Travelog for: Yum Yum

Abby's parents had gone on an architectural church tour the day before, so they decided to show those of us who hadn't been able to go some of the churches.

This is Christ Church Cathedral, the only Cathedral in the province.  An interesting fact about it is that the roof is made entirely of brick.  It is also the tallest church in Victoria.



As you can see, Winston Churchill laid one of the stones as the church was being built.



This church is no longer a church, but in fact a conservatory of music.  We slipped inside for a moment and four violinists were practicing onstage.



This church has burned down twice before and all that was saved from both were three small windows, the baptisimal fountain and their cross.



Don't be fooled by the rose window on this church, it's actually a synagogue, and the oldest standing place of worship in the city.



After the church tour, Abby persuaded her family to take us to see the more touristy parts of Victoria.  This street here is permanently closed to traffic and people set up tables and sell art.



This is Market Square, which has many interesting shops.  Unfortunately, we were only passing through and we didn't visit any of them.



This fountain stands just inside the gates.  It's a water fountain for humans now, but used to be a place for horses to drink.



We paused for a moment to watch a belly dancer.



Here I am at Fan Tan Alley, the narrowest street in North America.  At its narrowest it is only three feet wide.







This is the gate to Chinatown.



In Chinese culture, lions symbolize luck.



In the evening we went to a free concert in the harbour.  Victoria's symphony was playing on a stage floating on the water.  As you can tell, it was very popular and therefore hard to see.



A lot of people came to the concert.



People were talking through the concert, so we left after the first half.  Anyway, Abby's family had a few more places to show me.

This school is famous just because of it's name.



Then, we visited the birthplace of artist Emily Carr.

Today we visited Craigdarroch Castle, home to The Dunsmuirs, the richest family in Victoria around the turn of the century.  Apparently it's haunted.  It is now a bit of a museum and there are tours through it, but we didn't stay for one.











This lion was sitting near the back door.  As I learned yesterday, lions are supposed to be good luck.  Apparently not for this family; Dunsmuir Senior died before the manor was finished and his children quarreled amongst themselves and parted ways.



Next, it was off to Hatley Castle, built and owned by the son of the Dunsmuir who built Craigdarroch Castle.



This is the view from the balcony.  What a pretty place.



The main entrance of the castle.  The castle now belongs to  and is on the grounds of Royal Roads University, a military college.



In the basement there is a small museum.  Here is a model of the castle.  A little too small for toyvoyagers, unfortunately.



Next, it was off to Government House, the residence of the Leftenant Governor of BC.  When the Queen visits BC she stays here.  Because it was BC day, part of the house was open to the public.  It has burned down twice before, roughly every fifty years.  It has been 49 years since the last fire, so everybody keep your fingers crossed.



And what a pretty view from here too.  I guess you have to be rich or famous to get these kinds of views.  The mountains you can see in the distance are part of Washington State.



This is the main dining hall.



Lastly, we visited the bathrooms downstairs meant for guest use when there are balls and state dinners.  I was nearly blinded by the chintz in the ladies' powder room.

The ferry back to the mainland was uneventful, and Abby didn't take any pictures because the trip was exactly the same as the last one.  However, we took the long route home and ended up taking another ferry.  Two ferries in one day!  This trip was much shorter, only fifteen minutes, across the Fraser River.

Today I said goodbye to Lemmy, who is on his way to Finland.

Today Shirley Sheep arrived.

I went to Abby's school today, Simon Fraser University.  Abby was meeting some friends to run some errands.

These flags are right next to the bus loop.  There's one for every province and territory of Canada.



This is a new building, the Arts and Social Sciences building, commonly referred to by its acronym, which I won't repeat here...



Here is the view from the criminology department in the same building.  On Sundays they do yoga in the courtyards.



It was time for lunch.  Yam rolls, gomae and iced tea, mmmm.



We passed the recreational areas.







On the track that you can just see, that is where the great Terry Fox, who tried to run across Canada on one real leg, learned to run again on a prosthetic leg.



This road is the only one leading to the school, as the school is on a mountain.  In the winter when the road is snowed in or becomes too icy, the entire campus is shut down because it is to dangerous to drive up and down the mountain.



After all errands were run, everyone found themselves back at the Criminology department.  One of the professors asked if we would help her with some sorting, and, because we had time to kill before Abby's friend's mom could give us a ride off the mountain, we agreed to help.

Time for a little sight-seeing in Downtown Vancouver.

This building doesn't look particularly impressive, but when it was built it was the tallest building in the British Empire.



This building behind me will be the media centre during the 2010 Olympics.  It looks completed, but as you can see in the second picture, it is still under construction.





Across the inlet, you can see North Vancouver.



This is the float plane dock.  For a fee you can fly to various islands on the coast.



Behind me is Stanley Park, the largest park in Vancouver.



This is Canada Place.  Underneath the sails are lare large rooms where conventions are held.



Here is Vancouver Shipyards.

This is Waterfront Station, Vancouver's original train station.  It still is a train station, as well as a bus stop, Sky Train station, and Sea Bus station (a foot passenger ferry that travels across the inlet).



Down the street is Gastown, essentially the oldest aprt of Vancouver.  Now it is full of tourist shops.



This is the Gastown Steamclock, the first clock to ever run on steam power.



This is a typical alley in the downtown area, though this is one of the cleaner ones, as it is close to the Downtown East Side, which is known for its homless and drug users.  Behind it, you can see Harbour Centre, which is partially owned by Abby's school; many classes are held there.  The spaceship-looking thing is a revolving restaurant.

We got on the Sky Train and I thought the tour was over, but Abby had a few more things to show us.



This will be the Olympic Village in 2010.



The white building behind me is BC Place, where the local professional football (American football) team plays their home games.  The opennig ceremonies of the Olympics will be held there.



Behind me is False Creek, which is actually an inlet.



This is Science World; it was built for Expo 86.  Most of the dome on the inside is a huge movie screen.  There are many exhibits inside, aimed at teaching people of all ages aobut science.



Behind me you can see a Sky Train.  They are automated and run along a track that is elevated on concrete pillars.

I worked out on Abby's friend's Wii today.

First I tried out the Wii Fit.  Apparently my balance is a little off...



Then I challenged Shirley Sheep to some regular sports games.

I saw Jack Johnson in concert tonight!

He was playing at the Thunderbird Stadium on the University of British Columbia campus.







Abby and her friend picked up some cool things at the merchandise table.  Rise above plastic!



We watched the first opener, Culver City Dub Collective featuring Paula Fuga...



Then the second opener, Rogue Wave.



Finally it was time for Jack Johnson!





After the concert, we joined Abby's parents and waited for the crowd to thin.

Today we went to a corn maze!  Here are our tickets, wristbands and map:



We didn't use the map at all, because we're so good at mazes.  The object is to go through each maze, find the checkpoints (six in each maze), and punch them out using special punching tools located at each checkpoint.  We did the fish and octopus first (on the right of the map), then the orca and crab. For a better photo of the maze go here and click on the first picture.

All ready to go!



The rules said no picking the corn, but it didn't say anything about not posing with it.



There's a bridge in the middle of the maze and we climbed it to see the view.

This is back towards the entrance.



This is towards the back of the maze.



Look at those mountains.



Look, we found a checkpoint!



It was dark by the time we finished, but we had time to pose as these two corn people.

Today I went to Bard on the Beach again, to see The Tempest.  I can proudly say that I am the only ToyVoyager to see an entire season of Bard on the Beach.



After the play, we went for a bit of a walk in Vanier Park

We went for a walk along False Creek.



This totem pole was covered in blackberry bushes, just off the bike path.





Then we were at Granville Island!  Granville Island is a Mecca for local artists.  There are art schools and galleries everywhere, as well as buskers on every corner.



As you can see, it's not actually an island.



We visited a little park first, well known for its turtles.



This is the Net Loft, which has various little shops, like a handwoven batik fabric shop and a marble shop.



Then we visited the market, which is the reason why people tend to visit Granville Island.









This big propellor was just sitting on the side of the street!



This is where boats are drydocked for repairs.



We passed by the Emily Carr University of Art and Design.



As Abby was taking a picture of me, I noticed something silly in one of the windows...



On the East side of the island there was this nice view of the end of False Creek.  You can just see Science World and the Olympic village construction.



On the way home we got on the SkyTrain at Granville Station, which has one of the steepest escalators in the world.

Today a new ToyVoyager arrived.



In a flurry of empty candy wrappers, Greedy popped out of his envelope and, ignoring Shirley Sheep and I, started looknig for food.  How rude!