Last but not least: Victoria

       Oh Victoria, capital city of Beautiful British Columbia, and my last stop in my Canadian adventure overseas. And finally I made it here! Since I came to Vancouver almost ten month ago I was planning and wishing to get till Vancouver Island and visit this beautiful city about which I only heard nice things! And even though I only planned three nights (today is my last full day and my last night) I believe I am doing most of it, obviously you can do more, but then you also need more money, and  I have already been one week in Vancouver and San Francisco so money is starting to get short. Anyways, it was completely worth it coming here. I don't know, I just love cities on the water. First thing I did when I came was visiting the Parliament (free guided tour, yess!!) and The Empress Hotel, both on the inner harbour. Very interesting too is going to visit Americas oldest Chinatown with a nice Chinese gate and the narrowest street in Canada: Fan Tan Alley (min. 0.9 meters) which still has shops and more! 

                              

         Yesterday I also went whale watching, I wasn't sure about it because it's kind of expensive but then I thought: once in a life time, so I did it. And it's true what people say, you end up enjoying more the speedboat ride then watching the actual orcas, the total was a 3 hours trip, two hours jumping over waves and getting completely drenched at some point (my recommendation: waterproof underwear). But yeah, completely worth it, almost funnier than a roller coaster, or maybe more fun? 

          Very important as well is to have a little walk through the city and the harbour by night, when you can see the Parliament lighted up with 3300 light bulbs like a Christmas tree (year round), bring a good camera and a tripod as well!

Lake Louise Timelapse

         Lots of people wonder how it's possible for the Lake to "loose" all his ice from (literally) one day to another, well I found this Timelapse and it's pretty cool to see how the ice moves and disappeares from the lakes surface, enjoy!

http://youtu.be/5NYeeHw1N4E

My last week in Canada

        This adventure is almost over... In one week I'll be taken a flight back home, I can't even believe that ten month in Canada passed so quick! Sad about leaving? Excited about going home? Both things are happening I guess, there always has to be a goodbye to start something new at a new place, in an new adventure, right? I'll just be positive about my future and thankful about the amazing ten month I spent in this country meeting all these amazing people which I can call my Friends now.

        I am also glad about having gone back to Lake Louise, not only to see some of my people again, but also to be able to see the lake melted! Yes, 9th of June, the ice finally disappeared! I was so excited about, now I can finally say goodbye to this place, even though I know that I want to come back some day... And I know that I will, at the end this place was home for me for six month!                                      

      

                                        

                                        

      

      

Haight Ashbury

        The hippie district of San Francisco is definitely a visit worth it: colorful buildings, shops of any kind and everything influenced by the "Peace&Love" from the Summer of Love (1967). This is a very nice spot to spend some money on extravagant clothing, music records or weird gadgets. I don't even really know how to describe it, Haight Ashbury offers something for everyone: from ice cream and pizza over tattoos and piercing to cannabis and other "happy herbs". The way you want to combine these things is up to you, here are some pictures:

                               

                       

                            

                           

                             

U.S.P.: Alcatraz Island

        So this was definitely the most exciting part of my trip to the city on the Bay, together with Golden Gate and the Cable Cars. I did this on my last day (yesterday, Monday) luckily I figured out that you have to book those kind of trips in advance  online because they sell out very quickly (in summer one week in advance!) even though the cruise ship leaves every half an hour from the pier. My tour started at 12:00pm, after 20min journey through the bay we arrived at the dock on Alcatraz Island aka "The Rock". It was very nice to see how the nature was taking back what once got taken by humans when they used the island as a Fortress to control the entry of ships to the bay when the Gold Rush was in its height around 1850. And it's because Alcatraz Island became a National Park (part of Golden Gate National Park) not because it was a Federal Prision but because it served as a Fortress. 

          Chasing after birds or taking things from the island, as it is a National park, is strongly prohibited, also because the seagulls were in reproduction season: hundreds of seagulls live on the island now and if you look closer you can see little baby seagulls. 

          I have to admit that Alcatraz Penitentiary as a tourist attraction is, obviously, pretty crowded, but the good thing is that once you get the audio tour and you start walking through the cellhouse you almost completely forget that you are surrounded by people as you get spellbound by an amazing 45min story told you by people who used to work there, grow up on the island (as child's of the officers) or being an inmate. 

         Together with sound effects and incredible stories about attempts to escape from the Island and about some of the most famous inmates as Al Capone was, the audio tour was definitely the highlight of my visit to The Rock. Now my goal is to watch lots of Alcatraz movies to see how Hollywood brought to cinema three decades of the most famous and feared Prision of the Sates or including the world.

Another sunny day

        Sunny Sunday in SF... You can probably imagine how busy it gets in the by tourists crowded places of the city. My day started with an ice cream sundae at the Ghirardelli Square. After that I took the Cable Car to Union Square from where I went all the way along Embarcadero to Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39. Insane. Lots of artists on the street making music, painting or acting and people selling handcrafted goods and paintings. I took it easy by letting myself enough time to enjoy each and every single one of them. My last stop was a visit to the O'Brien battleship from the WWII, very impressive.