Vancouver

We saw more traffic during the drive into Vancouver than probably during the rest of the holiday.

It was hard to adjust to a high rise, busy modern city, with glass and concrete as opposed to greenery and mountains.  

It was the one and only time ontthe trip we dis stay in a Fairmont hotel, and it was very much a relic from a bygone era.  The building was huge and I couldn't get an angle to show the facade for one side.

When we arrived the first thing we did was to catch an Uber up to Capilano Suspension Bridge Park.  

The bridge is obviously the main attraction.  It is impressive but boy did it bounce!

We had a pleasant couple of hours at the park.  The tree walk was a good way to get closer to the canopy.

The nature tour, the path is primarily on boardwalks. It was a great way to see more of the forest and get a feel of the ground cover. 

 There were also sections with views of the bridge and into the canyon.

And there was a section called Raptors Row, to get up close to some beautiful birds.

 

The cliff walk is basically a metal walkway attached to the canyon wall.  

       It was a fun little walk, with some nice views.

There were some impressive totems in the park

And some peaceful corners tucked away.

Back into Vancouver on public transport using a bus and then a ferry.  Then back to the hotel to wash up before getting something to eat in Gas Town.  There are certainly a lot of bars and eateries!

There was the steam clock, playing music every 15 minutes. 

And there was no missing the "flying saucer" aka the Harbour Centre.

We were not flying to the evening so went for a wander for a few hours.

Firstly it was into the foyer of the Marine Building.

The shoreline to the park has a lot of high rise, but there are occassional breaks for fountains.

This led to Stanley Park.  This is one of the classic city parks, with the advantage of being on a headland with water on three sides.

There were great views of the North Shore and the bridge linking the two parts of the city.

A fair number of marine related art pieces

We paid a visit to the Aquarium, that was a little disappointing and didn't make as much out of the rich marine life in the area.    

The Lions Mane jellyfish were quite stunning. 

  After a bit of a blow-out meal, watching the seaplanes again it was time to head to the airport.

Vancouver Airport was terrible.  We were advised to arrive three hours before flying, which we duly did.  Only took around 30 minutes to pass through security etc and then ended up in a shed, more like a European tourist airport than an international gateway. 

Canada Home

Back: Victoria

Butchart Gardens and Victoria

Victoria

The first part of the trip to Victoria was back along the road to Parksville.  Once we reached the North Coast, we joined the main highway.  The Canadians do like traffic lights - every junction (and there were a lot of them) onto the highway had traffic lights.  It felt like slower progress than the twisty single-carriageway mountain roads!

Butchart was one of the attractions we most wanted to see.  We decided to stop there en-route to our hotel.  It added well over an hour to the day`s driving, but it meant the next day was car free.

The gardens felt more like a show garden than a botanic garden, with a lot of emphasis on landscaping.

The gardens felt more like a show garden rather than a botanic garden., with a lot of emphasis on displays.

It was a pleasant couple of hours but very busy.

We did have probably the best hotel of the holiday.  I was entertained for ages watching the seaplanes landing and taking off, and the traffic on the water.

And we had a great view over Fisherman's Wharf.

After so many nights in small towns, it was a shock to see so many lights at night.

The most impressive building in Victoria: or the one that was most like old European buildings, even though it was only around 140 years old.

It looked glorious at night.

And during the day

The back of the building was equally impressive.

There was no issue going into the building, we just needed to go through a security scan.  

Inside, there were some great reflections from the windows the floor was so highly polished.

The parliament chamber.

The view up into the dome.

I did like that most of the centre of Victoria was low-rise, with a lot of "old" buildings, but it was difficult to get many decent images with the amount of traffic and street furniture.  

Not surprisingly the Fairmont Hotel was one of the most impressive buildings. 

Inside aswell.

As part of the trip we were booked onto a whale watching tour.  RHIBs are great for mobility but bounce, a lot!.  I have a lot of photos of sea and sky.

It was a great tour, 2 Orcas, 4 humpback whales and a totally chilled sea otter.

When we came back into the harbour, we got a good view of our hotel, we were on the fifth floor.