We had a few minutes left, so my mother decided to hunt for some souvenirs.
They sold from seeds to classic cheap stuff in the store.
I really wanted to try one of these German hotdogs as well (they had a restaurant a few quick food stands).
But the vendor went backstage as I got close (what a shame!).
Then we had to say good bye to
Butchart Gardens.
Gorgeous place, but we really wished we could have more than 2 hours.
We boarded the bus as it started to rain again, we left the brand umbrellas in convenient bags in the parking lot... and started to suffer another insane borefest of 1 hour and half as we went to the city of Victoria.
The bus driver then gave us a very condensed "tour". From the Chinatown zone, the story of it, the hotel Empress and many other areas.
The bad was.. when the bus driver (clearly had a secondary job than tour driver) started to suggest hotels and restaurants left and right. He knew all the PRICES OF ALMOST ALL THE PRODUCTS!! ridiculous!
We wanted to see tour of the important areas! and this guy was focusing more on marketing!
Anyway, the bus parked 1 block away, behind the EMPRESS HOTEL. And we decided to walk around to the hotel, and then to the big garden of the Victoria statue park zone.
The first, was of course... The Empress Hotel.
First, there is a really nice garden with flowers on the side of the Empress Hotel (between its parking area)
My mother posing with the flowers!
Then we took a few pictures of the front.
The hotel is definitively impressive on the façade. also, look at that deep purple tree!
Then we walked a block to get to the main park. Where the statue of Victoria is.
And of course, the statue of Victoria herself!
have a composite panorama!
After that, we went to go to find something to eat. We walked a lot and man.. I am still ed at how many DELIS and starbucks clones the Vancouver and Victoria cities have. They are everywhere!!!.
Its like a town that favours hipsters way too much.
Anyway, after trying to find something good.. We ended selecting an italian restaurant. We were in a hurry then as we only had 40 minutes left... and there was a big line to enter said restaurant.
Since we were only 2, we got seated fairly quickly (thank god!) and we ordered simple salads and basic stuff.. We ate fast and we managed to get to the Bus but with no trouble.
Then again, we started the boooring trip with the same bus driver. Back to the BC Ferries terminal.
We had to wait like 1 hour and half in the terminal because the Ferry had engine problems.
Once it was fixed we boarded to return to Vancouver.
The trip was no issue, except for the bus driver who now started to advertise where to get condos or timeshares.. so tourists can rent and/or buy to visit Vancouver often (really???)
We got finally back to the hotel lobby to get our cards with new keys for the new room.
The new room was in the same floor 6 doors away. Finally with doubles and wider view to the harbour.
So we got to sleep quickly after changing. We had to sleep early because the next day... friend of my mother (who lives in Vancouver) invited us for a tour of West Vancouver and Downtown Vancouver (including Gas Town).
Day 2 Vancouver
We decided to be cheap this time and go to the fast food area, It was not far, just go downstairs to the big convention center doors and there is a second row of stairs with a long hallway.
This leads to the food court that is across-down the street. This saves time trying to cross the street from above.
The food court as nice stairs right outside, and a small waterfall with water fountain.
Most restaurants were of course.. closed and only 3 of breakfasts were open (including subway).
I decided to go for a tuna subway sammich and my mother went to this Greek deli/breakfast whose owner spoke spanish (what a surprise!)
Once we were done, we returned to our room to wait for my Mother's friend.
That didnt took long, We hugged, meet, greeted..etc..etc.. and went our way.
Funnily as soon she was approaching the hotel, It started to rain.. HARD.
Thanks god the PanPacific as a protected area for load and unload right infront of the hotel. So we had no trouble getting in the car.
First quick stop was the Torch of the older 2010 Olympic Winter games.
It was raining hard!
Anyway I managed to get a decent shot. I also didn't noticed the Lego orca until I reviewed the picture!
Then we went our way using small roads towards the Lion's Gate bridge.
The entire Vancouver area was under heavy rain that day.
until... we crossed the bridge LOL.
as soon we crossed the bridge, the whole place started to clear and rain stopped as well.
We went to a local beach that is famous for its big Logs that wash ashore.
All these logs are pushed by the currents after they were lost either by falling from the logging ships/boats or from the reservoirs.
This area also gave a beautiful view of the Bridge and the outer area of the Stanley Park.
Note that it was not raining anymore!
This bird was eyeing me. I'm surprised on how big the wildlife is in Vancouver. Similar birds in my hometown are like.. 1/3 their size.
Same with the crows, our crows are tiny compared to the monsters you see in Vancouver!.
Anyway, This part of the trip got kinda boring, because my mother decided to go to church in a local catholic church for mass, meet the local catholics and also to request some donations for those in dire need in Mexico.
So, While my mother was in church, I decided to go take some photos of the area. The beach was pretty close from the church, just 4 blocks.
Also surprising how nice the people are. They stop to let you pass all the time.
I felt like Gandalf "
YOU SHALL NOT PASS!"
Some photos of the roads and the Beach.
Which was actually pretty nice walk. No rain, perfect climate, little wind and lots of green!
Some crappy composite panorama of the beach area.
Lots of people doing exercise and some adorable dogs running along too!
This fellow was constantly eyeing me.
After 30 mins or so. decided to go back, and found that some "faithful" had hit the car of my mother's friend. Not amused.
The worse is that once they noticed I was taking photos, they were thinking I was a undercover cop and tried to make excuses. I told him I was a tourist and that was my mother's friend's car.
Then they claimed that it was My mother's friend who hit her.. YEAAAH RIIIIIGHT.
Anyway.. took photo of the damage and the car for posterity.
And since they are also Mexicans and go to the same church as my mother's friend.
Wont be very hard to find and make them pay for the damage (the defence of the car was damaged and paint ruined)
Then after they left (in a hurry) my mother and her friend finally got out and I explained the whole ordeal.
She was not amused.
I then was presented my mother's friends's son. And we went to have a walk to the other beach area (and restaurant zone) nearby while my mother was talking to the other churchgoers about the funds and donations.
It was a pleasant walk I must say, despite the difficulty in speaking spanish of the fellow guy (same as my difficulty speaking english lol)
Composite panorama of the pier
It also had a nice restaurant and many coffees.
The famous earth ball, that is constantly moving and is soaked in water.
It was now hot temp wise (Id say in the 20'sCelsious ) and the clouds mostly cleared.
After walking a bit more and sitting near a restaurant so the guy could get some free wifi.
I noticed this weird plan... I wonder if anyone can identify it. It was pale white, like a mushroom infested flower plant.
I had never seen these before in my whole life.
The ghostly plant
After finally returning to the church area and getting pick up.
My mother's friend insisted in trying to go to a famous restaurant with a very wide view of the whole Vancouver area.
It unfortunately was closed, but they did let me take photos from their viewing area.
The entire vancouver zone was cleared almost completely from clouds... wow!
Unfortunately, there was some fog-smog that didnt look very well in photos.
View from the top of the viewing restaurant.
There were a LOT of ships docked in the river and the outer bay.
Then we decided to find somewhere to eat, not so expensive and tasty.
So we decided to check a local area with lots of small little restaurants. We decided for Indian food.
We surprisingly found that there was a small marketplace for local products and we walked around. We found a lot of nice products!.
Some of them were produced by immigrants from all over the world.
Like bread from Ukraine and France, Chocolates from Switzerland and Germany.
Coffee from Colombia..etc..
I instantly got attracted to a bakery stand that had some gorgeous looking Brownies.. NO CONTEST! I bought 2!
They were DELICIOUS!
Funnily, the stand next door.. there were some Mexicans living in vancouver for a decade or so.. selling imported mole poblano, marmalades, jams and spicy salsas.
We talked a bit and then we went in to the Indian buffete.
The buffete honestly was so so.. the service was baaaaaaaaaaaaaad. The food was good, but they took quite a bit to refill the food that was consumed.
After paying. My mother's friend decided to purchase organic fruits..etc.. My mother bought an apple too just in case she
couldn't find anything to eat late night near Canada Place.
I had my delicious brownie already.
So.. the next stop.. was Stanley Park!
Other than a small tour via car around Stanley park, stories and tales of storms and the island itself.. we stopped to take photos of the Totems. a Must do!
Totems at Stanley Park
Coal Harbour and Canada Place from Stanley Park.
Then we moved into vancouver's old downtown to see the Gastown area.
The Gastown area was definitively PACKED with people. full of tourists! we unfortunately could find any place to park near the Gassy Jack to take a photo of it. But we were very lucky to find some space very close to the Steam clock.
The famous steam clock
Then we used the fact that theres a ton of stores to buy some Vancouver souvenirs. Because after our cruise, we had to move to a hotel very close to the airport.
I bought a very nice moose brass temp mercury sensor and some keychains.
My mother bought a Canada clock.
Then it was time to return, as I supposedly was to meet a co-worker and friend in my hotel. So he could deliver my new MICROSOFT SURFACE PRO 3 tablet/laptop to me, and go to visit the newer downtown to eat something.
So we went to the hotel to wait. I used the time to take some photos of the bay.. then of the sunset as I waited patiently to get a SMS.
So.. Waited..
And waited...
AND WAITED...
Thats where I got very very disappointed in my friend and coworker.
I waited like 4-5 hours until he finally messaged me and he just told me "W
e just finished, I'm going to my home".
Seriously? We had planned this meet up 5 months in advance! reminded him every month!!.
I was definitely not amused and got very cranky. Crankyness added because I did not take my classic power-nap to wait for his SMS or Call.
If I knew he could take this long, I could have gotten a nap and feel better.
THEN 1 hour after the first message. He finally said "
I'm at home, going your way".
And waited.. and waited.. 45 minutes more and he was telling me that there was trouble in the metro and was going to take longer..
When I finally seen him, It was like 10 AND HALF PM IN THE NIGHT. almost everything was closed except bars.
To resume, he was 6 hours( pretty sure it was way more ) late. 6 or more hours... of what we had agreed months ago.
He gave me my new equipment ( tablet ), went upstairs to put it safe in the room. Then we headed downtown using the metro.
Every restaurant I wanted to try(and planned) was closed... (Deluxe Burgers, Chinese food)
Even the extensive list of recommendations from my boss (who visits Vancouver constantly and who is... guess who.. the mother of my coworker) were all closed.
Not even Delis were open!! and I sure as hell didn't wanted a milkshake.
After walking A LOT trying to find where to eat, we finally found a pizza joint that was minutes away from closing, We entered and ate some pizza, It was good but nothing spectacular. Very disappointed afternoon.
Only good part was: our attempts to chat in either broken Spanish (his) or broken English (mine). It was funny to see.
Also I unfortunately couldn't even buy the case protection thingie I needed for my new surface pro 3.
So.. almost at midnight, we finally returned back to the Pan Pacific hotel ( in a taxi because everything was closed.)
He apologized for all the messup and we went our ways.
I was exhausted and still annoyed. So I just showered and went to bed.
But I had light ahead.. Tomorrow the Wonder was arriving, and It was finally Cruise time!
*
edit* I forgot to say that my coworker also lost my DCL luggage tags that I explicitly told to keep safe (another facepalm inducing thing).
