“You must be from America!”—Sunday 30

 Today started with a leisurely morning with our friends in Seattle, and then to SeaTac for our Alaska Airlines (f.k.a. Horizon) flight to Victoria, BC, Canada. We tried to get the most forward seats possible, so we might see something. We were on a Q400, which has the engines mounted under the wings, and the wing is over the fuselage. So, for most of the middle of the plane, you can’t see anything but the engine. Didn’t quite succeed!



We caught the bus from the airport to downtown, which was a nice ride. Of course, we heard our first (of many!) “eh?” for the trip! Theresa enjoyed the striking colored leaves (reds, yellows, purples) on the trees and bushes. We checked into our B&B about 2-3 blocks from the Parliament building. It’s a quaint little spot, but the jury’s still out.

We headed out to check out the sights and grab a bite to eat. We went St. Andrew’s Cathedral for Mass, and found they were celebrating their 119th Anniversary. Sort of put our parish’s 40th into some perspective!

After church, we took a “Ghost Walk” tour. It was fun. We hoofed all over several blocks of downtown. It was chilly, dark alleys, and such. But, the stories were interesting, the story tellers were pretty good, and it really gave a good idea of different eras in the city’s history. So, we give it two thumbs up!

That naturally led to looking for a nice bite to eat. We walked by a place called Garrett’s Head Pub, peeked at it, but I preferred the idea of Irish Times Pub. We walked in, noted the live music which was nice, and then the $14 for a half pint of Guinness. Uh, not so much! We headed back to Garrett’s Head, and got a full pint for only $6. Theresa asked what a “Caesar” was, as it was on the drink specials board. He snorted (good naturedly, we think?), “You must be American!” Well, for those who don’t know, it is like a Bloody Mary, but with Clamato instead of tomato juice, and with celery salt instead of normal salt, and lime instead of lemon. It was rather spicy and definitely mixed strong! My Guinness came complete with the Shamrock on the top in the foam. The food was good, and at the end, he asked if we wanted dessert. We asked what they had to offer, and he said they had a double chocolate porter. Not exactly what we had in mind, and I commented I didn’t think it complimented my Guinness. But, next thing we knew, he brought a half pint glass half full of the porter. It was tasty (well, 50% of our group of two thought so; the winced face on Theresa seemed to express otherwise).

We enjoyed a chilly walk home reminiscing on the stories and places as we passed them.