We awoke in Parksville and enjoyed breakfast at the Trees Restaurant and Bakery. Great to eat breakfast at a local establishment and not have a continental breakfast at a hotel for a change!
We returned to the Ocean Sands Resort and squeezed in a walk on Rathtrevor Beach. The tide goes WAY out here!
We checked out at 11 AM and headed towards Sooke, outside of Victoria. We planned to visit friends, Garry and Sharon. We have known them for over three decades and lived together in two provinces. They built their forever home in East Sooke on a beautiful piece of property. We were lucky enough to spend the afternoon visiting with them, having a tour of their gorgeous home, enjoying their company, sharing a charcuterie board then saying farewell about three hours later. It was just a lovely afternoon.
We then drove on to Victoria right downtown to the Grand Pacific, situated right down on the harbour, next to the Legislative buildings in BC. So this was the central tourist zone and it was crazy busy with pedestrians and cars. I asked the first two employees we encountered at the hotel if this was normal. They said yes, in the summer this is about how many people are milling about. What we learned later, from the Rogers Chocolate shop employee - that this is cruise season!! Because cruise ships come in and stay until 11 PM, this is full on, tourist mode. She said the earliest they would close, would be 9 PM, because of all the tourists associated with the ships. That makes sense.
Victoria has done a wonderful job developing a welcoming tourist zone that was flooded in sunlight. We enjoyed our walk from about 6 PM to 8:30 PM. We squeezed in a quick bowl of pho for supper. Anyhow, we are pleased to be in the heart of the tourist zone if we are only spending one night here! We have plans to catch a ferry to Vancouver tomorrow morning at 11 AM.
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