Friday, November 16, 2012

Weekend Escape - Victoria

19.8 Go on 10 "adventures"

Our world has been a bit crazy lately. And by a bit, I mean it's insane. So Alex and I decided that we'd take a few days off work and daycare and get out of Vancouver and have a little adventure and some rest. Well, we managed to have some adventures...and we did get a little rest too!

Early Thanksgiving Monday we drove out to the ferry terminal to start our little vacation. While we waited for our ferry to arrive so we could board, we did a little browsing in the terminal building.

morning coffee
J is a true Vancouver girl with her morning "coffee"

We checked out the awesome candied apples - Thanksgiving turkeys and spooky Hallowe'en creatures. J and Alex would have had them as their second breakfast...

gobble gobble candied apples

spooky candied apples

We had a reservation and because there was very little traffic, we were one of the first cars on the ferry. We had an awesome view from the car deck!

beautiful day for a ferry ride

We did go up to the passenger decks and took J outside to see the view.

windy ride

We waved at the ferry going in the opposite direction - can you see J's Auntie K. on the ferry? We waved hard because she's there (maybe...she was in Victoria for the weekend, running in the marathon)

here comes auntie k

Once we docked in Swartz Bay, we decided we were hungry, so we made a stop in Sidney-by-the-Sea for a lunch of, what else, fish and chips. We also picked up a few postcards for J's penpal. Then it was off to Victoria and Beacon Hill Park. J slept most of the way and was quite excited when we got out of the car and we were at the petting zoo.

what's that?
What's that???

llama llama no pyjamas
Llama Llama no pyjamas

hangin' out
Hangin' out

miniature pigs
Miniature Pigs

petting the goats
Petting the goats

i'll brush you and make you beautiful
"I'll brush you and make you beautiful" (and if she had hair accessories, I'm sure the goats would be wearing those too!!!)

bug glasses

After a long time at the petting zoo (and some very thorough hand washing) we decided that we should find the playground and burn off some energy. J had a great time at the playground, racing around like crazy. We went to our hotel, dropped our things off and went in search of some dinner. J was a trooper and walked 1.5 kilometres to dinner at a yummy Italian place called Fiamo.

fiamo

We arrived early, before the dinner rush, and had a lovely meal. It was so good. J was thrilled with her spaghetti and meatballs and the waiter couldn't believe how good J was and that we'd brought our own entertainment for her while we were waiting for food (colouring stuff and little Robert Munsch books).

spaghetti and meatballs

We loved the atmosphere and decoration in Fiamo almost as much as we loved our soup and pasta. Check out the bike on the wall...just a taste of the decor.

bike on a wall

After we stuffed ourselves, we went in search of ice cream (fine, gelato) because J declared it wasn't a "real" adventure if we didn't eat ice cream. We ended up having gelato both evenings and J had ice cream at lunch the second day and she just couldn't believe her luck because she "already had ice cream the day before." It didn't take much to convince her that we could have some special treats when we were on vacation!

it's not an adventure without ice cream

Alex loves gelato, so he had no argument with gelato on consecutive days. Alex ate gelato at least twice a day when we were in Rome for our honeymoon! Not sure how this compares....

gelato alex

The "Christmas" building...aka the Parliament building. Apparently any kind of light display automatically means Christmas lights...

parliament building

The next day we left the camera at home, but we managed to take in an IMAX movie, J did every gallery of the Royal BC Museum (her favourites were the special map exhibit and the old street) and we went for a long walk. We picked out books at Munro's Books, because what trip to Victoria is complete without a visit to Munro's? We capped day number two off with dinner with my friend Andrea at Rebar. YUM! More good food and some excellent company.

It was a great little break for us - and yes, there was some rest...when you have a four year old who you make walk 4+ km a day, a daddy used to working the morning shift, and pregnant mommy, everyone is ready to fall into bed by 8:00!




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