We only had a short wait before boarding and we were on our way.
Here's the usual picture of the downtown area of the city (in this case Calgary) from the airport.
...and just after take off.
This time with glorious sunshine accompanying us we had views of the Rockies as seen from above rather than looking up.
It was only a short flight, about 1hr. The airline still managed to give us pretzels and a drink in this time. Before landing at Vancouver International we could see thousands of logs being floated down the river.
Landed in Vancouver with baggage, although a minor scare ensued as it was the last item off the carousel and everyone else had left.
Picked up the new rental cat and this time compact really did mean compact. We had always hankered after test driving a Fiat 500. Luckily the baggage just about all fits in the boot, although it's a bit of a tight squeeze. A full review of it's capabilities will have to be made in about 10 days time. It's grey and small but perfectly formed, and importantly does have aircon.
Set off for the Tsawwassen ferry to Victoria on Vancouver Island. Missed the 3pm ferry by about 5min, but at least we were near the front of the queue for the next one.
Serendipity is the traveller's strongest ally - the terminal managed to pack a whole mall full of shopping opportunities into a very small area. This included a whole host of choices on the food front, by this time hunger was beginning to set in anyway. A stop at a salad/fruit bar, a pizza shop, and a muffin stall provided us with a variety of suitable munchies. A picnic bench in the 20 deg. C sunshine completed the pleasant eating arrangements, even though we were technically in the dockyards.
Raspberry yogurt muffin that rivalled other yummy muffins made by certain people we know at home.
View of Vancouver City from the ferry (makes a change).
The ferry ride was longer than our plane journey today, but very pleasant being on deck.
The Tsawwassen to Schwartz Bay ferry
Luckily we were standing in exactly the right place on deck for when a pod of Orca were spotted on the starboard side (or possibly port as we don't know which is which!). Of course the camera was in the boot of the car, four decks below us. We did manage to capture some video using the iPhone - phew.
The ferry disgorged it's load onto the main road into Victoria, and it was a fairly busy drive for 30min to the B&B for tonight. The house we are staying in is an historic house, built in 1898 in the Venacular style and originally called Sydney House. It has a full width front porch, a second floor balustrade, and a balustraded widow's walk on the roof, alternatively called a 'deck roof' from which the original owner flew the Union Jack, amongst other flags. Picture to follow, too dark for one today, as the sun had set when we arrived.
Our host showed us to our room and the tea making facilities - bone china cups, real tea, a kettle and teapot. Two cups each were thirstily consumed.
The bed was sumptuous, but may represent a challenge later in the night...
Eric worriedly contemplating the vertiginous drop from the mattress.
