted budget alas - we'll have to wait for a cheaper country to go whale spotting.
The entrance to Victoria's Chinatown
Like almost every North American city we've visited so far, Victoria had its own Chinatown, full of those weird fruit and vegetables which look really good if only I knew what on earth they were and how to prepare them! Another thing I've noticed about the various Chinatowns is that they seem to be just about the cheapest place to buy fresh fruit and vegetables - in San Francisco apples in the Chinatown markets were about one-quarter of the price in shops, and this was not an isolated example - a handy tip for fellow budget travellers!