Happy Tanabata! The Japanese festival which originates from the Chinese Qixi Festival. This festival celebrates the one night where star-crossed lovers get to meet in the Milky Way. In Japan, wishes are written on strips of paper and tied to designated bamboo branches.
Last weekend was the Canada Day long weekend. On Monday 1July, Canada Day, my father, Dragon-kun, and I went to Sidney, BC. (27.4km North of Victoria, 6.6km South of Swartz Bay ferry terminal).
Our plan was to park in one of the several 3 hour free parking spaces, go to the aquarium, walk around and have lunch…but what I didn’t take into consideration was that Sidney has a Canada Day parade. No free parking spaces.
Instead we parked in the paid parking area in front of Victoria Distillers. Victoria Distillers makes the Empress Gin (a dark purple coloured gin that is the signature gin for the Empress Hotel). The Distillery was closed or I would have included pictures of it in this blog.
The good thing about this parking spot is that there were several spots available, AND the Shaw Centre for the Salish Sea (aka: the Sidney Aquarium) is right next door.
Once the tickets are paid for, one is directed to enter the aquarium area though a set of doors that look like they came from the Nautilus.
But once opened it seem more like one would meet Captain Picard in the engine room of the Starship Enterprise, than Captain Nemo.
If one gets claustrophobic, best to see if the next part can be avoided.
The doors slide closed, and the audio, visuals advise that the ballast tanks are filling with water and we are submerging. The floor then shakes as we “touch down” on the ocean floor.
The doors open and we are in the display area. The first things we see are jelly fish. There are no signs telling us what kind of jelly fish… we had to ask one of the volunteers. In fact, the lack of signs telling one what one is looking at is a bit of a theme in this aquarium. They do have some signs… but they are rare.
One thing about an aquarium, is that I can’t look at the creatures in the tanks and not think of how delicious they look.
There is a tidal pool where one is invited to touch the sea life after one washes their hands… I had no desire to play with sea creatures.
After the Shaw Centre, we went to a pub/marina on the other side of the parking lot for lunch. It was a bit crowded as the parade had ended. I ordered Fish and Chips… a bit too greasy… but fish and chips usually is, so not sure why I thought it would be any different this time round?
Dad and I did go for a bit of a walk along the waterfront after lunch, but not too far.
KotsuKotsuLife 