THURSDAY | It was a easy drive down from Ladysmith and so we arrived at our airbnb 90 minutes ahead of check-in. Smack bang in the middle of downtown our lunch venues were plentiful but with hanger setting in we opted for the Italian joint, Romeo's, for lunch. Fair swankier than we were expecting we dined on our meals alongside business people cutting deals as they sliced through their pizza. With a headache lingering from the morning I'd hoped that our check-in would be simple and autonomous but our host had other plans. After buzzing us into the two bedroom apartment, that has stunning views over the town down to the harbour, we received a room by room tour complete with instructions on how to use the light switches. Every draw was opened to show us the content and we even got a mini evac demonstration. The guy was a gent but it didn't make it any less strenuousness. Finally left to our own devices we divided up the rooms and had a small window of down time enjoying the stunning views. Then it was back on our feet to explore. First stop was the Market Place where we ambled through the stores wanting to purchase far more than our baggage allowance would allow. Settling on a couple of small items we then made our way down to the waterfront and back along the main drag to our destination for the evening, Chinatown. Made up of a small row of restaurants our dinner selection was limited and so we made the risky decision to head up some stairs to Shanghai City. It turned out to be the best decision. There was a couple of other people in the restaurant but it felt like we were the only ones there as our waiters fussed over us and ensured we had everything we needed. What we needed was a lot of dumplings and that precisely what we got. They also had on offer my favourite yum-cha dessert of sesame seed and red bean balls, which we (mostly me) devoured for dessert. Tummy's stretched we took the long walk home to our apartment along the quiet streets of Victoria before relaxing in to a quiet night. FRIDAY | After a brief sleep in we navigated the peak hour roads of Victoria down to the bay area with our first stop for the morning being the James Bay Tea Room. The internet had shown as a charming old-fashioned cottage adored with images of the English monarch that stared down at you whilst you sipped your tea and munched on your scones. The reality was a tired, worn out restaurant that lacked the level of character we were expecting. The tea did come in a knitted outfit and the monarchy still lined the walls but the magic we had hoped for just wasn't there. We finished our average meal and then headed off on foot down to Fishermans Wharf. It seemed that a few dozen other tourist had the same idea as us as the Wharf was brimming with people perusing the floating neighbourhood. The hordes of people didn't take away from the allure of the vivid houseboats that bopped along with the current. We wandered down the jetty having a peek inside the alternate living situation that swayed in front of us and decide which ones we would buy in our alternate universe. Voyeurism over we shuffled back through the tree lined streets to collect Christian and head to the ferry station ahead of our return to the USA. Needing to be at the ferry station 2 hours ahead of departure meant we had a lot of time to chill in the car before customs and immigration kicked off. This time allowed us a chance to soak in the last of the Canadian sun whilst we snoozed and read in the car. Just as we were easing into the relaxing their was a knock at the window by a border official needing to see our passports. The pace went from 0 to 100 really quickly as everyone was whipped into gear and along with all the other foreigners we were ordered out of cars and over to the immigration office to have our photos and finger prints taken. We ended up last in the line, giving us time to get an address of where we were staying that night and to gather up the money we suddenly needed to pay (that no one had warned us about). The officers we did interact with were all really friendly and keen to learn more about our accommodation in Port Angeles given it was in converted train carriages. Finally we were all cleared to drive onto the ferry and so we rolled onto the lower deck, abandoned the car and headed up to main floor to soak in the last of our Canadian experience.
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