I said “good morning” to the spider in my bathroom, my usual acquaintance. I walked out of the living space in my Airbnb to drive to a museum downtown. The wife’s father was sitting on the couch, taking care of the toddler while the parents worked. He asked me about my travels, and I told him that I quit my job and sold my house in Los Angeles to see the world. He responded, “You sold your house in Los Angeles? You’ll never be able to afford to live there again.” I replied, “Well, perhaps I’ll be successful and can afford to buy one again. Or perhaps I don’t want to live in LA any longer.”
It was lightly raining outside and the man told me winter had arrived. They don’t get snow on the island, but they get a lot of rain. I really didn’t mind the weather. We never get rain in Los Angeles, so it was a nice change of scenery.
I went to the Canadian Museum of History. There was a section called First Nations Hall where they have information about the aboriginal peoples. I learned about their culture and how they were taken over by the British. There is a group that is working to remember aboriginal history and traditions so it’s not all forgotten.
As I strolled through the museum, I wondered what would be left behind of our civilization if the supervolcano erupted in Wyoming. Our world is so digital; would anything survive to tell future generations that we existed and what our societies were like?
The museum had a display about climate change. I thought they did a nice job of laying out the various effects without being in your face about it. I wish the US could be more balanced when talking about issues. Unfortunately, it’s all very polarized. We should strive to be more like the aboriginals. In order to achieve peace, they would marry two opposing families. Hmm, not a bad idea. Perhaps we should marry a Bush with a Clinton.
After exploring the museum, I walked to the start of a ghost tour. There were 13 people on the tour, and our guide was a former historian. He was retired and started this business walking people around the city, telling stories about the haunted past. He started the tour by asking, “Does everyone believe in ghosts?” Almost everyone said yes. Then he asked, “Does anyone not believe in ghosts?” I was the only one who responded, “Me.” The guide said, “So, only one?”
The group laughed and stared at me as the guide said, “You know that means you’ll be the first to go if this was a horror movie? Don’t say, ‘don’t worry guys, it’s just a dark hallway.’ That’s the kill line.” I liked this guide. He was a great storyteller and full of historical information.
We started the tour on the side lawn of the Empress Hotel. Our guide explained that hotels are the second most common place for people to die, after their home. Hotels are especially prone to suicides. People don’t want their families to be the ones who discover their bodies.
In the 1950s, there was a British woman who moved into the hotel during the winter. At the time, they didn’t get many tourists during the winter, so locals often moved in to the beautiful hotel at a discounted rate. She always made it downstairs for the 4:30 pm tea time. Until one day. Concerned that she did not show up, the staff went to check on her and found her dead inside the room.
For years after she died, guests kept complaining that something felt strange in that room. The hotel received so many complaints that around 1989, they turned her room into an elevator when they converted the old staff quarters on the top floor into penthouses. After they destroyed her old room, guests reported hearing a knock on their door and seeing an old woman wandering the hallway saying, “Have you seen my room?”
During the tour, we walked all over the downtown area, going to the various historic buildings and learning some scary history. I was particularly intrigued by the story of the famous architect in Victoria, Francis Rattenbury, who at age 25 won a contest to design the new legislative building. He went on to become very famous, designing many buildings in Victoria. But then it gets interesting with affairs, greed, and being murdered back in London by his younger second wife and her 18-year-old lover. You can read more here.
The tour was fun and informative. The following day I drove back to downtown Victoria for a bike tour. Our guide, Matt, was about my age with a reddish beard. He was fit but had a bit of a belly. He said this was the last bike tour of the season and I chuckled because I kept getting the last tours for the season. There were five people from a cruise ship that had docked, and a single older guy who kept talking to me.
We rode through Victoria, stopping at various sights so Matt could tell us more about the history. He said the buildings there are the oldest in western Canada because they never had any fires like San Francisco and Vancouver. When we arrived at the Parliament building, Matt started to tell the story of the architect. I felt like a child who couldn’t contain myself. I joined in with him and told them the more “haunted” parts of the story that I had learned the night before.
Shortly after, we arrived at the Empress Hotel where Matt told us how it was the most famous hotel in the area. Not being able to contain myself once again, I jumped in to tell the others about the haunted history behind the hotel with the old woman.
We rode all over the city and saw the Emily Carr House, various government buildings, and the ocean. Matt told us about how Canada is no longer under the English monarchy, but they do still follow a lot of the traditions because they are part of the Commonwealth with England (Constitutional Monarchy). For example, there is a position in Victoria where someone is assigned Governor General of Canada for five years. Their job is to stand on the steps of parliament as the Queen’s representative and when a new bill is passed, she/he will nod their head, showing the queen’s agreement. The Governor General is chosen by the Premier of British Columbia and it’s usually someone who has shown a history of volunteer work. They get to live in a fancy house with a beautiful garden for free while in this position.
The bike tour took us up some large hills, forcing some people to walk their bikes. It would occasionally sprinkle, so I put my rain jacket on. However, the sun kept popping out, making it very hot inside the rain jacket. When we got back to the bike shop, Matt said, “Well, that was a nice ride. It didn’t rain today.” A woman in our group replied, “Yes, it did.” Matt laughed, “In Victoria, we would say it didn’t rain.”
I walked through the downtown area and ate some delicious tacos at Tacofino, a place Matt recommended. Afterward, I drove to Best Buy to get another SD card for my GoPro.
Once back at the Airbnb, I started to watch a new series on Netflix called Maniac. For some reason, I was longing for someone to cuddle with. I missed having physical touch, someone to hold me. I never used to be that way when I was younger. It took me a long time to get used to holding hands and touching a partner. But now, I often find myself missing the feeling. I’ve read studies about how humans need physical touch and that skin-to-skin contact releases serotonin and oxytocin (hormones that make you happy).
It’s funny learning things about yourself. If you told me 20 years ago that I would miss physical touch from a romantic partner, I would have laughed. As someone who used to get up every time her boyfriend put his arm around her at age 19, I wouldn’t have believed you. But at that moment, I wished I had someone to snuggle up with.
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