23.7.12

Ferry of dreams...

Clarence!!
After sun, sun, and more sun in Whistler, we awoke to a rainy morning in Vancouver. Luckily, the sun was (figuratively) restored when we picked up a rental car right after getting up...we landed a bright yellow VW bug! After christening the car "Clarence," we hopped in and headed immediately for the ferry from Vancouver to Vancouver Island.

View from the ferry before I drifted off...
With so many clouds and chilly drizzle, we weren't able to see much of the supposedly scenic crossing. So I napped instead. I had crazy dreams, the content of which faded as soon as I woke up...then I'd drift off again, dream wacky stuff, wake again and so forth. Once Katherine, Clarence and I were on solid ground again, we headed down the coast of the island to Canada's most British of cities, Victoria. We knew we had arrived when double-decker, London-style sightseeing buses almost ran Clarence off the road. We explored the quaint downtown area for a bit on foot dodging from bookstore to tea shop to bookstore to keep out of the worst of the rain...

Finally, we tracked down our B&B, a quaint cottage on the outskirts of Victoria. We were greeted by a courteous teenager, who we later found out was completely running the inn with his siblings while their parents - the owners - were out of town! After a bit of unpacking and down-time, we turned around and went back into Victoria for a massive Indian dinner (delicious!) and a short Clarence-led driving tour.

The next morning, we chowed down on a teen-made breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast while we chatted with a personable couple from Belgium and a shy grandmother from Edmonton in town for her granddaughter's wedding. Clarence drew a lot of looks on our drive out to Butchart Gardens, one of Canada's most lovely historic sites. The gardens were created by the Butcharts, a wealthy family involved in limestone mining...once the quarry was tapped out, they built these incredible gardens to beautify the otherwise ugly hole in the ground.

The gardens are still gorgeous today and they've even opened the Butcharts' home and transformed it into a tearoom where they serve a substantial high tea daily. We...okay, I...scarfed down finger sandwiches, tiny pastries and scones complete with Devonshire cream and strawberry preserves. When you wash all of that down with an entire POT of tea, strolling the rest of the gardens became rather difficult with my seriously full stomach. Yikes!

Me!
Doing our own misfit thing...
We capped off the day with some shopping in downtown Victoria and a movie..."Moonrise Kingdom." Wes Anderson is a genius. I think this is a contender for favorite Wes Anderson film...I haven't quite decided yet, as "Rushmore" has held that title for quite some time for me...I have to be sure before I can make the decision official! I think my favorite thing about all of his films, but this one in particular, is how he elevates the misfits of the world to having epic adventures. Love, love, loved it!! It was the first human creation that has given me any sense of hope in a few weeks, so I'll cling to that like Suzy clings to her binoculars :)

2 comments:

  1. By naming your car Clarence, are you referring to the no-longer-with-us saxophone player in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band?

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  2. Haha...no...Kathy chose the name, actually.

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