Sunday morning- we all got going early and went to Dan and Trish’s church, called “Westside”, located on Granville Island. It was a wonderful service and we are so happy that they are part of such a good church. The music was uplifting and the minister had a really good message. His dress was ‘trendy city casual’ - Larry’s being ‘golf shirt, Khaki casual”. There was a lot of people at the service and it was held in a type of theatre. For communion several people stood at different posts with bread and two goblets, one of wine and one of juice. Folks proceeded up slowly, in any order, while the worship team sang. Each person took a piece of bread, dipped it in the cup of choice, and then went back to their seat. Everything was very well organized and ran smoothly from beginning to end. They have bought a big building in downtown Vancouver and will soon start meeting there.
Dan drove us to the airport where we got on a big bus for the ferry to Victoria. The ferry is really nice and we walked around and enjoyed the fresh air for an hour and a half. Then on to the bus again and in about a half an hour we were in Victoria. We walked about ten minutes and arrived at our nice hotel.
The hotel is the Regent and I must say, we have finally caught up to our girls! When they would go to Ottawa for the races they always made a big deal about there being white terry cotton robes in the rooms—they would take pictures of themselves lounging around. Well, our room had ROBES!
Victoria is a city that does not get winter, and for that reason I’m sure it’s a wonderful place to live. We decided not to go to the most famous garden as it meant a bus ride quite a distance away and would have taken the whole day. We went instead to Beacon Hill Park and that was very lovely. We did a lot of walking, which we both enjoyed, and when we needed a rest we took in the IMAX movie on Ernest Shackleton. I always enjoy an IMAX.
In the evening we boarded a boat and went whale watching. There were about 50 school children on board and they were very excited and keen to see the whales. The tour guides apologized for the big school group but I assured them that, being a teacher, I had a high tolerance level for kids! (They were all very well behaved.) We saw three whales sporting in the distance. The boat was not allowed too close. The guides knew the whales and said that one of them had lived to be 110 years old. They were killer whales, technically this type of fish is a dolphin but because of the size it is categorized as a whale. It was a beautiful evening, warm and calm. We were out for three hours and the captain and first mate were very friendly and conversational. One of their navigational tools was the iPad.
In Victoria harbor at the time there was a huge yacht called the Invictus. The word in the street was that it belonged to someone from Microsoft. There was also a Carnival Cruise ship in the harbor and I was picturing Jane and Doug Flack on it going to Alaska!
We had a great day and walked for miles, which is just what I need. My new sneakers and sandals have been very comfortable-purchased at “The Walking Store” in Syracuse -especially for this trip!