Vancouver Hurrahs with Grandma

The first installment...
As many of you know, my grandmother and I took a very spontaneous and special trip to Death Valley last spring to catch the once-in-a-lifetime wildflower bloom. The trip was so much fun, I cajoled her into traveling with me again, only this time for an entire week and in a foreign country. We were initially thinking Morocco but being the Bay Area grandma that she is, grandma pointed out that it would be pretty hot there. So Vancouver it was, a place I am surprised she has never been and that has been on my list as well.

The first noteworthy thing Grandma and I saw when we got off the plane were two stunning red, white, and black First Nation weavings draped over the escalator as we descended to customs. The second noteworthy sighting was Corbin Bernsen in our custom's line (of LA Law fame, if anyone else stayed up late in the 80s to watch this riveting soap opera.) Well, they say that Vancouver is 2nd to LA in terms of movies and commercials shot. I believe it. At the very least, having him snaking past us in line every few minutes did help the time fly. I kept trying to sneak a peek at his luggage tag to see where he lives.

But grandma didn't watch LA Law so was much more excited once we made it out of the airport and onto the "Spirit of British Columbia" ferry over to Victoria. It was a sparkling water, sunny day on the Strait of Georgia and we marveled over all the beautiful Gulf Islands we passed en route to Vancouver Island, the Mamma Island. I met a fascinating man who worked on the ferry but is originally from Poland and was part of the Solidarity Movement. (He ended up in Canada to avoid being sent to prison.) We talked about everything from Lech Walesa to our mutual fondness for Lazienki Park in Warsaw, with its peacocks and free Chopin concerts in the summer. After speaking with him, I went outside to bask in the sun with grandma and caught a glimpse of a bald eagle in a tree when we went through a narrow passage. That was enough to get me excited about our destination.

Although my grandmother can be very frugal and recycles Christmas bows long after their stick is gone, she suggested that we do the trip in style. She hinted that the famed Fairmont Empress Hotel in Victoria might be a nice place to stay. The room we stayed in was fairly unexciting but our arrival more than made up for it. We might as well have pulled up in a horsedrawn carraige, the place was so fairytale-like. Picture a chateau style hotel with gorgeous hanging plants lining its driveway --Victoria has over a thousand elegant lampposts with hanging flowerboxes filled with 9 different kinds of flowers. (Yes, I paid attention to my doubledecker bus tourguide.) But the best part of all is that the hotel is right across the street from the serene harbor. I'm pretty sure we both gasped audibly.

After spending practically the whole day in transit (ironically, our 2 hour flight seems like one of the shorter legs of our trip!) grandma and I decided to head to Pagliacci, a local Italian restaurant I read about in my "Hidden British Columbia" book. (Every porter recommended it as well, clinching the deal.) The place was perfect--unpretentious, full of character, busy but no wait. Dinner was delicious and I got to ask grandma a million questions about her high school boyfriend (who tragically was named Bob). Apparently her parents really disapproved that he was Roman Catholic since a Catholic boy had broken her aunt's heart.

A mother eating with her daughter at the table next to us overheard me telling grandma our itinerary for the next few days and asked me how I had heard of Sooke (a small town just outside Victoria that we are staying in for a night.) Apparently as a Victoria native, this is her favorite place in the world. We continued chatting about travel and it turns out that she owns an adventure travel company and was about to head to Egypt. Not surprisingly, we hit it off. Who wouldn't hit it off with someone as cool as Thelma? What was surprising was what happened after we all left the restaurant at the same time. Thelma and her daughter Vanessa were about half a block ahead of us when they turned around and offered to drive me and grandma around Victoria to show us their hometown. Grandma was tickled pink. The next thing I know, we were in the backseat of their car driving down a beautiful road in Oak Bay, one of the nicest neighborhoods in Victoria, admiring Washington's snow-capped Olympic Mountains in the distance. We concluded our drive with a quick spin through the UBC campus where Vanessa (the daughter) is studying linguistics. Grandma and I could not get over how many bunnies we saw. They definitely outnumber the students--at least in the summertime.

It was a great evening. Thelma and Vanessa were wonderful guides, we saw Victoria at that beautiful time of night just before the sun is setting, and we learned some great local trivia--for example, how overly PC British Columbia is (the UBC mascot was the Vikings but for fear of offending Norweigans, they are now "the Vikes.") And we learned that the Gulf Islands we passed on our ferry ride are really part of the same chain as Washington's San Juans. And that Salt Spring Island (one of the biggest ones) used to be a hippie haven but now has a few very tony residents like Barbara Streisand and John Travolta. We also could see how much both Thelma and Vanessa love their hometown, and love the First Nations art that makes it particularly special (Vanessa volunteered at the Royal BC Museum in town and was happy to hear that we were not going to miss it.)

We went to bed excited about what our first full day has in store. Speaking of which, I am zonked. More soon!