Sue in Canada .... Part 3.

Sue Smith writes....



Hello again, everyone,




We are now back in Vancouver, having just returned from a week's trip to Vancouver Island. Vancouver itself is not especially inspiring, it's like any other big city. Its best points are Gastown and Granville Island, both of which have been tastefully renovated from old warehouse areas and are now busy, vibrant and interesting while still retaining their old world charm - or as old as things get around here which, by our standards, is not very old! Stanley Park is nice, and huge, being even bigger than New York's Central Park. From its highest point there's a good view of the city and bay, and we also saw a couple of wild racoons up there. There is a very good aquarium, too.









The island is lovely and much more our thing. We had good trips there and back, and even saw some orca whales (distantly) on the way there but not on the way back. We hired a car and drove along the East Coast of the island and then crossed to Tofino on the West (Pacific) Coast. The scenery over there is very pretty and it was well worth the trip. On Friday (1st July) it's Canada Day over here, and we were back in Victoria, the island's capital, in time for the celebrations. We joined everyone else outside City Hall on Friday evening, which was lit up like a fairytale castle. There was musical entertainment and then a fantastic firework display to round off the evening. On Saturday, we drove out to Butchart Gardens which are one of the island's main tourist attractions. I can see why - they're absolutely stunning, especially in the late evening under the floodlights.



The weather has been quite good to us over the last fortnight. We have had some drizzly rain, but it has been mainly dry and warm. There is always a cool breeze off the sea here so it never gets too hot - just like Felixstowe, really.



We returned to Vancouver today, and have just one full day left. The six weeks has gone really quickly and we have had a wonderful time. Tomorrow (Monday) we plan to take the cable car up Grouse Mountain and spend the day up there. There's plenty to do up there at this time of year, and neither of us wanted to spend our last day in the city. We fly out on Tuesday evening, but because of the time difference we won't get back to Felixstowe until Wednesday afternoon/evening.



Looking forward to seeing/speaking to you all again soon,



Love Sue.