Easter Holidays in Victoria

david_s_punzelt — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 15:00:00 GMT

As I didn't have to work on Good Friday and Easter Monday I decided to spent the Easter weekend in Victoria, the provincial capital of BC. I got up relatively early on Friday, had some coffee at Starbucks (that really got a habit over here ;)) and headed to Tsawwassen, where the ferry terminal is. That took me almost 2 Hours to get there and I just made it in time to catch ferry at 11am. The ferry cruise was magnificient as the weather was superb and the atmosphere on the open sea is something I've always enjoyed. A group of seagulls accompanied us all the way to Swartz Bay, the ferry terminal on Vancouver Island. There we (i.e. me and the major part of the app. 400 passengers) were stuck as there were only two (!) busses to get us down to Victoria which is an hour's drive. So we had to wait almost two hours before one of the busses finally came back to pick us up. The drive itself was very enjoyable as the landscape on Vancouver Island is particularly beautiful on the one hand and I generally enjoy everything that's new to me on the other hand. I just had to call the owner of the b&b where I planned to stay and tell him I wouldn't make it in time.

The owner of the b&b, Jim, is a nice. elderly man who warmly welcomed me in his b&b-house. The accommodation itself was incredibly nice. It was a house probably built in the late 19th century, completely jammed with all kinds of pictures (painted by the owners daughter), dolls and all that stuff. My room was tiny but perfectly clean. Honestly, the bathroom was as clean as I've never before seen a bathroom to be. Not even in the four-star hotel in Vancouver it was half as clean.

I spent most of the weekend strolling around in downtown Victoria, had a look at the shops, spent some time in Munro's book store, a book store of the old kind with wooden shelfs and calm classic music played in the background. If the weather had not been that beautiful, I would have spent all day in there. Instead I just bought a book, went down to the Inner Harbour, sat down on the stairs, read the book, listened to the street musicians, talked to a few of them and enjoyed my time to the fullest. I felt so completely relaxed and at ease.

I could endlessly go on like this but to put it in anutshell I had a wonderful holiday and a great time. And one thing is sure: for me Victoria once more! (in May/June with my brother)

Lynn Valley Park - paradise on earth

david_s_punzelt — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 22:25:00 GMT

Sunday last I woke up and unexpectedly the weather wasn't half as bad as the forecasts had predicted. So I decided to better seize the day and did what I had had in mind since coming to Vancouver - going to one of these thrilling suspension bridges they have over here, straight crossing some deep wild and white water streams and waterfalls.

Near Vancouver, you've got the choice between either the Capilano Suspension Bridge or the Lynn Valley Bridge. First one's larger and the altitude's higher - that's on the positive side, as well as the fact they've got a cliffwalk there, with partial glass floor. Negative thing is, though, it costs 29 c$ per person.

The Lynn Valley is free, which is why I decided to give that one a try first and save Capilano for summer.

Having made my mind I got onto the seabus down at Waterfront station, which took me over to the Lonsdale Quay bus loop. Over there I hopped on the #229 running straight up (literally up, that bus was having a hard time up the hill ;))to the entrance of the park. Bad luck for me, I didn't know that beforehand so upon discovering the first sign with "Lynn Valley" on it, I hopped off the bus. Turned out I had seen the sign of the Lynn Valley Centre - a shopping mall. Still in the hope of finding the suspension bridge within walking distance I strolled round a bit, ending up right where I had started, at the bus stop. I asked a man which direction I'd have to walk. He laughed, waved his hands and said: Ah, man, it's down there, but that's about a mile further on the road. You can walk, but that's quite a way, ya know?"

As I wanted to save my time for the park I decided to hop on the #229 again for some more stations. After half an hour at the bus stop, watching cars and shoppers, the next bus came and took me to the park entrance.

There I met some nice Australian dude and a girl from Singapore, both had just arrived in Vancouver several days ago and were as eager to explore outdoors as I was. We decided to just do the tour through the park together as this promised more fun.

The supension bridge alone is amazing, as it's really quite shaky and high above the ground. They say, every year some people lose their lives jumping head over heels from the bridge into the wildwater below.

After crossing the bridge, we strolled through the park for almost two hours, completely stunned by the breathtaking scenery. I have hardly ever seen such a beautiful spot of nature before, true thing!

We really had a lot of fun searching our own way through the undergrowth and besides the river. This planless strolling around ended in us having to jump over some fence in order to get back on trail. Anyway, we jumped over some warnsigns as well ... but what happened in Lynn Valley stays in Lynn Valley ;)

To put it in a nutshell I had a perfect day and can highly recommend this park to everyone!

Notes from Canada

Easter Holidays in Victoria

Lynn Valley Park - paradise on earth