Greetings my fellow friends and travelers! I am back, with another post about my travels in British Columbia! As you can probably tell by the title of this post, I went to Victoria and Vancouver! Yay! However, this is part 2, so you can click here to read part one, as I also went to Buchart Gardens!
Victoria is the capital of British Columbia. The BC Parliament, the Empress Hotel, the Royal BC Museum is there, as well as other historic buildings. There is a sightseeing bus tour that you can hop-on and hop-off if you want to visit all the sights! I love these things, they are perfect for seeing the city!
From the west coast to the east coast, there is a four hour time difference, and it makes me feel really tired because when my body tells me to to sleep, my plans say otherwise. 😀 Anyway, we stayed at the fabulous Hotel Zed! My parents and I have stayed in five stars hotels all over the world, but Hotel Zed is a cool retro hotel my dad booked for us! He liked it because it just looked soooo fun! In their Torino, BC location, they have the world’s first bike path that takes you through the lobby. How cool does that sound!? In this location, they have a pool with a water slide, a hot tub, two ✨groovy✨ 😉 vans outside, an Airstream trailer in the backyard, a games room, a restaurant, a typewriter in the lobby, a rotary dial phone, turntable, and skateboards! Like I said, it’s a fun place to stay, and I love the vibe of this place 🙂
P.S. We also got good nights sleep! The beds are comfortable and very clean. 🙂 I did not get paid or get a free stay to mention this hotel.
The next day, we were supposed to go whale watching and see the orcas, BUT it was windy and cold, so the tour was cancelled. 🙁 Maybe next time! So we just walked around downtown and visit the shops. I made my daddy buy me chocolates from Rodgers, and they were soooo chocolatey and sweet! It is his favorite chocolate brand, and it is made in Victoria. Then we went to the FINEST book store that I’ve ever seen, Munro’s Bookstore! The building is so huge and fancy, stocked up with a lot of books… I wanted to spend forever in there and buy the whole store, but of course I couldn’t and I had to leave. More stuffs to see!
Fun Fact: Munro’s Bookstore is one of the world’s most beautiful bookstores!
After all the walking, we took a rest to Murchie’s to have some tea. This tea company has been around since 1894! That’s… that’s a long time ago….
As most of you know, I’m a Youth Ambassador for Digitally Lit! DL gave me a lovely ARC to read of the book 305 Lost Buildings of Canada! And the reason why there isn’t a book review of that is because I visited all of the places and that was pretty much my book review 🙂 I made a video on my Instagram, and I decided that it would be cool to explore Canada’s West Coast through the buildings that once existed!
I since I was in the West Coast and not just the East Coast, I got to explore a lot more of Canada’s lost buildings, but I also found some closer to home as well 🙂
We woke up bright and early the next day to head to Swartz Bay to take the ferry back to Vancouver! We had to go and take a Covid test because we were heading out of the country on a cruise! (That’s a post for next week though, you’ll just have to wait until then ;D). We’ve been to Vancouver so many times, so we only went to Granville Island Public Market because it’s really fun over there! Lots of things to see! I am especially fond of the toy store located there! A couple of years back, my parents bought me a leopard stuffed animal to replace the cat we had to re-home because apparently I am allergic to cats 🙁
Vancouver is so pretty in spring time because of all the cherry blossoms! The flowers fall all around the city, and it looks like everything is sprinkled with a little bit of pink magic 🙂
Also, y’all may want to avoid West Hasting Street. Vancouver has a homelessness problem. There are quite a few streets in that area that have people on them doing drugs, living on tents, injecting, smoking, passed out, or just walking around completely high. It’s extremely sad to see these people like this. When I say I will never do drugs, I really mean it because I’ve been places and I know the outcomes and the consequences to doing them. I think all kids should see this side of Vancouver, because if that doesn’t convince you… I dunno what will. :/
Anyway, one more interesting thing, there is this really neat clock located in Gastown! It’s a steam clock, built in 1977 by Raymond Saunders. “Steam clock” isn’t just a fancy name, the clock actually steams! There’s a series of pipes connected to a generating plant underground Georgia and Beatty Streets! And that give the clock the reason to show off it’s whistle every hour It’s really cool! There’s only a few steam clock remaining around the world.
(For my Stranger Things fans, no, I am not dying, this is just a normal steam clock :D)
That’s really all for now, I’ll be back next time with more travel adventures, tips, and experiences! So stay tuned for more as you get to read about Alaska: The Last Frontier next! 😀
~Ariela~
I also laughed out loud reading “1894, that’s… that’s a long time ago.” You are one fabulous travel writer AND Digitally Lit Youth Ambassador… they must be so happy to have you on the team!! And I think it’s super cool you manage to also mention the Lost Building’s book and Munro’s bookstore. I’m sad you’re allergic to cats though… I love my fur balls, they’re right spoiled. Looking forward to reading your books some day… 😉 xx
Hehe, I’m glad you enjoyed! Yes, being a youth ambassador is great! I’m so happy to be apart of such a fun, loving and accepting team of bookworms! Of course I mentioned the 305 Lost Buildings book, it is suck a great read! ✨☺️🤍
Interesting post, Ariela! We have been to Victoria, but not Vancouver – a trip for another time. I (Kellye) would love to go back to Victoria and stay at Hotel Zed because we grew up in the era you described with the rotary phones, turntable, etc. It would be a step back to our teenage years to visit there. Thank you for sharing your wonderful trips. We think you’re an amazing girl!
Awe, thank you so much! I hope you get to got to Hotel Zed it is very fun there! I’m sure the nostalgia would come flooding back though m, you might want to brace yourselves 🥲
What a beautiful city! Loved the tour 🙂
Yay! ✨☺️🤍
I love steam clocks! There’s one in London and I would go see it whenever I had the chance. That’s sad you couldn’t go whale watching. I have done that in California and when it works, there’s nothing like it! That’s sad about the drug addiction problems in BC too. I haven’t done drugs, but I have had friends who have recovered from drug and alcohol addiction and the common theme is that no one chooses to be addicted. Something went terribly wrong in their life that they became this way. It’s not a simple problem to solve because there are many factors to it. England has a similar problem with alcohol addiction and binge drinking. I never engaged in it. My excuse was I was American, and American teens don’t do that but I didn’t end up having very many friends and the friends I did have were other immigrants. It’s a severe problem in English culture and governments just put band-aid after band-aid on it but nothing works. I was glad to leave that country because of that!
Wow, that’s impressive! I know that a lot of people who struggle with addiction obviously didn’t choose it, but the fact that there were a lot of people in your life who did it, and you didn’t follow them… you deserve some credit for that! I really hope that people start to put an end to their addictions, even though that might be hard for them to do. And I really hate that the government profits from it all, therefore encouraging people to do it. 🫤
I had a professor whose son died of drug abuse and she said, “Remember underneath all of that drug abuse is a beautiful person who is struggling!” Never a truer word! It’s scary being around people in the throes of addiction, and I walk away from that. But the people in recovery are interesting people to have as friends. They don’t try to get you hooked onto drugs at all. If anything, they want healthy friendships
Yes, I don’t deny the fact that people with addictions are interesting to have as friends… it’s a better way to learn more of their addictions, of how they are struggling, and also how you can help them.
Ariela, a fascinating tour! I never heard of a steam clock. Lovely photos! <3 <3 <3
😀
It all looks so fun.
Funny to see a rotary phone as cool decor instead of basic utility. But I get it, I haven’t had a landline in over 10yrs.
The cherry blossoms (??) are gorgeous!
Good news: It’s not uncommon to grow out of allergies, including animals. So give it a controlled test every few years!
Thx for sharing your travels!!!
You can grow out of allergies? Best news I’ve heard in a while! Nice!
It really is fun to go to BC and experience alllll the fun things they have there!
CHERRY BLOSSOMSSSSSSS
Thank you for reading! <3
Yep! Not everyone outgrows them and not all arw outgrown. But it’s worth doing controlled tries every few years.
Out of nowhere, I developed an extreme allergy to aspirin in my early 40s. It’s possible that it’s passed now but it was so bad that I’m afraid to test it.
My employer makes an insanely detailed allergy testing device. It can specify exact gluten intolerance (which glutens and in what forms) but they just killed plans for release in the Americas.
interesting, I’ll have to try that sometime! Thanks, and have a lovely rest of your day! 🙂