一昨日から昨日の朝にかけて雪が降りました。積もったのはこの冬初めてです。
It was snowing from the night before last night to the morning yesterday. It was the first piling snow here.
でも面白い事に、雪が降る前数日間の方が景色はもっと白かったのです。霧氷です。
ラングレーのダウンタウンへ向かう途中の道は真っ白。
However, interestingly our world was much whiter before that snow for few days before. It was hoarfrost. The street on the way to Langley centre was very white like this.
納屋の屋根の霜で真っ白！雪ではありません。美しい光景でした。
The roof of the barn was covered by frost, not snow. It was mesmerizing.
♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎
さて、年末の休日を利用して２泊３日でバンクーバー島のビクトリアに行ってきました。
BC州の州都はバンクーバーだと思われ勝ちですが、実はビクトリアです。バンクーバーの方がずっと大きくて都会ですが、今回ビクトリアの魅力を再認識しました。行くのはたぶん５年ぶりくらいで、しかも前回は仕事だったので、ちょっとワクワク。
Well, I'm going to write about our small trip, 2 nights and 3 days to Victoria, Vancouver Island in the very end of last year. People tend to misunderstand that the capital city of BC is Vancouver but it's actually Victoria, even Vancouver is bigger, busier, and more urban setting. Although I went there few times before, this time was the first time that I was realized how charming Victoria was.
フェリーに乗り込む所。
About to go on board a ferry.
フェリーの中。レストランや子供の遊び場やお仕事スペースもあります。私達は最上階のキャビンへ座りました。
A top cabin we sat. There were a cafe, a restaurant, play areas and work spaces too.
メインランドとバンクーバー島の間の島々を縫う様に1時間半。海は穏やかです。
BC ferries are going through between many mall islands located between mainland and Vancouver island for about one hour and half. The sea is usually calm.
ジャチがいるよ〜、とアナウンスがあり、慌ててデッキへ飛び出ました。ワーイと喜んでいるうちにシャチは遠ざかり、気がついてあわてて写真を撮ったのですが、全然駄目です（笑）。赤丸の中に微かに背びれが突き出ていますが．．．
We heard an announcement that some killer whales were around the ship so we jumped out to the deck. They were right there and I was so grateful with that encounter. Then when I was realized that I forgot to take any picture of them, they were already far away. In my picture, a tip of its fin was barely shown above water on the red circle. lol. Too late!
さて、私達の泊まったホテルはダウンタウンの真ん中、中華街に近い小さなホテル。なかなかユニークで素敵でした。スワンホテルです。
This was the hotel we stayed. It called Swans, located the middle of downtown close to China town. The hotel had old charm and uniqueness. We loved it!
可愛らしい外観。
Cute building of it.
選んだのは夫ですが、理由はこれ。このホテルはクラフトビールの醸造所でもあり、一階はパブなんです。そのサンルームから上階のホテルに向かったワンショット。
My husband chose the hotel and the reason was that... The hotel was also running micro brewery and the ground floor of it was a pub. The photo was taken from the pub sunroom toward upper floors.
ビクトリアの町並みはとってもチャーミング。古い建物に素敵なお店やレストラン、カフェが沢山。今まで数回行ったけれどもあまり気がついていなかった．．．大変気に入りました。
The city owned a lot of the old and beautiful architecture where were used as fashionable shops, cafes and restaurants. I didn't notice it so much before and I was excited about it in this time.
カッコいい古いビルディンクが一杯で、バンクーバーダウンタウンのコンテンポラリーでビシネスライクな高層ビル、ガラスの塔の乱立とは異なります。
Look at the cool building. An atmosphere of the city was different from busy, contemporary, businesslike, high-rise glass towered Vancouver downtown.
ビクトリアのシンボルとも言える、国会議事堂とエンプレスホテルのライトを対岸から。クリスマスの後ですが、カナダのクリスマスデコレーションは普通お正月の後に取り外されます。国会議事堂と言うよりディスニーランドの様（笑）
Victoria's symbol of the Parliament of BC and the Empress hotel. Still wore Christmas lights after Christmas but usually in Canada, the decorations are taken off in the new year. It was more like Disneyland.
有名なファンタンアリー。北米でお店が立ち並ぶ中では一番狭い路地らしいです。
Famous FAN TAN Alley in China town, the narrowest alley in business.
チャイナタウンの夜景。
Night view of China town.
今回の旅のメインイベント、夫の従兄弟達とのランチに向かいます。待ち合わせのレストランのある場所は偶然にも私達が住む街の名前と同じ通り沿い。フォートストリートとラングレーストリート（笑）
The main purpose of that trip was to see my husband's cousins. We were going to the restaurant where our reunion lunch was happening. And it turned out that the location of that address was the combination of the streets where own the same name as where we live. Fort and Langley. lol
島在住の従兄弟とパートナー達。皆とても素敵な人なんです。結婚相手の家族は選べないので、私は本当にラッキーです。彼のお母さん、弟、オランダやイタリアの親戚達も皆、楽しくて素敵な人達です。
Brothers of cousins, their partners who live in the Island, and us. They are all fabulous people as well as his mother, brother, and all relatives who live in Netherlands and Italy. I'm so lucky.
食後に老舗のオランダベーカリーに連れて行ってもらいました。1956年の創業当時から全く変わっていないと言う事で、日本人の私でさえなんだか懐かしい気分になりましたよ。オランダバックグラウンドの彼等は興奮気味です。私達はクッキーを少し買ったのですが、その味や形は実際とても懐かしい物でした。というのも日本の西洋文化の基礎はその昔、４００年程前にオランダやポルトガルから来たものが殆どですよね。泉谷のクッキーや子供の頃よく頂いた日本の老舗洋菓子店の味や形や舌触りは、ここのお店そのもの。驚きました。
They took us to the old Dutch bakery cafe after lunch. The bakery was established in 1956 and seemed like nothing has changed since then. Even I, a Japanese, felt somehow nostalgia. They were excited as Dutch-related people. We bought some cookies and I found those looks and taste were also nostalgic to me. Many of basic Japanese-Westren culture came from Netherlands and Portugal around 400 years ago, wasn't it? So some famous, long standing Japanese-Western bakery in Japan adopted that way. That was why I felt nostalgia as my childhood tastes as well, so I could share the excitement with my sweet Dutch people there. How interesting!
最後の日のお昼は、私のお友達のご夫婦にご一緒して頂きました。彼女とは数年前、バンクーバーでよく一緒に遊んだ仲で、彼女がカナディアン男性と結婚しビクトリアに引っ越してからはご無沙汰してしまいました。ダウンタウンとフェリーのターミナルの中間辺り、オークベイで人気のお店のこれまた人気のエッグベネディクト。私の大好物。そしてほど近い彼等のお家でお茶を頂き、短くも楽しい時を過ごせました。なかなか会えない人達と会えるのは何よりも旅の良い所です。
On the last day of the trip, we managed to catch up with my friends couple who I used to hang out with often in Vancouver. Since she has married to a Canadian guy and moved to Victoria, we were kind of like lost connection. They took us to popular cafe in between downtown Victoria and the ferry terminal. I had their recommendation of eggs benny. They also kindly invited us to they fabulous house for tea. It was a short time but the quality time. Catching up with those who we have no much chances to see usually was the best part of the trip. It was one of good ones as well.
↓クリックしてくださいね。ありがとう！ Thank you!
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