British Columbian Adventour

bc parliment building detail
Originally uploaded by misscaroliner

Numbers Man and I went to British Columbia last week with a couple friends of ours; Vancouver came first and then Victoria.

The Vancouver skyline as we drove into city from the south, was unexpectedly drab...all of the buildings greeted us with sameness of tone, material, and structure. "What?" thought I..."What is this foregin land?" Americans would not tolerate such sameness. In fact, it wasn't just me that was thrown off by the bizarre homogenity of Vancouver's architecture, the rest of the care echoed my dismay. Number's Man's freind remarked that it looked like a single architect was surely making bank on the great Vancouver Commission. Wacky.

As we further explored the city, of course we found that there were areas with more varried character...and they were lovely! The food was incredible...amazing...stupendousicular!!! Oh the things we ate! The food highlight was definitely a little place called Granville Market - a shopping center packed with deli's, cafe's, produce stands, and fast food (not McD's...fresh, fast food). The place so so good we couldn't help coming back for more.

Another hit in Vancouver...Van Dusen gardens! Not much trumps a garden in sprintime, sprinkled with a light rain. It was fragrant and brimming with so much life. Sparkle and shine!

We ferried over to Victoria and found our feet were our biggest asset as this little village is best explored slowly and with curious eyes. The typical tourist attractions were thoughtful and engaging and the soul of the city beat hard against the buildings and in the faces of the locals. You could really sense the pride of the people in what they had to offer. Numbers Man and I will be venturing back in the near future to see more sights and maybe be a little romantical. *wink*

Being back in the swing of normal life is bringing the twinge back to my shoulder muscles, but I'm happy to have the structure of routine, the constant of Lake Washington when I wake up and go to bed, and my darling dog to cuddle uncontrollably.
For more pix, just click on the one in this post and it will take you to my flickr page.
xoxo C