Vancouver has, and promotes, its image of the green, warmer city on the edge of the continent. Well, I'm here to tell you it ain't true. When we got off the train in Vancouver, it was cold and rainy. And windy. The ferries were not let out of their docks, some planes were re-routed, the temperature was a full ten degrees colder than at home, and there was a lot of water coming from the sky. We took a cab to the Sylvia Hotel.
Settling in, calling Darlene's cousin Jane, and resting took a while. Jane is working, and met us after her work, and we all went for a glass of wine in the hotel bar (it was raining too hard to think about going out). Fueled by our wine, I was dispatched to see if we could score a bigger room in the hotel, since we were going to be there for three nights. And we did: got one about twice the size, with a sitting area as well (room 315). (Then, since the rain had settled a bit, the three of us went walking to a local Greek restaurant for a splendid meal.) And we got the larger room just in time: the mild sore throat I had acquired on the train blossomed with the hard rain of Vancouver into a full cold, with my nose mimicking the rain outside. I spent the third day there mostly in bed. But the second day, at least the sun emerged timidly for a bit, and a walk was enjoyed along English Bay, and through the West End.
The second day there, we had a rollicking dinner with both Darlene's cousin Jane and her niece Bonnie. After visiting Bonnie's apartment, we went over to the Fish House in Stanley Park for a wonderful, and horribly expensive, dinner at Bonnie's expense.
And the final evening, we had a terrific supper with an old friend, Art Moses, and his wife Suzanne, at their apartment by the park.
Yesterday began with us Vancouver, getting packed and ready for the ferry ride to Victoria. The winds had finally died down, and it looked like blue sky was threatening to break out. We got a taxi to the ferry docks, hopped on the boat, and were picked up on the other side by our friends the Finnies. Returning to Victoria has a feeling for us of returning home; we have been there now three times, and we know the downtown area fairly well. Settling in was no problem (again, we had to negotiate for a larger room). Contact with Pat was made, and we agreed to meet later that evening. Which left us free also to spend supper with the Finnies. A place called "Blighty's Bistro" served us well.
Our time at Pat's place was interrupted by a call from Dan, letting us know that his girlfriend Electra has died just minutes before. While we all knew this would come, it was sad to realize that reality of her death had come to pass.
We went home to a fitful sleep.
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Location:Johnson St,Victoria,Canada
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