Travel Diary

Sunday

I woke up again and again and again.

We met up for breakfast at John’s Place. The food was a traditional breakfast. I’d say “American” breakfast but bacon, eggs, and waffles might be a universal thing for all I know. Now, don’t be shocked--I did eat. I had scrambled eggs and toast, with bacon and fruit. It wasn’t tops, but not bad either. A decent meal. The wait staff was helpful and friendly; I will say that. They also are efficiently laconic. The waitress comes over and it’s a rapid fire Q&A once you say what the main choice is. They don’t dilly dally, and judging from the amount of people they have to serve throughout the morning, it’s easy to see why. They’re there to take your order, not to explain why Canadian maple syrup tastes so darn good.

Then we walked around and got tickets to Butchart Gardens. Since the bus wouldn’t arrive for a while, we meandered around town a bit and finally boarded the double-decker for the gardens.

It was a pleasant ride, although I was in the far back of the upper level and there were five of us in four seats. The cozy family of four at least cramped themselves together so my seat wasn’t really encroached upon. Cruising along, the driver gave history over the PA, although it was tough to understand most of it due to background noise. I picked up tidbits here and there--promptly forgetting most of it days later. A Scotsman build some gardens in a pit. That’s mainly what I picked up.

Our first stop was to pick up more people (we had room for more?) at the butterfly exhibit. Being that we had seen butterflies in Seattle a few years ago, we passed on that option. Then it was time to visit the gardens. The bus dropped us all off and we went in.

Flowers and greenery. That’s pretty much everywhere. It’s a nice place and during pleasant weather, it’s a great way to spend a day. Being late May, the gardens had plenty of blooms to see. The water fountain alone warranted about 50 pictures from my camera (and iPhone). With so many roses and flowers, it was impossible to identify even a portion of them, even with the little brochure they handed out. It’s still fun to look and photograph. I had observed some flowers I’d never seen before in my life--and I once visited the great Taiwan Floral Expo of 2011.

After the tour of the gardens, the bus took us back into the city. We had some time before dinner so Lesly and I headed over to Beacon Park to walk around. It’s a serene place and when you’re in the middle of it, you marvel at how strange it is to be in a wilderness area, but still in a big city. It’s akin to how places in Central Park feel in NYC. I could make a vacation out of nothing but visiting parks.

Dinner was nice. We had good Italian food at Pagliacci’s (there was no clown). It’s always hard to order when you’re starving; everything on an Italian restaurant menu looks exceptionally tasty. Oh yes, while we waited for Terry and the girls to arrive, Lesly had noticed a store selling nothing by macaroons across the street. That sounded tasty, so I trotted over and went inside.

Wow! So many cookies and so many flavors. It was hard to decide. I chose a random half-dozen and went back to the restaurant. I even shared my cookies with everyone. It was vacation!

When dinner was done, we walked around a little more. The others returned to the hotel, so I went to Craigdorrach Castle with Lesly. It was a long walk, and I had a somewhat painful blister from two days of walking, but heck, one last long walk wouldn’t kill me. It was another lesson of preparation. Several long walks should be undertaken before any vacation involving a lot of walking.

Which is pretty much the gist of every vacation.

The castle was nice, but small. It was more of a house or manor, and I wondered if the tours were really all that grand or long. We only could see it from the outside since it was past closing, but I got a few photos, nevertheless. At night, it is lit up nicely to get some great “small castle” shots. Then we walked back and looked for a bar (Ow! Blister!) Alas, nothing open near the hotel and the hotel one was closed. It was Sunday night after all. We decided to call it a night.

Sleep came fast, although I had to pack first. I always get close to 100% prepared at night if I’m leaving the next morning. Or if I’m waking up very early (like in Dublin a year prior), I just don’t sleep at all.