V is for...

Vancouver and Victoria, B.C.

The day before our cruise we flew from Tucson to Vancouver. We had decided that, due to the distance we had to travel, we would fly in the day ahead and stay in a hotel the night before. We did not want to have bad weather or a sudden unexpected flight delay mess up getting to the ship on time, a tip that I would suggest anyone planning a big cruise use.



We didn't get much of a chance to see downtown Vancouver. It reminded us a lot of New York, except it was quite a bit cleaner. It's been thirty some years since I've been to Canada, but I remember it being extremely clean then and it was the same this time. We did get to walk around some, but we really weren't interested in office buildings and the restaurants seemed to be mostly very expensive.

These first two pictures were taken from the hotel window. We did have a nice view. I had to wonder about all the thousands of windows that were lit up all night in these office buildings. Must be quite an electric bill. Royal Carribean put us up in a very posh hotel. I fell in love with the shower. Look at all that black marble! Pretty ritzy for a couple of Arizona hicks!

The next day we were bussed out to the ship, where we spent the afternoon in port while everyone embarked. It gave us a chance to unpack and explore the ship. Just as we sat down to dinner, the ship left port. We passed this lighthouse while we were enjoying our salads.

We saw numerous ferries like this one throughout our Alaska trip. Ferries are one of the major sources of transportation here.

The next morning we docked in Victoria, Vancouver Island, B.C. It was a gorgeous morning and we decided to walk rather than take a bus or taxi. We walked for a while along the shore, looking at the mountains in Washington State. We walked through some beautiful, nicely landscaped neighborhoods before coming to the downtown area.

This is the government building. Very beautiful and impressive.

Our first stop was to attend Mass at St. Andrew's Cathedral. There were quite a few people here for a Saturday morning Mass; the acoustics in this church were wonderful. After Mass we walked to the needlework and yarn shop, where I bought quite a few souvenirs!

We spent some time walking around the harbor area. There were flowers everywhere, in big planters and in huge baskets hanging from all the streetlamp posts.

The Empress Hotel was covered in ivy.

I would love to come back here anytime. I know that there was plenty to see that we simply didn't have time for.