O, Canada!

The trip started off a bit less than auspiciously. My original flight was cancelled due to mechanical problems with the plane, something I didn’t find out until I was ready to leave for the airport. They couldn’t help me on the phone, so we headed out to the airport. After some begging and waiting, they were able to book me on an Air Canada flight leaving at 2:30 a.m. The alternative was waiting until the next evening to take a nondirect flight. The upside of that would have been the free roundtrip tickets they were handing out for the inconvenience, but it would have meant delaying the start of my trip and having to say all of those goodbyes all over again. I wasn’t up for it, so opted to wait the seven hours.

The flight was typical with the usual long-distance flight complaints, the kicker being the delay in my luggage coming off the plane, causing me to miss the 11:40 shuttle to Victoria and to have to wait for the 1:40 shuttle. From then on, though, it has been quite nice. The ferry ride over was spectacular as it went through the islands to the north of Victoria, although the 60-some-degree weather made it a cold journey.

A nice young man from Toronto noticed my all-manual Ricoh camera as I was standing on the bow taking pictures and asked me to take a picture of him and his friend with his all-manual Pentax, since I “look like I know what I’m doing.” They had just finished their cross-country road trip from Toronto to Victoria, and we chatted for a while. I have to remember to ask Tara where they’ve been hiding all these nice Toronto boys…

And oh yes, happy Canada Day! Canada is 135 years old today. It didn’t even occur to me when I planned this trip that I would be in Canada for Canada Day, and I found myself in the midst of Canadian craziness. After checking into the Strathcona and taking a revival shower, I headed out to track down something to eat and experience some of the party in the streets.

I wandered down to the harbor and up and down a few of the back streets, stopping at a few stages of the Folk Fest, which Victoria is in the midst of. I ended up in a corner pub, which seem to be a dime a dozen here. My fish and chips were good, though, and I tried a peach cider, which was a little sweet but tasty nonetheless. I popped into a few shops and wandered down a few more streets, then decided I was just too cold and tired to wait outside for the fireworks.

I knew lying down would end up in nap-taking, and that it did. I woke up right before the fireworks started, and just opted to watch them from my room since I have a decent view.

The crazies are still out, parading up and down the streets and shouting “CA-NA-DAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” but I’m tired enough to sleep through it, so off I go.