What to blog on a rainy morning?

It's a rainy Monday here and now, which is ok. I've no idea what it is back in Alberta. We are drinking coffee and relaxing. The plan is to visit a museum in a little bit. We've been having a lot of fun, in case you were wondering.

Meanwhile I thought I'd work in a bit of a rant, since I know my readers are pining. My big question here is, if these guys can have a public transit card that works on buses, trains, and ferries, why can't we? It works like this. Buy a card and feed it some money. Show it to a scanner on the afore mentioned transit option as you get on and off, and it deducts the fare from your account. Top up periodically, and you can set this to happen automatically, so you need never worry about it. The system is fast. A row of people getting on the ferry barely break stride. The machine beeps and you're good to go. At the train stations at least, it opens the gates, and also shows your remaining balance, which is handy for tourists. There is a huge savings on the regular cash fare, so buying the card for $10 is a deal. We made that back and more on one ferry trip. Even better, we stay in their database for 6 years from the last transit trip.

London has the Oyster card. Milan and Rome have transit passes that work in a similar way. This isn't some alien technology. So why is Calgary dicking around spending millions trying to reinvent the wheel and not succeeding? How hard can it be? License it, buy and install some hardware, train some people, and get on with it!

Anyways, enough of that. Here's one of the pretty flowers in the botanical gardens. As always, don't ask me what it is. I gasped when I saw them on my laptop screen in lightroom, and can't wait till I see them on a desktop.

My mom might like this one as a puzzle, let me know and I'll send you a higher resolution image.

These lilies are not part of the botanical garden, they are in a private yard, but they are HUGE!

The back yard in our rental house has some huge hibiscus as well.

A lovely example of don't ask me what. This was in a garden beside the street near some of the sculptures. I think the locals think it's a weed.

Even though I'm basting myself with sunscreen practically hourly, I'm still seeking shade. This is what you get looking up sometimes.

Day 5, 58.3K, crowds, more flowers

First actual farmer's market today, even though we took the scenic route getting there it was worth it. I could have cheerfully eaten anything on offer. It's much smaller than the Calgary Market we like, but great vibe, live music, and amazing food! We got there early and it got steadily more crowded as the morning went on.

Lots more action in the building behind the white and blue tents. We even got some fresh New Zealand lamb to try. We told the guy about our experience with the frozen vacuum packed exported stuff, and he was horrified. "Who would eat that?" he asked. So we're curious about it, but won't get a chance to give him feedback.

Then dropping the stuff off (food for 3 days, which is when we get on an airplane again) and another ferry ride across the harbour. This is a small tourist oriented place, lots of places to eat, a nice stroll, and lots of people! We visited what claims to be the oldest movie theatre in the southern hemisphere. More good food for lunch, though not quite as good as the fish and chip the other day. All in all, the eating experience is living up to our expectations, and it isn't even particularly more expensive than similar at home.

What with all the going on about eating, rest assured we're working it off. By the end of day 5, my phone tells me we've walked 58.3 K. Some of it on steep hills. Much of it carrying my camera, two water bottles, and often groceries. So far no mementos.

Lots of flowers not yet blogged thought.

A night experiment

It doesn't get really dark here, of course, being the middle of a big city and all, but still, a couple of shots to amuse you. From separate nights, of course, as the position of the moon will show you. The back yard has this tiny patch of sky...

Breakfast here, off to a French market soon.

More beach and a trendy stroll

More beach from yesterday. Linda enjoying the view. There weren't that many people on the beach, to our surprise. The water is warm and clean, with people taking periodic dips. I don't know if they clean the sand of seaweed, but there wasn't any. I can see why people take the ferry and the bus to get here.

Reflections are always cool.

We've seen several of these contraptions. At first I thought it was a individual jerry-rigged thing, but no, it's an updated version of the harbour tour vessels in Halifax that were recycled from the Vietnam war. There are several companies that provide tours.

In fact, tour is THE word here. Everybody wants to take you on a tour. From what we can tell, you can get to the same place and wander around to your heart's content without someone yammering in your ear, at a fraction of the price.

Linda, arriving on the clothing optional beach.

Yesterday was a big day, my phone telling me we walked 14.5 K in the hot humidity. That was a bit much in the sun here. I have a pink patch on the top of each foot but otherwise doing fine. Linda has some pink on her head and shoulders.

We took it easier today, strolling a hip trendy district not far from here. I loved that many of the stores have promenade for shade. We weren't interested in buying anything, since we'd have to lug it around for the rest of our trip. If you think of this as the cool parts of Inglewood and Kensington and whatever the nice parts of 17th Ave is called, plus lots more of it, better and more interesting, you'd be getting the idea. Multicultural places to eat, music, interesting stuff to look at. We didn't get much off the beaten path, but you could spend days poking in and out. Having a faithful native guide would be good.

That one book store was amazing! It was like that one that used to be 18th ave and 14 St SW (not Fair's Fair, way before then) only better. I saw several books I wanted to buy, but was remembering the carry it around thing. We're back here for our flight out, so we'll probably scoot down here again.

There was a really good magazine store, sort of like the one that used to be just down from Megatunes. Again, there were several I wanted to pick up. We'll probably visit there just before we go home.

In some ways it reminded me of a time before stores went corporate. Even the KFC didn't look corporate. Lots of independent store fronts and individuality. It's nice. This is some of the views from the Ponsonby district.

Sculptures in Tourist town

After the ferry and bus we wandered through the town with the best fish and chip in the world. It was swarming with tourists, just like us. There is a sculpture contest happening, but there are so many people, and they are badly places so it's difficult to get nice photos of them. But for my readers, I tried. Titles where I can remember.

For those that haven't clued in where we are, here is the skyline view from the ferry. Sorry, but I still think that tower is butt ugly.

Rat Girl. Not sure if this is from Neverwhere.

The penguin selfies are cute, but I tried to get me in their photo, but that mirror was beyond filthy, and you nearly have to stand in the street to do it.

The cubes are fun.

Linda was much taken with the rhino.

This was cool!

I was thinking of this woman's scarf as a kinetic sculpture, flying in the stiff breeze.

Beach! Who cares what time it is?

Linda sprinted for the clothing optional beach. We hung out there for hours, not caring what time it was. It was lovely. The sound of the surf was perfect. We were in the shade, and just as well. The top of my feet are a little pink, but nothing else so far. Linda, not so much.

But that isn't how we started. There was a short walk to a train. Then a short walk to a ferry. Then a short walk to a bus. Wandering around a tourist town (sculpture photos later), eating the best fish and chip of my life (and that includes in Lunenburg!) with a walk on a beach. Then a bus ride to a better beach. Way better. Probably just as well the wineries were closed when we were done with the beach.

Us.

On the way to the clothing optional beach.

The main beach one way.

The other way. We met some Canadians down at the far end. There will be photos from down there too.

This was a long day, got home at sunset. (there will be photos of that too.) Wine, sushi, bed soon.

Start of Day 3, starring Linda

Like I say, there is no method to my madness. As I sit here on a new day, sipping good coffee, having just finished Linda's specialty breakfast, and having captured several photos of Linda on vacation, I thought I'd share those. Who knows what you'll see tonight?

Cuddling a cactus

Surprised in the kitchen.

A clue where we are.

On the road.

Exploring.

 Relaxed and looking pretty.