Rather than return to Vancouver by sea plane we were booked on the morning coach and ferry crossing. We picked up more baked goods from the hotel’s in-house café/bakery (the closest for a long distance, apparently) and headed off for a short walk to the bus depot. Whilst waiting we ate some very nice pastries – top left is a chocolate almond croissant, something the Canadians seem very capable of baking to a high standard.
Before long Bob turned up, moving his checking-in trolley and scales into place. You could just tell he was not your average coach driver… His first customers victims were family whose English wasn’t the best, and he sullenly tried to get them to do what he wanted them to do with their boarding passes, cases, etc.. He looked peeved.
It was our turn shortly after, and perhaps because we (I) had been cheery with him his mood seemed to improve a bit and we weighed our bags, he tagged them, and we put them by the coach ready for loading and got on.
On the way to the port he shared some stories and anecdotes about the area we were travelling through, which seemed to be linked to his military background, or his relatives’ similar career choice. He referred to them all as “interesting facts from Bob the bus driver”. Turns out he used to be in the Canadian artillery, but when I pressed him for more information (I was sat on the front row as usual, for the legroom) he only offered that he’d been given all the rubbish assignments and that someone must have hated him. His facts, more accurately the way he presented them, were (for me at least) very entertaining. He then let slip he’d been a long distance truck driver. Something tells me Bob’s mouth had got him into trouble at some point in his past….
Just as were driving out of the suburbs of Victoria Bob said – “I invite you to listen to some music, read a book, or stare aimlessly out of the window, like I have to do”. That sums up his style of contribution to the journey. When we arrived at our stop (having agreed with him we’d get off a stop early, and he’d moved our luggage accordingly) he had a bit of an argument with other passengers who’d decided they’d also like to get off the bus. He refused and said their luggage, because it was in the compartment it was, would be going to the final stop with or without them. Bob’s mouth had definitely got him into trouble in the past!
We walked the short distance to our next and final hotel, found lunch at an Italian sandwich shop (excellent food!!) and gelato for afterwards, then I went to collect our stored cases from the Times Square hotel we’d left them at (to reduce weight for the sea plane) and got an Uber back with the least communicative taxi driver ever.
We’d already booked dinner for 6:30 so we headed out for a walk around Gastown again, stopping by at The Lookout, Vancouver’s less impressive version of the CN Tower. The views were fine, there’s just less to see as Vancouver isn’t that big!
Our final transaction of the day was dinner – a Ukranian restaurant called Kozak, in Gastown. It came highly recommended and they didn’t disappoint. Unfortunately it was $10 cocktail night, so we didn’t miss out on that opportunity. We started with bread with garlic and cherry spreads, then Borsch with beef, and finally opted for a sharing board of all the various dishes they sell. It was fantastic and everything was delicious – sausage handmade by the owner’s mother, pierogies of 3 types, roasted and smoked lardo (pork and pork fat), latkes, sauerkraut, pickled vegetables, bread, and more.
On the walk back to the hotel we sadly saw too many homeless people, some smoking crack or injecting. It’s a sad part of Canadian city life it seems, as we’ve seen it in all the cities we’ve visited.