So this is it - the Vancouver Island experience already coming to an end - which coincides with our departure from British Columbia - "The best place on earth" as every number plate states proudly. With one crying eye we are getting ready to explore Canada's East coast. But first things first: Vancouver Island - is it all what it's cracked up to be? Well, yes and no! Our arrival in Victoria, BC's capital, by boat was somewhat romantic and there was love in the air...lots of it! Or maybe that is just our impression after that not so lovely, nevertheless greatly memorable border crossing experience in the States. We even got a random thorough luggage inspection - but the Canadian officers could not have been nicer about it - cheerfully carrying our heavy bags from A to B whilst giving us a sympathetic look which pretty much said: ''I find this silly, too''. I got all excited about the fact that we got an especially pretty stamp in our passports and off we went - but not without one of the officers running after us to ask whether we needed directions. May all people on this planet travel to Canada to experience how awesome human beings can be!!! And it didn't stop there...Our two favourite experiences so far: Number 1: a lady and her poodle saw us stranded on a busy highway in the middle of nowhere (mental note to myself - print out map in future...) and pulled over not only to give us directions but to drive use to our destination. Number 2: again a lady taking initiative - we were looking for a parking spot for our rental car and she decided to give us her parking space that she pays for annually and parked at a friend's instead...Too cool! Anyways, enough of the helpful people - what about the black sheeps!? So far only one - the car rental company Budget that ignored our reservation and could not have possilby cared less that we were pretty lost on the island and felt in desperate need of a GPS. But since it's a company I reckon it doesn't even count : ) So after a night in Victoria - a charming city that looks truely enchanted during the night cause of its countless lights and horse-drawn carriages, we headed to Nation to pick up a little grey Mazda and that hard-fought GPS. Turns out - that whole GPS debacle was a little bit of a waste of energy since it seemed to have a life and agenda of its own...wherever we wanted to go - the little bug refused to take us - so we pretty much felt like little road warriors getting to the Goldstream National Park, Chemainus and Nanaimo DESPITE it, not because of it : ) I would even go as far as to say that the GPS was on the edge of being suicidal since it had a tendency of directing us to drive through dense concrete walls...But no worries, everybody survived in the end ; ) Nanaimo turned out to be a cute little harbour town. Since not much is going on there usually, we were glad to find out that our little visit coincided with a little bit of a celebration, live bands and even pretty good fireworks on our return a few days later. But Vancouver Island wasn't supposed to be about lots of excitement anyways. We really enjoyed the drive, the little hikes, the stunning views - mountains surrounded by water don't seem to ever get boring. Whenever we turned around a corner we were like ''Aww'', ''Ohh'' all over again. We loved the little waterfalls in Goldstream and enjoyed our boat trip to Protection and New Castle Island (just off Nanaimo). We induldged a little bit into the local seafood and then we were off again to our next stop Tofino. Tofino felt a little bit like Byron Bay inhabited by pensioners that never kicked the habit of smoking pot. So people were understandably cheerful and seemed content : ) We spent a night in a Botanical Garden which sounds more exotic than it actually was. The crowd there seemed to be determined to single-handedly change the world to the better...Shoes off upon entrance and the guy from our dorm was asked to leave the common room because the noise his laptop was making supposedly destroyed the peace of others...Hilarious! We didn't mind the bullshit - but weren't sad to leave either. So we went off to beautiful Long Beach...and did get a little punishment - maybe it was the Coke we drank despite the ''Coke is evil'' signs all over the hostel...Badly sun-burned we went on to check out Ucluelet - only to find out there wasn't much to find there. So we drove back to Nanaimo to take in the mentioned fireworks and another cholesterol-rich meal. Back in Victoria we got to know a lovely couple from Liechtenstein and since that happens so rarely we felt like taking them out for a drink which turned out to be a cozy and fun evening. Our last sightseeing experience was a casual stroll to Fisherman's Wharf on the next day to check out the lovely decorated floating boats...and then a hop and a skip and another ferry ride away, we found ourselves back where we started at the airport in Vancouver...a sleepless night and two flights later...and all of the sudden we are in France...or as close as you can get to that outside of Europe. But more of that soon... : )