22. Day: Victoria: 07/13/2018

Unfortunately, we had to leave our beautiful vacation rental today and drove for two and a half hours to Victoria, the capital of Vancouver Island.

Previously, the city was even the capital of the entire Canadian West when it was not yet Canada but simply a British colony. You can still feel a lot of that today. The city has remained small and British, everywhere you can feel the greatness of bygone days and splendor. British tea houses, wonderful cottages, the parliament building, and Victorian hotels shape the cityscape by the harbor.

We were lucky enough to take a parliamentary tour, which a very knowledgeable and humorous staff member organized for us. European tours should learn something from this: Not only was he very knowledgeable himself, but the tour was also implemented by an actor who suddenly took over and, in the role of a 19th century parliamentarian, the respectable Mister Amor de Cosmos, reported on how he personally built democracy and political life.

I also got today's riddle from him: What is the motto in the coat of arms of British Columbia in German? In Latin, you can already spot it in the window picture! This time there is a real American India Pale Ale waiting for the winner.

We had booked the ferry for 7:30 PM, but had to be at the terminal at 6 PM because we wanted to go to the USA and the American border police makes quite a fuss about who exactly comes into their country. It was mainly waiting time; we were briefly asked if we were tourists and then our ID cards were checked.

The crossing by ship to the Olympic Peninsula was wonderful.

Stormy, yes, but with the clearest view, blue sky, and above all: we saw a whale very close to the boat. It is impressive when such a huge animal suddenly appears next to the railing, blows out water, and hits the tail fin.

Nuria, Sophia, and I also ventured outside and almost blew away.

After a short shopping trip at Safeways and filling up the tank, gasoline is so much cheaper in the USA than in Canada, we drove to our vacation home on the coast - already in the dark. What a dream of a vacation home. Downstairs the three bedrooms, upstairs with a wide view of the sea living area with kitchen and additional bathroom. Not only a large but a huge veranda. Maybe we'll extend our stay if it's possible. Something so beautiful! What will it be like in daylight? More about that tomorrow.