This is my contribution to the A to Z Blogging Challenge, in which I'm focusing on overseas destinations I've visited. Five to go!!
V is for Victoria and Vancouver
Victoria, BC, Canada (June 2005)
The fact that I grew up in Oregon and went to college in the Puget Sound, yet never got to British Columbia until I was 40, seems truly bizarre to me now. For awhile, it seemed that every time we would plan a trip up to BC, something would go wrong. The first time was 1992, and Mike's dad died very suddenly. The second time was 1996, and Christopher was born prematurely at 24 weeks. So it wasn't until 2005, for our 15th wedding anniversary, that we finally made it to Victoria! We returned in 2009, when
we spent a week in Sooke, BC, with our kids and my parents, but I'm going to focus on our first trip for this post.
We flew up to Victoria and relied on foot and mass transit to get around. We stayed in a new-at-the-time hotel near the city center,
the Marriott Victoria Inner Harbour, with wonderful views. Very romantic!
 |
| Mike in front of the famous Empress Hotel, where we didn't have tea, but we did have cocktails in their lovely bar! |
 |
| The Bengal Bar in the Empress, where we had cocktails |
After doing my research, we decided to have tea in a far-flung tea shop,
the White Heather Tea Room, run by a Scottish woman...it took a few buses to get there, but it was totally worth the journey!! We had the Big Muckle Giant Tea for Two, which fed us for the whole day. This was all before Mike went gluten free...it would be much harder to have high tea nowadays, unless we could find a gluten-free tea room!
 |
| So much fun! |
One day we took a bus to the Butchart Gardens--June was a perfect time to visit. We had a lovely day there!
 |
| 15 years together! |
 |
| Love delphiniums! |
 |
| In the Japanese gardens |
One night we had tapas in a Spanish restaurant, and on our anniversary itself we dined at the
Restaurant Matisse, a wonderful restaurant located in a basement...with brick walls.
 |
| After dinner, in the hotel lobby |
On one day we spent the whole time at the phenomenal
Royal British Columbia Museum, including wandering through the totem poles in
Thunderbird Park.
This trip was when we discovered how much we like
Murchie's Tea and
Munro's Books, conveniently located near each other! We love Victoria!
Vancouver, BC, Canada (Summer 2010)
In August 2010, we went up to Vancouver and stayed for a week in a big house with my sister and her family. We had a great time! This is what we did:
Most of all, our week was all about high-quality cousin time, along with sisters-and-their-husbands time. We had a blast!
 |
| Taking bathtub boat to Granville Island |
 |
| After having lunch at the market on Granville Island |
 |
| Headed to Granville Island |
 |
| The dock where we boarded the boat |
 |
| Cuddling with my sister |
 |
| Our family at Canada Place |
 |
| Chinese Garden |
 |
| Stanley Park |
 |
| Chinese Garden |
 |
| Stanley Park |
 |
| Stanley Park |
 |
| Sister time on Granville Island |
 |
| Gastown |
 |
| Canada Place |
 |
| At Stanley Park |
 |
| Boys throwing rocks |
 |
| Stanley Park picnic |
 |
| Chris hanging out in the house we rented |
 |
| Eating wonderful Indonesian takeout |
 |
| Night out with Mike |
Visit here to read my A-U posts. Tomorrow, back to Japan for W!
They look like two great holidays. I had a great time on my visit to Vancouver - I chiefly remember a Japanese Garden and a sea shanty evening on an old wooden boat moored alongside a park. The sea shanties were mostly the same tunes as I knew from the Uk, and from Australia, with different words!
ReplyDeleteJemima at Jemima's blog
Thank you for doing my fave place!!! I went to Victoria in 2003 (that year we stayed west of Sooke at Point No Point), 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2010. I did Vancouver in 2006 but wasn't impressed. So you didn't do Capilano Suspension Bridge or Grouse Mountain?
ReplyDelete