Victoria, British Columbia (US- Canada Trip Part 2)

Day 3: Bonding with the Cousins

Victoria, British Columbia

Victoria, is the capital of British Columbia and is known to be the “Garden City”. It is a popular tourist destination and because Aunt Grace is from this city, we really have to spend time here.

From Vancouver, it is an almost 2-hour travel via BC Ferries. 

At the boat with my pretty cousin, Ivi

The travel’s so worthwhile since the scenery was breath-taking. It was literally like the location where Twilight was shot. We spent the day settling down to Aunt Grace’s house and bonding with the cousins. It was raining that day and since the sun sets at 4pm, the capital is just the place where we can go to take some pictures.

Staying at Aunt Grace's house with this nice Xmas tree

It was my cousin, Romar’s bday, so we went ahead to his favourite Japanese restaurant and had a big bite. After which, we strolled near the mall. We had to get a heat garment since
the weather was freezing. My cousins told me that it was really cold before the snow comes in. But once the snow started to fall, the temperature stabilizes somehow.

Japanese dinner with the cousins

We spent the evening drinking, chatting, and having fun. We even watched Peter Russell in Netflix. During that time, Netflix was not in SG yet so I really found it very entertaining.  

Drinking session

Day 4: Shopping for Lucia

I had the best sleep ever that night so I woke up at around 10am. Had to shower and get prepped up so we left Aunt Grace’s home at 2pm. Well, I watched TFC as well because I got hooked into “OTWOL” as well. Hahaha..

This day was spent on shopping. We headed to the mall in Victoria and straight ahead, I visited Old Navy. Great thing- the store’s on sale so I bought tons of clothes for my princess, Lucia. Had some clothes at CAD2.00-CAD10.00. I was so excited and I can’t get myself to stop shopping for my daughter.

Marshalls 

Dinner time and my cousin, Ivi, brought me to this great Vietnamese restaurant. I literally had to have my pic taken here since I want to remember the name. The Saigon cuisine was so authentic, the servings are huge, and the service is very good. I never had any Vietnamese cuisine out of the country as good as Saigon Char-Broil’s dishes. So hats-off to them!

One of the best Vietnamese restaurants I've ever been at

As usual, the night was capped off by having some drinks. Not as many as the 3^rd night though. But it was a sweet goodbye from me to my cousin, Romar.

Day 5: Goodbye Victoria, Hello Vancouver Again!

Woke up early in the morning to pack up and to prepare. We had to catch the BC Ferries’ afternoon sail to Vancouver. But before that, Angela, Romar’s pretty gf, had to bring us to some tourist spots to have our pictures taken. And it was great we did that. The weather was not nice but we managed to pull-off. We had a tour of Victoria at day-time for 1.5 hours and it was unforgettable. The place was just too nice to let go.

Parliament Building, Victoria

Empress Hotel was under construction. Though I was told that this has a nice picturesque. Nonetheless, we were able to capture great moments in this bonding activity.

Vancouver on Day 5:

We headed off to BC Ferries and we were able to catch the next sail right on time. I’d say that this time, we enjoyed our boat ride. We had a tour of the ferry and went to its roof deck to capture the nice view. We were in the middle of the water but the view was magnificent. It was so romantic, that we just looked up and thank God for this wonderful opportunity.

Sunset with Ivi on the boat

What a nice view with my love, right there

Anthony, Ivi’s boyfriend, picked us up at the Ferry. We went straight ahead to Aunt Jeru’s house to pack our things for our next destination. We left some used clothes and got the new ones. Then, we checked in at Hotel Le Soleil for the evening. 

Hotel: HOTEL LE SOLEIL by Executive Hotels (4-star)

Hotel Le Soleil is a decent stay-in hotel in the center of Vancouver. With its French-inspired decoration, it is impossible not to love this hotel. It has all the basic amenities that we needed. So the hotel didn't disappoint. The Executive One-bedroom Queen Suite housed me, hubby, and my aunt (where she decided to stay in the living area). The living area has a sofa bed and she slept soundly during our stay. 

After checking-in, we decided to have a tour of VanCity. The place felt so safe. It was still cold out there but I think we've gotten used to it already. So we enjoyed roaming around the city. We had a quick bite in Cactus Club Cafe before heading off to Uncle Noriel's house. 

Once again, hubby and Uncle Noriel had some few drinks and we had a nice catching up on our 5^th day. And oh, we love this light effect on the beer that they bought. This is just too cute not to post.