Wrong Side of the Road

Rebecca did a mighty brave thing today, she hired a car and drove on the 'wrong' side of the road for the first time ever. A feat I've never done. All I could do was be her co-pilot, uttering directions and gentle words of encouragement. We were on a trip out of town to go visit the cemetery where of of Rebecca's family is buried. We paid our respects and admired how peaceful the area was. A short drive away was also a small park with some very pretty waterfalls which we toured around before doing the long drive home. 

The thought dawned on us over dinner how we're slowly approaching the end of our trip. In many ways it feels like all I know is the Canadian way of life now, but it also feels like we're still fresh off the plane. Only a few more days to go now, we plan to make the most of it. 

Where's Rebecca?

It was only a matter of time, but today was the day I finally lost Rebecca in a bookshop. 

We'd been walking around Victoria for a couple of hours, taking the very scenic route into the shopping district. After a thift store (where I got two very nice bargin shirts), we found ourselves in a huge double-floor bookshop. Rebecca doesn't like it too much when I stalk her around when she's perusing so I put my nose into some other sections. I ended up in the film and TV areas and somehow found a nearly pristine copy of Bart Simpson's Guide to Life, a boom I read cover to cover then back again a hundred times over growing up. Flicking through those pages was like a heady dose of nostalgia that I was not prepared for. In the midst of all this, Rebecca finished browsing and managed to check every aisle, minus the one I was having a moment in. We kept passing eachother all over the place til we were eventually reunited on the stairwell. We always magnetize to one another in the end.

Over to Victoria

I rolled up my clothes into a tight wad once again as we hit the road today. We big farewell to Vancouver and hello to Victoria. Only took a bus ride and a ferry to make the crossing but now we're firmly in a city that we can legitimately walk across in just a dozen minutes. Our hotel is pretty quirky, offering Gilmore Girls vibes with the biggest bed we've ever seen! We'll explore the town proper tomorrow, till then we're having a double king sized snooze.

Smitten with Squamish

One of the main things I wanted to do while out in Canada was go up the mountains and see some snow. That dream came true today with our visit out to Squamish. We caught the bus out of town and rode the gondala up almost above the cloud line into the frost dusted peaks. There were a multitude of view points and short hikes to go on, the latter of which took us along some fairytale looking routes through a snowy mountain trail. Rebecca wasn't quite wearing the right shoes for the trek though, so I effectively became one of those plastic penguins on skates that they give to children to hold into at ice skating rinks. I was her crutch for the slippy patches but she did really well considering. I was too smitten with the scenery to pay much mind.

Stanley Park

After five days of rain the weather finally let up so we ventured out into the mighty Stanley Park - a hunk of nature only a bus ride away from downtown. It's vast, wild and gorgeous. We took a walk up and through it before ending up on the Sea Wall. The views there were spectacular so we just kept on walking, marvelling the whole time about how one skyline could contain trees, a metropolis, mountains and oil tankers all in one.

We he back to the same bar as yesterday, the beer menu was longer than my arm so I still had plenty to choose from but we really wanted to try the food. I had a near religious experience with a burger in one hand and a dark IPA in the other. It set us up for a cinema trip to see Project Hail Mary - a book Rebecca and I have both enjoyed. This is also my first real movie-going experience in another country. Aside from the adverts, it was pretty similar as it turns out. I was low-key expecting more whooping from the audience, guess they used up all that enthusiasm for the hockey game. 

Go Cannucks, Go

With the rain reaching its zenith today, we decided to take it very slow - a kind of mini recharge day. We popped out to a trendy cafe for brunch and coffee then headed Downtown a bit later on to check out the library. That passed the time til the big ice hockey game in the evening anyway. We hit up a bar on the way to get some cheap happy hour drinks, that at least got me just buzzed enough to get hyped about eating stadium food. I was gassed for Poutine, but that's more of an East Coast thing we discovered so it had to be a hot dog for me. I was a bit nonplussed when they handed it to me, but then they gestured to the condiment bar where I rekindled my love affair for sauerkraut.

Going into the hockey stadium I was once again reminded that North Americans don't do sports in small measures. It was huge, with pumping music and a jumbo screen. The hype for the Home team was built up to legendary proportions, before the game even started we were treated to a massively overproduced video starring all the Vancouver players as they literally save the world from an alien invasion. Thank goodness I was half cut because I don't think my retinas could survive a sober eye roll. Then after witnessing all the hype and build up, the home team got totally glazed, losing by four goals. But they had a lotta heart and in my books that counts for something.

Another Big, Wet Walk

We naively thought we saw the last of the rain, but the weather instead doubled down, giving us a deluge just in time for another big outdoorsy walk. We caught a bus to the outskirts of the city to visit another suspension bridge followed by a mini hike along the river. By the end my jeans needed to be peeled off my thighs. I hung them up to dry and slid into my only other pair of trousers: my pyjamas. I had to slip my still wet jeans in once more though to head out for dinner for an Asian fusion place that provided the best meal of the holiday so far. Vancouver's weather occasionally leaves something to be desired, good thing the restaurants don't disappoint.