Tony and Lisa

Highlights of the Summer 2015

/ Peter Klopp / 1 Comment

Enjoyable Visit with our Son Anthony and his Partner Lisa in Victoria (4)

Empress Hotel at the Inner Harbor

Empress Hotel at the Background of the Inner Harbor

As always when you are enjoying the presence of good company, friends and family, time is slipping by way too fast. In our case it wasn’t just the relaxing walks along the numerous beaches of Victoria, the trip to the harbor, the ferry ride past sceneries of  colorful floating houses, marinas and the Legislative Assembly on the way to the inner harbor.

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Famous Landmark: The Legislative Assembly of Victoria BC

It was indeed nice to feel like honored guests. But the best part of it all was to be included in Tony and Lisa’s daily routine. I was especially happy to help Tony with the painting of a table and do the digging in Lisa’s flower bed to prepare the soil for the new flowers she had bought. Getting to know Lisa’s sister Sarah and her lovely family was also a highlight during our four-day stay. I instantly connected with her husband Mingo.  His charm, sense of humor and rapport with his children impressed me very much.

Lisa and Anthony

Lisa and Anthony

Soon it was time to say good-bye. Tony and Lisa’s heart-warming hospitality, their fantastic gourmet meals, the pleasant conversations, all these things and much more will stay in our memories for a long time to come. On the way home we had to make an unexpected detour and change our travel route. The Coquihalla Highway was closed because of a raging grass fire. So we took the Trans Canada Highway instead, a longer, but more scenic route. In the late evening light we traveled on the winding road alongside the awesome Fraser River past Hell’s Gate all the way up to Cache Creek, where we stayed overnight before heading home.

Kamloops Lake as seen from Transcanada Highway

Kamloops Lake as seen from Highway 1 west of Kamloops

Highlights of the Summer 2015

/ Peter Klopp / 6 Comments

Enjoyable Visit with our Son Anthony and his Partner Lisa in Victoria (3)

A definite highlight of our visit was a trip to the Victoria harbor, where Tony went shopping for our evening meal at the local fish market. Wild Pacific salmon and halibut are so fresh – so I am told – that only a few hours before they land in the customer’s shopping bag they were still roaming in the nearby ocean waters. In the meantime Gertrud and I took in the colorful sight of this busy tourist attraction at the water’s edge. Some brightly painted homes here were actually boats that were permanently moored at a huge ramp-like structure, which looked more like a street with a board walk.

Boats Serving as Permanent Housing

Colorful Boats Serving as Permanent Homes

Early in the morning, when everyone else was still sleeping, I sneaked out of the house and strolled down to the beach. In the cool air it took me less than five minute.s to reach the ocean..There my friends, the seagulls, greeted me with their raucous cries.Canada geese seemed to have made Victoria their permanent home. On another morning I was lucky to encounter a blue heron, which was feeding at low tide on the barnacles clinging to a concrete wave breaker. Accustomed to human beings it allowed me to come close enough for a great picture of this majestic bird.

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Blue Heron Surveying Barnacles on the Breakfast Menu

To be continued …

Highlights of the Summer 2015

/ Peter Klopp / 1 Comment

Enjoyable Visit with our Son Anthony and his Partner Lisa in Victoria (2)

The first thing Tony and Lisa did was to show us their home. They gave us the grand tour starting at the spacious basement complete with two bedrooms, storage room, work room, bathroom, then going upstairs to the wonderful living room with its original parquet floor and its large windows to let lots of light come in, the modern kitchen with a view onto the deck and the backyard. Upstairs under a slanted roof was their cozy bedroom. Gertrud and I instantly fell in love with the house and jokingly mentioned that we were going to stay there for good. The house, built in the 1930’s, impressed us with its fine blend of good solid construction and tastefully decorated interior.

Tony, Biene and Lisa on our first Evening Stroll

Tony, Biene and Lisa on our first Evening Stroll to the Beach

From the huge deck behind the kitchen we had a first look at their beautiful garden with an abundance of flowers, shrubs, raised beds for vegetables and strawberries. We also admired the large arbor completely covered with grape vines, which were promising to provide a bumper crop later in the fall. Here one could retreat and under its dense foliage find relief from the hot afternoon sun.

Tony and Lisa were excellent hosts and did their best to make our stay as enjoyable as possible. It was sheer delight to see them harmoniously work together. They amazed us with the fantastic meals they lovingly prepared for us.

Biene Enjoying a Lobster Meal
Culinary Delights on the Deck

One morning Tony took us to one of the many beaches, where we whiled away several hours collecting pebbles in all kinds of shapes, sizes and colors. A particular challenge was to find tiny pieces of glass from broken bottles that the incessant pounding of the sea on the sandy beach has ground them into smooth slivers. After Tony showed us how to find and identify them, the hunt for these little treasures was on.

To be continued …