Photos From Victoria, BC

BC Museum's "widow maker" mine drill.

This was one hard picture to take!  My crutches were on the floor, out of sight, and I had to hop on my left leg from the camera to the drill.  It only took seven tries to get the photo to not be of my hopping backside!  I need to get a camera with a remote control!

Rest Area in Buchardt Gardens.

 Buchardt Gardens has about 400 acres of flowers with two thousand miles of trail!  Not real easy to negotiate on crutches.  By the time I reached the rose garden, where this was taken, my foot was huge.  So, I sat for about an hour with my right foot on ice.  Very relaxing and actually I think I enjoyed the gardens more by just sitting and watching people.  Some Japanese starlet came through as I sat there - looking for photo ops, for the dozens of photographers and news crew with her!  I felt very sorry for her husband and little girl whom she totally blew off - but followed obediently at a distance.  What a dolt.....
 

Craigdarroch "Castle", one of Victoria's impressive 19th Century homes open to the public.

I first toured this place in 1983, right after it was opened to the public.  Back then it was just a shell you could walk through.  Since then, they have created a tour, using a double staircase, to wind through all of the floors and all of the rooms.  Some now are furnished for the period.  They advertise 85 stairs.  It was really 87 and my foot was might unhappy with me!
 

Backside of the Empress-Fairmont Hotel.

Victoria's inner harbor and the Clarion.

Ivy orcas swim in front of the Empress-Fairmont Hotel.  Their flower gardens are nice too!

This totem, in Totem Park, I watched being carved back in 1983!  Empress in the background.

Small totem in Totem Park, BC Museum in the background.

Thick Irish Skulls

So, Gaelic Girl aka the Munich Grease Spot, is up and about this evening.  Outside of being mostly purple and green - she looks normal, but no real memory of the accident.  One can certainly thank the good Lord for making her skull so thick! Looks like she will make tonight without any meds.

For me, I am exhausted and thinking about finally calling it a night (er, morning!).  Certainly been one trip for the record books.....

The Grim Reaper

Between the time change of being back in Munchen and hardly any sleep - this guy is on his lips today!  But, I should share that it is not exactly all my fault!

Gaelic Girl was not paying attention and managed to get in a fairly bad accident.  Can't say exactly what happened (as I wasn't there) and she really does not remember.  All I can piece together is that she was ejected out and onto the street, just in time for a bus to almost turn her into a grease spot!  Yeah.

She is made of sturdy stock so in not too bad of condition considering.  However, if anyone is looking for someone to photo to be a postal child for spousal abuse, holy cow!, she has the perfect purple, green and yellow covered body for it!

Luckily, she has a very good insurance plan.  So I sat up with her last night as she drifted between pain and drugged rest.  Sigh, usually this is the other way around!  But, I managed to think on our finality and also read an Agatha Christie or two.

John 8:21-30

Being prepared to meet "the Grim Reaper" is not a matter of what you know, but whom you know!

1.  Face the truth of your finality!
I am sure that ten seconds before GG's accident the last thing to go through her mind was that she was about to position herself well at dying!  I know I really do not think in terms of "hmmm, this just might kill me!"

And, yet, we all have an upcoming appointment with death.  Solomon, said it so well, ".....a time to be born, a die to die....." (Ecclesiastes 3:1)


2.  Quit playing with universalism!
So many in this world, heavens! in our churches, believe that there is some form of a balance sheet which will be tallied to decide our place in Heaven.  Sorry, but there is no tally, just a Book of Life.  If you have accepted Jesus' payment on the cross for your sins - your name is there.  If you thought it was a juggling act of being good and hopefully that will offset your sin - sorry, your name will not be in that Book of Life and Heaven will not be your home.  Your choice.  Jesus' way or the low road.....


3.  Abandon your "do it yourself savior" kit!
It is never a question of comparing your works/deeds/whatever to other people to justify why you should be in Heaven.  If you wanted to do that comparison then you would have to compare your righteousness, not with someone else's, but with God's.  Our sins are an affront to His righteousness - so any comparison is going to go real badly for mankind in that instance.....

4.  Look to the Lord!
You can not find the guarantee of Heaven outside of Jesus.  If you think you have, I am sorry you think so, Scripture just will not be on your side.  Jesus' forgiveness is free, easy and available right now, where you are.  There are no magically prayers or rites or words, just you talking to God and agreeing with Him that you are a mess and really need His help, forgiveness and someone to help onto the road to a new life.  And if you are sincere, He will answer.  Well there is a slight cost - your pride.  Because you will be admitting that you do not have the answers, you do need help, and that there is indeed someone greater than you.....

So, I am calmed sitting here, knowing that GG could be called home through a turn to the worse, or will recover to continue to serve Jesus' cause, in whatever capacity is required.  Of course, I will mourn the loss of my best friend should she not recover.....

Hoch Die Tassen!

Whoa!  It is already the 17th!  And, do you know what that means?  ITS OKTOBERFEST TIME!

That's right it is time for all good Germans to go on a 17 day drunk!

Well, actually, I do not like beer very much, I sort of have to choke it down.  Pilsner Urquell, Murphy's Stout and Bohemia being the only exceptions.  If I drink a beer a decade that is about it for me.....

But, I met up last night with a dozen friends to kick off the festivities, my Czech friend not successfully making it past the second schooner.....  When last seen he was weaving through the crowd doing turkey imatations.

And, no, I am not the clown in the picture.  And, yes, Deidre will never forgive this photo.

:^)

Bottoms Up!

Last Thoughts on Victoria

Things to do: Buchardt Gardens, BC Natural History Museum (particularly the third floor and fossils on the second floor), sightseeing the waterfront, shopping Wharf and Government Streets, Antiquing up Fort Street, Craigdarroch Castle, Greater Victoria Art Gallery.  If you are not on crutches, there are some wonderful old communities to tour.

Hotels are well, pricey!  I have stayed through the years in the Empress, Quality Inn (ex Courtyard Inn), James Bay Inn, the old Fairview (now gone) and Craigmyle Bed and Breakfast.  Favorite would have to be Craigmyle, but for closeness to the harbor Quality Inn is good and cheaper than the Empress by 50%.

My suggestion concerning hotels - join up with choicehotels.com, it is free and can save you significant coin on accommodations!

Getting to Victoria is varied too.  You can take the Victoria Clipper (catamaran ferry) and be there in 3 hours, Kenmore Air ( seaplanes) and do the trip in 45 minutes, or drive and take a car ferry either out of Port Angeles, Washington or Tsawwassen, BC, Canada. The Black Ball Ferry, out of Port Angeles, drops you right downtown Victoria.  The BC Ferry runs out of Sydney on Vancouver Island and a bit of a drive out of town.  Both work well.  For this trip, i took the Clipper due to the crutches, but I do prefer to fly in the little DeHavilland Beaver!

Next week I ought to have my pictures ready for putting up, so who knows what you will be subjected to!?!?!?!?!?

Happy, Angry, Sad.....

Stumbling around on my my computer today and found pictures of my first three girlfriends on the internet!  Wasn't exactly looking for them but it was one of those "guess whom has been searching for you on the internet" things.  Just for laughs I clicked the button.

So, I am HAPPY to have found pictures of them, as I did not have a camera that film was available for here in America (closest thing was a 136 and no longer made when I came over), so no photos or really bad ones from friends.  ANGRY because this stirred up a great many memories for me.  And SAD because, well, I hate losing friends and each was very special in my life.

And throwing caution to the wind, as I do try and respect people's privacy:

HAPPY - This is Helen.  She was my first girlfriend and the only one through all of high school whom pretty much would even talk to me.  I thought life would have kept us together.  I guess I was wrong, we were both young and idealistic and probably stupid as well.  Lesson: long distance relationships do not work - was driven home terribly hard.  It did not help that her older sister became my father's seventh wife - though I never saw her again as it was.

Seeing this picture really has cut into my heart.  I guess unresolved wounds really do not go away.  I trusted her unconditionally and never had the chance to really get to what did happen to have sucked her into the arms of another.  I am sure it was for the best, the whole father marrying her sister thing really would have made for a real mess a decade later!

Thirty years later my father went way out of his way to try and get me to call her and see if she would have me back.  I can't think of why he did this, unless it was some form of dementia setting in.  It is possible she never wants to see or hear from me again!  But, I still covet her friendship, if that ever should happen again (pssst! I am on facebook!).

ANGRY - Second up and several years later was Deborah.  You know her as the Swedish Model in this blog.  This probably is the WORST photo I have ever seen of her!  She really did not look much like this at all and I think this must have been taken from her driver's license!  And yes, she really is Swedish and was a model, as was her mother on both counts!

We met at her church, I had popped in for Sunday services and something "happened".  I think if she had looked like this, nothing would have ever "happened"!  LOL!  I was very happy with my bachelor status, was not looking for anyone in my life.  Somehow, with neither of us even trying we captivated each other.  But, her parents hated me - I was German and had no understanding of their customs or Christian ways.  I was just barely even a Christian myself!  And having now been a father of three daughters, I guess I can better understand their reaction to me - especially if she was anything like my daughters at home!

Well, enough said about her, her story is documented elsewhere in this blog.  Lesson: females are fickle and never to be trusted with your heart.....

SAD - Which brings us to Patricia.  Poor Patricia, she had the worse of it from me.  My heart was destroyed by the two women I had trusted and there was nothing left.  Our parents were actually behind this mess up - they decided that we would be great together.  From father's stand point I was Hapsburg/Kyburg and titled, she was House of Burgundy - so, close enough for government work!  Unfortunately, I doubt Patricia really liked men, she trusted me and thought me an oddity, but no there was no love in her for me.  And as I said, my heart was dead.

We did not exactly part company on very amiable terms, for which I am eternally sorry.  I really did want to be her friend but she had these ignoble ideals about men and I just got tired of fighting with her.  It was so bad that believe it or not I never talked to another blonde woman again!  Yeah, it was in God's humor he gave me two blonde daughters to adopt and then a "pseudo-blonde" internet friend whom was to be very pivotal in changing my life.

As for Patricia, we are again friends albeit on FaceBook anyway.  I guess she has gotten beyond the problem and I look forward to seeing her again one day - without all of the "pressure".  Was there a lesson to be learned from my relationship with Pat?  Yeah, do not let parents interfere with your love life!  Sheesh!

As I think about on all of these young women, they all had the same traits in common: strong willed, self assured, very intelligent.  They had their difference too: Helen was musically gifted, Deborah was an artist and Patricia super organized (think of administrator type!).  And they all had the same problem: incredibly low self esteem.  Honest I do not know why any of them should have - they all had way too much going for them!

Well, I am past the memories now and can get on with my day.....
:^)

Dining In Victoria

My last trip to Victoria was back in the early 1980's - so one should anticipate change, but I had hoped for oh so much more!  In a word, the dining was horrible!

The hotel had an attached cafe, so I did all of my breakfasts there.  The food was good, similar to home, but one would hope for selections that you do not make at home.  At least that is always my philosophy with restaurants - if you can make it yourself: stay home.  But, like most hotel spots - the food was edible and not a bad price.

Lunches were a little harder.  The area restaurants were ghastly!  Greasy, undercooked, over priced.  It took all I could do not to the blame the service staff and still tip them!  Lunches ran about $25.  Best I had was a Dim Sum in Victoria's tiny Chinatown.  There at least most of the selections were good but the bad was sooooo bad it really killed off the good!

My favorite dinner spot used to Milos, where the food has fallen to only resembling Greek food and short changing the customer is apparently the standard practice.  Probably too afraid of not getting tipped I imagine. 

So how about tandoori?  In most Commonwealth countries there are great India places to dine.  And yes I tried one but again the food really lacked in almost all regards.  Sigh.

And, although too much to hope for, there is the Rathskeller for German food.  In my note book I had noted this served Holstein style of cooking and pretty good.  Well, those days seem to have been long gone.  The menu read much the same, however the food was the absolute WORSE of the entire trip of eating failures.  Sigh.

So where did I end up, since obviously I did not starve?  The Old Spaghetti Factory served up not only the best meals but also the cheapest!  There was just one drawback - you may well not get what you order.  So, it appears to be copying Italy for originality of service!  My seafood fettuccine morphed into spaghetti with Mizithra cheese (bleech!).  I did insist on my original order and after some teenage attitude coming my way did get exactly what I had coming to me.  Never piss off a teenage waiter....  The hostess was most apologetic and I never did see said waiter there again during my stay.

So, when in Victoria: Museum Cafe, Lee's Dim Sum and The Old Spaghetti Factory were all ok food sources...  Just be sure to bring a bag of beef jerky with you so you will not starve if you try elsewhere.