Day 24 - Vancouver & Victoria cont'd

Today my parents were flying back home from Vancouver but before the afternoon flight we went to Stanley Park. Due to not finding a parking spot in time we had the chance to cross (twice) the Lions Gate Bridge that connects Stanley Park with northern Vancouver. We circled the Lost Lagoon pond where rackoons live and learned the technique of begging for food with their eyes, sometimes accompanied with a reaching hand. Poor guys don't have an easy life there but it's forbidden to feed them as they are considered a nuisance. But seeing people eat from their paper trays, something falls down anyway for them.

At the airport we had our farewells and then I had to go to the ferry terminal to Victoria once again. My route will continue north on Vancouver Island and today I wanted to reach Nanaimo to stay there for the night. Being in Victoria again, I went to shoot some pictures from the multiturreted Craigdarroch Castle. I didn't have time to explore it from the inside as it was after 8pm then and I had a 2 hour drive to Nanaimo ahead of me.

On the road I called ahead to book a room in the Painted Turtle Guesthouse and let them know about my late arrival. After I got there I quickly went for some late night pizza slices and to the closest bar, downstairs at the corner of the guesthouse, where I chatted with the local folks and ended up getting free shots from the bartender girl. I shared with them some of my stories from my trip and they don't see frequently people coming all the way from Toronto. Was a nice experience, met some friendly people here.