Vancouver Island, BC, CAN part 2

From Nanaimo again to Victoria. I stayed with Jorgen (the one with mustache). I met him in Fairbanks at the start of my trip. I called him in Nanaimo to ask him if i could stay for a few days to get my rear tire fixed. He agreed, and i'm very thankful for that.

I was very determined to change the tire myself. But even after 30 minutes jumping on it the bead didn't break. Time for a different strategy. Damn. We made the walk of shame back to the bikeshop ;-(

This concerns me a bit. What if i get a flat? Do i need to buy a beadbreaker? Or just buy slime and put that in in case of a flat to get me to the nearest shop? Oh well, just another thing to think about.

After i removed the rear wheel i noticed that my bearing on the left side was shot. Quite annoying, not even 15k on it. I already replaced the front bearings in Anchorage after my Prudhoe bay and Inuvik adventures, weeks ago. The bikeshop replaced tire and put new bearings in for $90. Not bad.

BC celebrated the 150th aniversary of the state of BC so lots of things to see. I went with his family to the park to witness the grand opening of the weekend in the park.


Impression of downtown Victoria:

It's a tradition that every year with the anniversary, the Victorian Symphonic Orchestra gives a 'floating concert' in the harbor. This attracts thousands of people. The concert takes about 2 hours and finishes with fireworks.


During the festivities the 'snowbirds' gave an air show above downtown Victoria. I made quite a few pictures, about 20. This one turned out to be the best.

Victoria has a great nightlife. One evening i decided to experimented with low-light. Below the result. Not bad for an amateur. Pretty sweet ey!?

Skyline just before sunset.


The city is rich and clean and even the homeless addicts are friendly (and numerous). Canadians tent to say that Victoria is the city of the newly wed and nearly dead. I guess this says it all. Big problem here and over all Vancouver Island are the huge increase of real estate prices due to migration of wealthy Canadians. Bummer for the locals...