Saturday, 24th December 2016

Today, we woke in Victoria. After breakfast, we headed by coach back to the Ferry Terminal, where we boarded the ferry back to the mainland. And luckily, we were able to pick up the little camera that I had accidentally left on the ferry on the way over!

It was about 1.5 hours on the ferry - enough time to get a sandwich for lunch and keep an eye out for any Orca Whales that may be lurking. Unfortunately we didn't see any. 

 The ferry we crossed back to the mainland on

 A smaller ferry heading off to some of the other neighbouring islands

Our coach was at the front of the line to leave the ferry. The doors to the ferry opened well before we were at the terminal. I am just pleased there were stops in front of the coach!

Once back on the mainland, the coach took us to Whistler - only a couple of hours drive away. The journey took us through Vancouver over the Lion's Gate Bridge.

We stopped off at Shannon Falls to check them out. Many of us braved the slippery walk to the falls - it was very icy on the track. The falls were frozen - which looked spectacular!

 The girls were excited by the snow!

 Someone else had built this snow man, so we decided to have our photo taken with it.

Ashleigh, Ali, Keith & I at Shannon Falls. We were so pleased to have our warm jackets and boots!

Once in Whistler, we got our room keys, then after dropping our hand luggage off, headed to the busy supermarket to get carrots so the girls could build snowmen! The town centre in Whistler was really buzzing!

Ali & Ashleigh came to our room - we were on different floors - to build their snowmen as we had a balcony and easy access to snow (even though it was not fresh snow). They each built their own snowmen. We stayed inside and kept warm!

After the snowman building, it was time to head downstairs for dinner with our tour group. It was a delicious buffet dinner with so much food to choose from!

After dinner, I grabbed everyone's washing for a date with the washing machine! My two loads took me till about 11pm to get finished! By then I was ready for bed. The girls had gone a bit earlier.

Till next time, 

Doreen

Friday, 23rd December 2016

Today was the coldest day we have experienced so far! The maximum was 4C! We were rugged up all day so stayed reasonably warm most of the day except when we got hot in the shops and buildings!

Our day started with breakfast in the hotel dining room. Then we headed over the bridge to the main part of Victoria's shopping area. The first stop was to look for rain pants for me - which we found in the second shop we went to. Then we wandered along Government Road and ended up at a small coffee shop for a warm drink and a snack - only the cookies the girls had were the size of side plates!

Then we headed out to the shops again looking for a new tripod for my camera - I brought Keith's Gorillapod with me but it isn't suitable for the pics I want to take. We had success at the first shop we went to, thankfully. 

It was raining when we woke this morning and continued most of the day! The hotel supplied umbrellas were very useful today! Along with our waterproof gear, the umbrellas kept us dry. 

This afternoon, after a light lunch at Starbucks (we seem to have been there regularly), we enjoyed a horse drawn cart ride around part of the city. We all felt a bit sorry for the horses. 

 All rugged up ready for our horse drawn cart ride.

 Sergeant is ready to take us on the tour.

 Ali all rugged up

Ashleigh all rugged up

After the horse drawn cart ride, where we saw several black squirrels (but not close enough to get photos), lots of ducks, peacocks and some of the oldest houses in Victoria, we headed back to the hotel to warm up, pack our cases and relax before dinner in the hotel restaurant. It was another really enjoyable meal!

Last time we were here, we took some "ghost" photos, so we decided to do it again this time. It was very cold outside, so we had to be quick!

I think I need to change the timing, but you get the idea!

Till next time, take care. 

Doreen

Thursday, 22nd December 2016

We enjoyed a later start to our day today - breakfast at about 8.30am. Then we packed our cases ready for collection and headed out for a wander over to the Convention Centre to take another look at the Christmas display and get more pics. (They are on my camera that I accidentally left on the ferry as we crossed from the mainland to Vancouver Island. I am happy to say the camera was handed in and I will get it back on 24th December)!!!

After an earlyish lunch we headed to the lobby of the hotel to wait for our coach to take us to Vancouver Island. It was about an hour to Tsawwassen where we caught the ferry to the Island. The crossing was very smooth and took about 1hour 45 minutes. Once on Vancouver Island, we headed to the Butchart Gardens. It was dark by the time we arrived and the Christmas light display there was absolutely brilliant! 

But our first stop at Butchart Gardens was one of the restaurants for a beautiful dinner! 

The meal was very delicious - we had a salad starter, followed by Wild Salmon for me, Pork for Keith and Chicken for Ali & Ashleigh. We finished with Home Made Petit Fours - yum! 
It certainly was time for a walk after that dinner! So we headed out to check out the Christmas light display around the gardens. Included was displays for each of the 12 Days of Christmas. 

So not all the pics came in order, but they are all there. We really enjoyed the wander around the Gardens and the girls and I had another Carousel ride. 

All the animals on the carousel are hand carved. There are some really cute ones there too! 

We left the gardens just after 8.30pm and headed for the hotel in Victoria, arriving just after 9pm. The view from our window is absolutely magnificent! The Legislative Building is always lit up but at Christmas time, they add green and red lights. There are 3,333 lights on the building!

Hope you are enjoying travelling with us!

Doreen

Wednesday, 21st December 2016

Today started with breakfast in the ARC restaurant at the hotel. Then it was time for our first tour of the trip. We boarded a coach for a tour of the city. First we went around Chinatown & Gastown, then headed to Stanley Park. We spotted a few black squirrels from the window of the bus along with quite a number of Canada Geese. We stopped at the Totem Poles where we had the opportunity to take some photos.

Our next stop was a lookout with a view to the Lion's Gate Bridge - built by the Guinness family to connect the north side of the city with downtown.

Then we headed to the Granville Markets. Wow, what a place! They were fabulous and you could easily spend a few hours there!

Some of the beautiful fresh fruit in the markets - stacked in pyramids

And there were quite a few fancy Gingerbread houses too.

On the way back to the hotel, we passed these statues "A-maze-ing Laughter" which were donated to the city of Vancouver in 2009.

After some lunch we headed off looking for waterproof pants which we found out we need for some of the activities we plan to do. Lunch was included in this expedition. Later we went over to the Christmas display at the convention centre (photos on Ali's camera). Everyone was rather tired so we headed back to the hotel for a rest before heading out again a bit later.

We checked out the Christmas display at the convention centre and once it was dark (by 4.30pm) we attempted to get photos of the lights, but I had the wrong tripod, so it was not all that successful!

These last two pics are from our room.

Tomorrow it is off to Victoria (Vancouver Island).

See you later.

Doreen