Day 49-51 6/16-18/2015

View from the ferry

With the fridge broken, Kathy working and Jerry headed out of town on a business trip, we decided to take the high speed ferry to Victoria, BC for a few days.  We couldn’t get there as originally planned so this seemed like the way to go.

We took a limo to the ferry terminal and discovered that we would be taking a bus to the ferry terminal at Tsawwassem, BC to Swartz Bay and on to Victoria (another 3 hour tour?).

Our original schedule called for a 3 hour ferry to Victoria but the bus ride, ferry and further bus ride turned the trip into more like a 6.5 hour trip.  On the plus side, the ferry from Tsawwassem had what is reputed to be the best buffet dinner on any ferry anywhere.  We cannot disagree with that since it was really superb.  We had a table by ta window and watched many islands go gliding by as we ate our wonderful meal.  We arrived at our hotel at 9:30 instead of the planned 6pm but already had dinner and got to see sights not on our original itinerary. We’ll call that one a tie.

Wednesday morning after looking at the Victoria map, we decided that a walking tour should be the first order of business.  The Fairmont Empress Victoria was our first stop, located on the inner harbor diagonally from the Government House, the Empress is a grand old hotel impressive in its architecture and with a staff that is tops in all regards.  We enjoyed wandering through some of the public parts of the hotel and enjoyed talking with a delightful young woman in the gallery shop.

Chinatown gate

Next we walked the 6 blocks along Warf Street to to Chinatown.  Always a treat, Chinatowns the world over are a blend of exotic smells, tastes and merchandise and Victoria’s, though small, was certainly worth visiting.

Up the hill to the City Market where food vendors and live music were the draw.  Continuing doun Douglas Street, we stopped at the Cactus Club Cafe for a lunch of Steelhead and Shrimp accompanied by Prawns and Pasta – diet be danmed!

As we crossed the grounds of Government House, we watched a vignette on the history of Victoria and BC performed by excellent actors in period dress then we returned to our hotel for a short rest.

Next up was a carriage ride around the older part of the city with excellent narration on the architecture and history of the area.

Our carriage

We then walked around the inner harbor, chose from the 75 flavors of ice cream offered at the lomon shaped stand on the quay and walked the docks looking at everything from the tiny “Pickle Boats”to a Mega Yacht available for a bargain price of $22 million.

See the lemon?

Next we had a drink at the Milestones Bar & Grill on Warf Street before heading to our hotel for the night.

Pickle Boat

Thursday morning after breakfast at the hotel, we boarded our high speed “Victoria Clipper IV” for a fine 3 hour trip back to downtown Seattle.  Dennis our limo driver whisked us back to Jerry & Kathy’s home and NO FRIDGE!  Frantic calls to Amazon and UPS informed us that our refrigerator was, indeed, missing.  Amazon agreed to ship another one tomorrow with expedited next day shipping for Saturday delivery.  On the plus side, we’ll get a few more days of visiting and leave Greater Seattle on Monday after the hoards from the US Open Golf Tournament leave town.

No miles on our rig