Walked 13.28 km / 20 096 steps
Day 9 started off with a small sandwich & coffee for breakfast, then off to pick up our rental car.
The original plan was to rent it for 2 days / 1 night so we could do 2 full days of excursions – just like we did in Vancouver, but we changed our minds and decided on 3 days / 2 nights instead.
When I started looking up how to get to the airport using public transportation, I was surprised to see that is was not so simple! Perhaps it was because of the time of day we were planning to leave (crack of dawn) but the results showed busses only coming once an hour and dropping us a kilometre away from the airport. I don’t mind walking that distance with my suitcase – as you know it’s on wheels and I pack light – but I couldn’t quite tell in the Google images if there was even a sidewalk along that route! I didn’t want to walk along the side of the road.
So next I looked up shuttles from the hotel to the airport, but the price was insane: 50$ for 2 adults! This is what made us decide to keep the car an extra night and just drive ourselves to the airport; it was the simplest solution, and a cheaper one too!
Our first stop that day were the Butchart Gardens.
What can I say? Beautiful doesn’t begin to describe it! It was too early in the season for roses, but the tulips (which happen to be my favourite flower) were out in full bloom – it was gorgeous.
I always say that flowers are good for the soul, who can’t admire a beautiful bloom and not marvel at the wonders of nature? This is when I really wished I had a better camera than my IPhone (I have an IPhone 4, it’s old!) My husband took lots of nice pictures, but the flowers put me in the mood to be creative with close ups and filters etc. Ah well – I don’t care enough overall to invest in anything better, so I shouldn’t complain… and I am happy with the ones I took.
The next activity was lunch. I wanted to eat in their fancy dining hall but it wasn’t open yet and as you know -cafeterias, fast food and quick sandwiches for lunch are not what I want when we are on vacation!
I am not sure anymore how we decided on getting back in the car and driving around for a place to eat, but I am glad we did because we ended up at the Seahorses Café and had THE. BEST. BURGER. EVER. OMG.
(I have NO CLUE which route we too k to get there)
I don’t think I am a picky or fussy eater, but there are some things I simply don’t like: like condiments on a burger, especially ketchup! I like cheese and lettuce – that’s it - so there is always a little discussion that has to happen when I order a burger. I think maybe the waitress had dealt with difficult customers in the past because the order turned into an interview! Do you like this, that, the other thing? Do you want to replace this with that? Do you want the other thing on the side? Is it ok if this is on it? She was very nice and I think was really just trying to make sure I got what I wanted, but it just left me feeling like I was complicating the process. Smiling politely I simply replied : “I just like a dry bun”.
MAN was the end result delicious! My husband who also had a burger (the non-stripped down version / and I had mine with salad while he had his with fries) also commented that this ranked in the “best ever” category.
I made EXTRA sure to tell the waitress so after unintentionally stressing her out with my order!
After lunch, I wanted to go visit the Butterfly Gardens.
My husband was not that into it, and it wasn’t until we entered the hot house that I realised he sort of sees them as bugs and was shoeing them away when they got to close. I was having fun trying to photograph them; it was almost a game!
There was one particularly beautiful kind that when it’s wings were open was a bright blue - I drained most of my battery chasing them around and when I finally sat on a bench and turned the phone off to conserve what little power was left you can guess what happened: it landed right next to me. I didn’t get the phone open in time to get a shot, but my husband got one.
My husband likes driving - I don’t DISlike it but I find long drives extremely boring; I want to get out there and see something! When we got back to Victoria, my husband suggested we “taking a drive” before parking the car at the hotel and so we ended up at Ogden Point and walked the breakwater, it was great – but crazy windy! (From the car to the tip of the Point and back it was about 2 km walk)
I was happy that he too was in the mood to stretch his legs, I find that the inertia of driving tires him out and he’s less willing to get out of the car again and again and again. Each idea I suggested “want to walk over there?”, “want to go see that?” was uttered in a calm easy going tone – low on scale of hectic excitement all to get him feeling willing to come along. It worked… until it didn’t.
Near by, I wanted to see the Tallest Totem Pole in the World (38.8-metre / 127 feet). I’ve said before that we are not into Inuit Art, but slap a “blankiest in The World” label on something and I’ll want to check it out! My husband didn’t want to get out of the car anymore so he parked and waited for me while I walked over to take pictures myself. I took a really neat one with my IPhone-cam, standing right at the base of it and looking up until the top disappeared into a point. Something happened and I lost the pictures so this is the only one I have left. Why didn’t I take my husband’s camera?? It’s too long ago now, I can’t remember.
After this we returned to the hotel, parked the car and set out back on foot.
It was cocktail hour, so stopped for drinks at Commons /10 Acres Bistro. I love Harvey’s Bristol Cream Sherry so when I saw they had some, a pre-dinner drink was definitely in order!
Dinner that night was easy: on our walk to Fisherman’s Wharf the other day, we came across a cozy looking place that had a big closed-in Terrace facing the water… it wasn’t really near the water, but it still had all the atmosphere of a place that promises a nice night out.
(in hindsight, I’m surprised I don’t have a better picture)
I tried Oysters Rockefeller for the first time! I’ve always been curious. I’m not sure how authentic their version was, they were alright as long as I didn’t look at them after I sliced them… ugh. I could not finish, I ate 2 out of 3 – they were HUGE! Dinner was a thick creamy soupy dish with shrimp, crab, lobster and scallops covered with a pastry lid. Looks like a small portion, but it was FILLING!
My Good-Sport of a husband was willing to indulge me for a nightcap; I think I might have had to beg a little… or promise it would just be a “quick drink”. Are you ready for this…. : I KNOWINGLY BROKE the no Resto-Repeat-Rule and we went back to Bard and Banker!
I just HAD to! I loved it SO SO much!!
Although I had to drag him, he agreed it was a nice place and he enjoy it too – plus, it was on the way home!
