Mon. - Not what we intended

Brad in Chinatown
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On Monday, our last day in Victoria, I decided to seek out an art museum. I found the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria online, and we decided to go there. When we arrived, we found the museum in a small residential neighborhood in a lovely restored home with extra galleries built on. Going in, we were told that they weren't charging their normal admission, because certain galleries were being worked on and weren't open to the public. We made a donation anyway and set off. The museum was small but intriguing. We enjoyed our time there and would like to go back sometime.

Knowing that a lot of restaurants are closed on Monday, we weren't sure what our late lunch options would be, but were happy that the Tapa Bar was open so we could try it out after all. The interior was brightly painted in a South American-type style, but it looked a bit like a chain restaurant, which made me worry about how good the food would be. No worries were in order though; it was great. We started with a creamy roasted garlic soup that was divine. With it we had a mixed olive plate that was served with a good olive oil and lots of fresh herbs. Bread and a caesar salad rounded out the first course. Then we couldn't resist more of the wonderful oysters they have in Victoria. We had fried oysters with grilled focaccia bread with chili aoili and baked oysters with cilantro, pesto & melted parmesan cheese. These were just as big and delicious as the last ones we had.

We couldn't resist more of the wonderful oysters they have in Victoria.

Full and happy, we walked back to the hotel to get our bags and head back for the 5:00 ferry. We checked in and went through customs easily and were sitting in the departure lounge ready to go, when someone got on the PA system and told us that unfortunately, there was a problem. He said that the waves were quite high that day (the weather was not at all bad as far as we could tell) and that the ferry might be cancelled. CANCELLED?!?!? Can they do that? The thought never crossed my mind. After all, it's a huge boat the size of a cruise ship. It's not like it was going to capsize! We had a few more minutes of speculation, and then he told us that the ferry was in fact being cancelled.

We quickly weighed our options. There were no other ferries out of Victoria. The float planes had also cancelled their flights. There was one (very expensive) flight out of Victoria's airport, but by the time we checked, it had no seats. We thought about spending another night in Victoria (at this point, we were going to miss our flight anyway), but then were told the ferry "may or may not go" the next day. The ferry company's plan was to put everyone on buses, drive to Vancouver, take the buses on a large ferry there), go through a different customs stop, and then drive the rest of the way to Seattle. It sounded like a very long and not very comfortable way to go, but the more we looked at the options, the better the buses sounded (well, not exactly "better," but more like the least bad of a bunch of bad choices).

So, we took the bus. once we got over the dismay of missing our flight (which we had to pay to rebook the next day), it wasn't so bad. I'm glad Brad was there, because he's always fun in these kinds of situations. We played a lot of cards and read a lot. The customs stop was ridiculous, but our driver had quite a sense of humor. (His soliquoy afterward about the prospect of going to prison because one of us left some cheese on the bus during the border patrol inspection stands out.)

When we finally got to Seattle, it was midnight. We had no hotel, but did have a new flight booked for 6am the next morning. The ferry company offered no help at all with transportation or accommodations. We called around and found that hotels near the airport were running about $150. We only had a few hours until we would need to go to the airport anyway, so we decided to just go and see if we could nap at the airport a bit. Yes, I know, we're certainly able to spring for a $150 hotel, but it seemed like a waste. Honestly, we both got a couple hours sleep at the airport, and it was fine. And if I have to get stuck somewhere, the SeaTac airport is #1 on my list. Among their highlights are a 24-hour Starbucks, good restaurants (some of which open at 4:30am - amazing), and great manicure places.

We finally got home Tuesday morning. What an adventure. Next time I go to Victoria, I'll definitely contingency plan for the ferry situation, or maybe we'll just fly.