Another Goldstream adventure

Since it wasn't supposed to rain today, Iris and I went on a hike in the Goldstream Provincial Park even though we were both still exhausted from the last few days.
We started our hike around 12:30 PM. As we both didn't feel up to climbing Mount Finlayson today, we wanted to hike to the railwail trestle and to the 'Niagara Falls'. However, just like the last time I had been here, we took a wrong trail within the first few minutes of the hike and then had to turn around. It took us a while to find and then stay on the right path. Nevertheless, the path offered amazing views of this beautifully green and overgrown rainforest. On our way, we had to cross several creeks that flooded the path. In addition to that, the path got pretty steep sometimes so the trail was actually quite challenging. At first, we were hiking quite slowly but then I found some sticks which we used as hiking sticks. This way, the steep and rocky path became a lot easier to walk on.
After a short walk on the trestle to enjoy the view from high above, we went in the direction of the Niagara Falls. However, when we arrived at the tunnel which I had used the last time I had been here in order to cross the highway, there was a massive river flowing through the tunnel. This was a quite unfortunate turn of events, as I had planned to take a path on the other side of the highway in order to get back to the bus stop. There was no other way to cross the highway. Consequently, we now had to walk back the way we had come from. Apart from keeping us from getting to the other side of the highway, the river also made it more difficult to get to the Niagara Falls. Since it was already around 4 PM, we decided against trying to get to the other side of the river to get closer to the Niagara Falls. Instead, we had a quick snack and then turned around.
It had taken us more or less 3 hours to get to the spot where we had turned aound. Due to the sun setting just past 6 PM, we only had about 2 hours now to get back to the bus stop... Hiking around here in the dark really wouldn't have been a good idea. So even though we were extremely exhausted by now and even though we really didn't feel like taking another step, we still tried our best to get back to the bus stop as fast as possible.
On the way back, we got a little lost, too. Nevertheless, we still found our way back - we had apparently only taken some alternative paths which we hadn't seen before for some reason.

We arrived at the bus stop around 6:15 PM, which was a good time as the bus was supposed to be here at 6:29 PM. While we were waiting at the bus stop, we were helping some work and traveler from Germany whom we had seen earlier during our hike out - his phone had died.
By the time I got back home, I was freezing and really looking forward to a hot shower. After that shower, I watched some tv with Katrina.

Cookies, Beaver Lake, and Arkenham Abbey

Katrina had baked a lot of chocolate chip cookies today and last night and since she had made too many cookies, I was 'forced' to have some cookies, too. They were really good but just too tempting for me.

Iris and I both spent the morning relaxing and doing some laundry. We met around 2:30 PM in order to take a walk around Beaver / Elk Lake, where we arrived around 3:20 PM. Calling it a 'walk' might not be appropriate - the path around the whole lake was about 10 km long. We only did about 8 km, though.
It was raining most of the time, which still didn't keep us from enjoying the scenery. We chatted a lot and after a while, we also started trying to sing children's songs or to recite peoms and ballads, which was really fun.
Even though we were just walking around the lake, we somehow managed to get lost and walk in the wrong dircetion after about three quarters of the way. We realized our mistake after a few hundred meters, though.
It took us about 3 hours to get to the bus stop and by then the sun was just about to set. In fact, we were quite fortunate to arrive at the bus stop when we did because it got pretty dark pretty quickly now and finding the way in the dark would have been really tough. We still had to sit and wait for the bus for a little while, though.
It was later than we had expected when we arrived in Downtown. Thus, instead of buying ingredients to cook dinner, we went to 'Second Slice Pizza' and had two slices of pizza each. Afterwards, Iris went to the hostel and I went home in order to put on some dry clothes and to relax a little bit before leaving again. 

'Mad' would probably be a good word to describe the play tonight at Craigdarroch Castle. It was called 'Arkenham Abbey' and told the story of Batman / the Nightwatchman being at the mercy of the Joker / the Fool and other insane villains. The actors were amazing, they played their roles perfectly and you had no trouble believing that they were mad. Standing right next to some of the characters like BlackJack for example was even a bit intimidating at times.
I especially enjoyed the songs they were singing. There was one song which got stuck in my head where all of the villans were laughing in a weird way in the background while the Fool was singing to the melody of their laughs.
During the play we moved around the different levels of the castle. Parts of the play took place on the stairwell while other parts were performed in a small room or a big hall. Even moving from one location to another was quite fun as the characters of the play treated us like hostages and instructed us where to move. 
All things considered, I really loved the play even though I didn't know much about Batman.

Exploring Witty's Lagoon with Iris

The weather report for today looked good - it was only supposed to rain for two hours in the early afternoon. Thus, we decided to check out Witty's Lagoon. During the bus ride there, we saw a huge rainbow. We arrived around 12:30 PM and just when we were about to start exploring, it started to rain. That didn't keep us from enjoying the beautiful scenery, though. I was a little surprised about the height of the water of the ocean - I remembered walking on some parts of the beach the last time I was here which would have been impossible to reach now as they were covered by water.
When the rain got heavier, we hurried to get to the foresty part of the lagoon area. The trees offered at least some kind of protection. After walking for a while, the rain stopped but everything was still wet. This made the forest seem very much alive.
When we were sitting down on a bench in order to have lunch, some guy with a big black puppy came along and chatted with us for a while.
The last time I had been here, I knew that there was a waterfall but I hadn't been able to get a good picture of it. This time we were coming from the opposite direction. This way, we discovered a few different paths, which allowed us to take several great pictures of the waterfall.
We also walked to the beach area again. However, just like Gonzales Beach, everything was covered by algae and you couldn't even see the sand anymore. It was still a very nice spot to sit and enjoy the view for a while.
We arrived back at the bus stop around 4:15 PM. The bus, which usually only left once an hour, was late, so we had to wait for a long time. Since we were really exhausted, sitting in the bus on the way back Downtown was quite nice - and we were lucky to get a seat as it was quite crowded this afternoon.

In the evening, we went to the Canoe Brewpub in order to have dinner and to listen to the 'Electric Sexpanther'.Iris and I both ordered a burger and Merridale cider, which was really good. Iris even joined me on the dancefloor during the first half of the concert. She was too exhausted to dance during the second half of the concert, though - her legs hurt from walking too much during the last few days. I was also a bit exhausted so I only danced to the first few songs of the second half. Then I sat down with Iris and just listened to the music.
We left around 11:30 PM and on the way to the bus stop, we noticed some of the lights illuminating Victoria artfully by night. I took the last bus home, which left around 11:50 PM and since the hostel was very close to the bus stop, Iris could just walk there.

Finnerty Gardens and Rocky Horror

The weather was supposed to be nice this morning and we wanted to take advantage of that. Thus the first thing I did with Iris was to hike up Mount Tolmie, which has a height of just 66m, in order to show her the spectacular view of Vicoria and the surrounding area from above.
Afterwards we walked to Finnerty Gardens. I felt like the Finnerty Gardens were much nicer now than they had been during my last visit in summer since there were so many colourful leaves all around us. In addition to that, we saw several deer and a really cute hummingbird while we were there.
Next, we took the bus in order to check out Gonzales Bay. As soon as we arrived there it started to rain. Nevertheless, we walked along the beach for a few minutes. There were so many algae on the beach, they almost made the beach look like grassland. In addition to that, the missing sunshine made the beach look less overwhelming in my opinion.

Around 2 PM we settled down in a Starbucks in Downtown where we enjoyed a hot chocolate while playing some 'Pokemon Go'. Iris had wanted to catch a 'Tauros', which she managed to do here. While we were sitting here, several adorable sparrows were jumping all around us, hoping to get some crumbs.

I left Iris around 3 PM as I still wanted to wash my hair at home. Somewhere between Starbucks and my bus home, I managed to loose my umbrella, which was a bit annoying. 

While I was waiting for my hair to dry, I watched the US presidential debate with Katrina and Tuulia.

Later that evening, I wanted to go to the 'Rocky Horros Show' with Tuulia and Iris. Tuulia and I were supposed to meet Iris at the theatre. Unfortunately, our bus left too early so that we ended up waiting 20 minutes at the bus stop. We still made it in time, though.
The 'Rocky Horros Show' was absurd and fascinating. Iris had bought us a 'goodie bag', which contained - among other things - a sponge, bubbles, a glove, a card, a balloon and a glow stick. We were supposed to use those items at certain times during the show but it was just impossible to find the right timing. Consequently, the audience didn't really participate as planned. Apart from that, the show was really captivating in a disturbing kind of way. The costumes were provocative, sexy and surprising. The actors were convincingly queer and their songs were very entertaining. Iris called the whole thing 'awesome awkward sexy', which described it perfectly.
After the show, Iris and I went to the hostel where we had dinner while listening to the artists of the 'Open Mic' night.

The Lighthouse and 'The Girl on the Train'

Even through the sky was grey and it was still raining a bit this morning, I went with Iris on a trip to the Fisgard Lighthouse and by the time we arrived, it had stopped raining. Since we went there during the off-season, we didn't even have to pay an entrance fee this time. However, the exhibitions were closed. We didn't mind, though, since we didn't come to see the exhibitions anyway - we were more interested in the beautiful nature and the amazing scenery all around us.
Right after we arrived at the fort and checked out the battery, we discovered two deer and a lot of geese. After they had fled, we walked around the fort area for a while. It seemed amazing how many birds lived in the trees in this area; we could hear them sing their songs all the time. We took several short but a little more remote and challenging paths in order to get better views of the ocean. All the while, we kept walking closer to the lighthouse. When we found a spot where we could see the lighthouse as well as the beach, the ocean, and the faraway city, we decided to sit down and have some lunch. Our lunch mainly consisted of a salad which we had bought at the supermarket the day before. By now, the sun was even showing sometimes and thus the water of the ocean was sparkling in the light of the sun.
After lunch, we walked to the lighthouse. Unfortunately, we couldn't go into the lighthouse and we also couldn't look around the lighthouse for too long as there was some filming going on.
On the way back to the bus stop we saw another deer - this time it was definitly a male one. It was walking quite close to the road, which worried us since it was almost running into a passing car a few times. Luckily, nothing happened and the deer even stood still for us to take pictures.

Back Downtown, I went with Iris to some store we had seen the day before. Here, she bought a 'Pusheen the cat' plushie, which was really cute. Then, we went to my place and stayed there for a little bit.

In the evening, Katrina went with Iris and me as well as with Tuulia to the Silvercity cinema where we watched 'The Girl on the Train', a really interesting but quite confusing movie. 

Showing some of my favourite spots to Iris

I met Iris at the hostel around 11 AM and even though it was raining a little bit, we decided to take a walk so that she would get a few first impressions of Victoria.
We started by walking through Chinatown. As we passed a few of the 'hands of time' on our way, I told Iris about them and we decided to try and find all of them (or rather just take pictures of all of them since I already knew their exact locations). Thus, we ended up walking along the harbour in the direction of Beacon Hill Park.
After we found the statue of a hand located in Beacon Hill Park, I wanted to show Iris my favourite little beach, which was located South of the park. While walking down the stairs to that beach, I slipped and hurt my arm a little bit by holding on to the handrail, which was just a bit annoying so I mostly ignored it. Even though it was still raining, the rather remote beach was really impressive.
We still saw and took pictures of a lot of squirrels and ducks on the way back through the park. By the time we arrived in Downtown Victoria, it had more or less stopped raining and I was showing Iris the gift store where I had worked.
As it was already 2 PM, we decided to go to the Bay Centre to have some lunch. As poutine was the most Canadian dish I knew, we decided to have some for lunch. Just like me, Iris felt like poutine tasted a lot better than it looked (which really isn't that hard considering that it looked gross). Afterwards, I really felt like eating some ice cream so we went to a nearby ice cream shop where we both had a cone of ice cream with two flavours and a lot of toppings (like strawberries, brownies and coconot macaroons).
Next, we decided to take advantage of the good weather and walked to the hand furthest away from Downtown Victoria. To do that, we had to cross the bridge to Esquimalt and then walk along the harbour shore for a while, which offered really nice views of the harbour. The hand we found at the end of our walk was the 11th statue of the 12 statues of hands in the set. As the weather was still really nice and the sky was starting to look more beautiful every minute, we decided to do another short trip.
While Iris and I were chatting about our plan for tomorrow, it became obvious that I wasn't really used to long conversations in German anymore and that I had started to mix up a lot of German and English words - the best example being 'Leuchthaus' instead of 'Leuchtturm' (German) or 'Lighthouse' (English).
We took a bus to the University and there, I walked with Iris through Mystic Vale. Just like me, she loved this huge forest right next to the University of Victoria.
On the way back to the hostel, we stopped at Save on foods so that Iris could buy some snacks. I helped her bring her bags back to the hostel. After arriving there, the two of us still played some 'Pokemon Go' before I left in order to give Iris a chance to get some more sleep.

Back at home, I took a shower and then watched some 'Suits' and 'Better Things' with Katrina.

Background Music - Part 4

Since today was my last day at work, I thought it might be nice to dedicate another post to the music I had to listen to at work every day.
My last shift wasn't really that exciting - in fact it was a little boring as there were almost no customers again. I didn't really feel like cleaning the shelves on my last day, so I pretty much did nothing during the last 3 hours of my 7.25 hour shift except for chatting with Grace and listening to music.

Serena Ryder - Heavy Love


Marianas Trench - One Love
 

One Republic - Counting Stars


James Bay - Let it go


Barenaked Ladies - Odds are


Fun. - We are young


Ariana Grande - Into You


Train - Drops of Jupiter


Calvin Harris - This is what you came for


One Direction - Night changes


Alessia Cara - Wild Things


Tyler Shaw - House of Cards


Taylor Swift - Wildest Dreams


Serena Ryder - Got your Number


This evening, Iris arrived in Victoria after a long flight and ferry ride. I had wanted to join her in the bus a few bus stops North of the Ocean Island Inn. Unfortunately, I just missed her bus. Thus we eventually met at the bus stop close to the hostel. I brought her to the hostel and then spent about an hour there before taking a bus home.