Canada - Day 3 - Off to Vancouver Island!

This morning, thanks to jet lag, we woke up before 5 o'clock again. So we were able to take the earlier ferry to Vancouver Island. We got ready as quietly as possible, packed the rest of our things, and headed towards the Tsawwassen Terminal in Vancouver. On the way, we stopped at a Wal Mart. We should have done that on the first day because we found out that everything here was much cheaper than in the stores where we had been shopping before! Well, at least now we know ;)

At the ferry terminal, we bought our ticket for about 90 dollars and then took the ferry at 9 o'clock. On the ferry, you would have thought you landed in Asia. Almost all passengers were Asians. During our 3-week stay, we had noticed time and again that there are more Asians in Canada than Canadians...the ferry was still quite harmless in this regard. Anyway, we spent most of the journey outside, hoping to spot some whales. Unfortunately, we froze in vain (because the wind was pretty fresh and the weather today wasn't exactly the best), there were no whales in sight. However, the view when we reached the outskirts of Vancouver Island was still very beautiful. We admired the great houses that seemed to be standing on the cliffs in the middle of nowhere. Whoever lives here definitely has peace and quiet! After about 1.5 hours of travel, we arrived at the port of Schwartz Bay. From there, it was only half an hour to our accommodation in Victoria, the capital of BC.

This time we booked a motel. We arrived there around 11 o'clock, but check-in was not until 3 o'clock, so we had to bridge the time until then a little bit. We could already park the car there. So we could explore the city a bit in peace. After just a few meters, we came across the Public Market, a large market hall with various food stalls. Totally cool! We got some Indian food there, and since the weather now really turned out to be bad (cold, windy, wet), we also ended up at a French bakery where there were delicious cinnamon rolls. Eventually, we wanted to move on and braved the rain. However, only until we reached the nearest shopping mall, where we strolled around a bit. Eventually, it stopped raining, so we could venture down to the harbor.

The first impression of Victoria: small but nice. Seems to be quite pretty, but soon it started raining again and besides, we were so tired that we desperately needed a nap. So we made our way back to the motel, where we could finally check-in after a short wait. The room seemed fine, a bit outdated but reasonably clean, with two huge beds. We used them for a little nap, without it, nothing would have worked.

In the evening, we ventured back into the city in search of a nice pub. However, everything here was so expensive that we decided to skip it. But no big deal, we were actually too tired anyway. So, better get some more sleep and hope that we can sleep a little longer tomorrow.