Thursday January 11th – One of the things that I discovered under the Christmas tree this year was a weekend away in Victoria and tickets to the Angkor exhibit at the Royal British Columbian Museum, along with three nights at a funky little hotel called Hotel Zed, a place I’d been wanting to stay at for a few years now.
I cut out of work early on Thursday, and we didn’t waste any time heading to the ferry in Tsawwassen to try and beat the weather that was crawling into the region later in the day. The 3pm ferry ran about an hour late as BC Ferries had suspended the vessels for a bit due to high winds. While we waited inside the terminal and had a snack, the snow started to fall. To be fair, it didn’t really “fall” so much as it was whipped around in the winds. But the winds died a bit and the ferry service resumed, and we made it to the island without too big a delay. There was. bit of snow on the way from Swartz Bay to Victoria, but not much. All things considered, it kind of felt like the weather was a bit of a bust. The cameras back home showed that we had more snow there than showed up on the South Island, but even that barely qualified as a skiff, though I realized we’d not turned the pump off for the waterfall/stream in the yard and I had a hunch we might come home to a burned out pump if the water froze.
Hotel Zed was a delight. They upgraded us from a room to “The Cottage” so we had an entire little house to ourselves 🙂 And what a funky little place it was!
We settled in, then popped out for dinner at a little Ethiopian restaurant in the Esquimalt area – The Blue Nile, and then called it a night back at our Cottage.
Friday January 12th – The thermometer definitely dipped overnight and, although I wouldn’t call it truly frigid considering where I grew up, it was nippy and I probably should have brought warmer gloves. It wouldn’t have been so bad if the wind hadn’t been blowing.
We went for breakfast at Spoons Diner and kept our coats on….chilly place that seemed to have a flawed central heating system, but breakfast was great and the place was as funky as our Cottage just a short few blocks down the road. And then we drove downtown and ditched the truck inn the parking under the Empress; an always pretty central and easy place to park.
The intent had been to spend the first half of the day wandering the waterfront and taking photos. But about ten minutes of photography with bare hands and I was brutally reminded that my hands are getting older and I am starting to suffer the same arthritis that my Mom did. I retreated to my less than ideal gloves and only got a few shots of the fabulous freezing fountain in front of the BC Parliament buildings before we opted to head to the museum earlier than intended.
The exhibit we were here for was Angkor – The Lost Civilization of Cambodia. Angkor was one of the world’s greatest empires between the ninth and 15th centuries before it was abandoned by its residents. It boasted enormous monuments and structures that towered over a sprawling city, and was home to a complex society of craftsmen, ruling class members and a specialized priesthood. The artifacts were spectacular, and some of the sculptures appeared so lifelike that you almost expected their eyes to open. Afterwards we sat the IMAX production that gave a fabulous cinematographic view of Angkor and told the story as best we know it today; a story of climate change and the collapse of a vibrant society unable to sustain itself in the face of unprecedented droughts and monsoons. There is still so much to learn about our world and the societies that it has supported.
After the museum we tried to go for a walk to do some shopping, but again it was such a biting cold that we were more just diving into whatever shop was next on the street when we couldn’t feel our hands. We decided to go find some dinner given we’d not had lunch. My work manager had recommended a place for wood fired oven baked pizza – Pizzeria Prima Strada – and it did not disappoint! When we arrived at just before 5pm, we got a table immediately and settled in with a glass of merlot and a delicious Italian style pizza carne – tomato, fresh mozzarella, Genoa salami, Capicollo ham, pancetta, garlic, oregano…that’s all. And the sauce was bright and fresh, honestly, it was probably the best pizza I’d ever had, and I make my own pizza from scratch. We popped into a pub across the street for another glass of wine – The Beagle Pub – and when we sat down it was apparent that they had a heating problem. Everyone, including the wait staff, were in full coats/jackets and half the patrons were sitting at tables with their toques on still. A woman behind Kirk was fully bundled up in her puffy coat, a tuque, and clutching her beer in mittened hands. Their heating was offline, the place was packed, more people were trying to get in and find seats, and no one really seemed to give a fig that it was only slightly warmer than outside 🙂
Saturday January 13th – On today’s agenda was breakfast at Frankie’s, a bit of poking around town, and hour or so at Munro’s Books, and lunch with a friend at Spinnakers Pub, where we talked motorcycles for two hours. 🙂 After that we went back to town, parked, got about a half a block before discovering Russel’s Books…..and that pretty much was the end of our poking around as we settled in there for the next few hours, until we were kicked out at closing.
A walk along the waterfront and over to the Parliament building for some photos (no wind so less painful), dinner at the Sticky Wicket, a nightcap at the Bard and Banker, and then back to The Cottage for the night.
But before we made it to the truck, there was a silent figure that swooped past us on the street and drifted into. tree ahead of us, at eye level. An owl turned its eyes to us as a number of pedestrians stopped in the dark street and peered through the branches at the raptor lit by the streetlights. It sat for a few minutes before deciding we were all too much of a bother and it spread its wings and disappeared in silence.
Sunday January 14th – Home today, but not until the 1pm ferry. We tried for breakfast at The Blue Fox, but the place was packed and we didn’t have a ton of time to waste. We wanted to skip out of the city by 11:30 to make sure we made our reservation early because the ferry was sold out and we didn’t want to risk missing it. Plus it would give us a few minutes to be able to do a drive through Sidney. So not enough time to wait for a table at The Blue Fox and still have time to pop back into Munro Books before heading out to Swartz Bay. We parked a block or two from Munro’s and, as we were a few doors down, we realized that the Bard and Banker was open for breakfast and stuck our heads in. It was a good decision and the food was excellent. A quick nip into Munro’s to pick up a couple of books I’d wanted and then it was off to the ferry.
It always surprises me that there is so little at the Swartz Bay ferry terminal, but the trip across and back to the mainland was lovely. Mt. Baker was vivid in the distance across the water and I think we got a better view than typical as the captain sailed around the bottom of Saturn Island rather than through Active Pass.
It was nice to get away for a few days and reset a little bit; it was a nice little break. And we were pleasantly surprised to find that, despite being covered by a thick blanket of ice, there was still water flowing in our water feature and the pump had not burned out. The hummingbird feeder even had a little bit of liquid unfrozen despite temperatures being as low as -11C while we were away, and we thawed it out and provided some fresh and warmer sugar water for them….as they chirped angrily at Kirk from the rhododendrons.
I hear there is snow in the forecast for Tuesday…..mayb that will bring a bit better showing of the white stuff now that we are home 😊