Vancouver (3/3), Whale Watching & Victoria/ Vancouver Island

Hello Vancouver, Jess is back! (Everyone has been calling me that for almost 2 months now, seems to be the typical abbreviation for Americans, Canadians, Brits, and Aussies - I like it! Definitely better than Jessi 😊 Jess the badass 😂) Oh, I love Vancouver. Especially the area around my hostel, Granville Street to the Waterfront. There's so much to explore - during the day, you can visit beaches and parks or do some shopping (especially in and around Pacific Center) and in the evening, there are soooo many pubs, restaurants, clubs... and I always had so much fun. I feel completely comfortable here and never feel afraid on the streets, even at night! There are a lot of homeless people here too, but somehow I still like it better than San Francisco - so it's probably not the homeless people that I don't like about the city, but rather the 'groove'. Canada is AMAZING, after almost 3 weeks of evaluation so far, some things are like in America, but not so extreme (e.g. smaller portions of food 😂) and many things remind me of Europe, mainly England, the Queen and the Royals are omnipresent here 😊
When I arrived in the city, I longed for a 'total revision': doing laundry, taking a shower, getting rid of the dirt in my suitcase, manicure and pedicure... but don't get me wrong: camping was great, but you're often 'dirty' and your nails are a mess (and my feet! After about 7 years, I say goodbye to my beloved Merrell Moab shoe - R.I.P. - but when a shoe only causes blisters, it's time to part ways 😊)
Now that the tours are over, I'm no longer worried about the amount of luggage, so I finally could buy some clothes. Currently super comfortable: skinny jeans like Spanx or leggings and either Converse (as usual 😜) or my new Timberland boots and a loose sweater or flannel shirt (Very Canadian!). In America and Canada, everyone seems to dress however they like, it's great. So the sneakers match everything anyway. Converse with jeans, Converse with a dress, Converse with shorts, Converse everywhere 😜
Temperature-wise, it's more like autumn here (while camping, I got a taste of winter already!) so on Monday, I was looking forward to some rays of sunshine at sea - I booked a day trip on the ship 'Prince of Whales' (I love wordplay 😂). It was perfectly sunny weather, and the crew also said that it was probably the last opportunity to soak up the sun before winter.
In the morning, we had 4 hours of animal observation on the program, we saw whales (Orcas!! 😍) and an eagle. I enjoyed the vastness of the sea. It was nice to just sit, do nothing and not speak. We arrived in the city of Victoria at 12:30 pm and you could spend 2.5 hours there and have lunch (I treated myself to a proper restaurant, not fast food 😜) and then visit gardens at the other end of Vancouver Island. The flowers didn't really interest me, but this was part of the day trip and the boat would return from there to Vancouver.
We arrived at 8 pm, but I didn't want to just sit in my room on my last evening here. I could sleep in the next day. So I went to the bar below the hostel, from which I would be soundtracked all night anyway - they played old school songs according to my taste like 'Like a G6' or 'Call on meeeee' 😜 Here I am now, wobbling on my bar stool to good music and writing this text, feel like writing 😊😊 In the spirit of 'Detox Week', I ordered my new favorite Canadian drink when I can no longer tolerate caffeine in the form of Diet Coke in the evening: Ginger Ale, very obedient 😇 (Yes, I know, sugar is not good either, but step by step, from wine to Ginger Ale to tea at the bar 😂😂😂 Speaking of tea: In Canada, I keep discovering new shops that I haven't seen in the USA yet, for example today: David's Tea - my paradise! So many varieties of tea and cups 😍 So my 23rd tea strainer goes into the shopping bag 🙈😇
Tomorrow, on Tuesday, I will start my long train journey to Toronto, 3.5 days, 4466 km WITHOUT Wi-Fi, so you won't hear from me for a while, but don't worry, I'll just be lazy on the train and read and listen to music and crochet, so that I don't forget how to do it 😜 (@ Mel: Hippo mobiles and minions and other fancy things will be my Christmas activities in 2017 😊 Challenge accepted👍🏻)