Victorian Victoria, and Vancouver, BC

Before we forget all about it, we should really tell you about our little visit to Victoria and Vancouver in British Columbia.

Getting into Victoria by ferry from Seattle was really nice, and arriving in Victoria felt quite a bit like coming home. It feels very similar to Wellington, with its Victorian style houses, and its seaside setting. Once you’ve done the touristy stuff around the waterfront, it’s probably a good idea to head towards Fernwood, up the hill.

Cornerstone Cafe (cnr Gladstone Ave/Fernwood Rd), run by the “Fernwood Neighbourhood Resource Group“, is a good starting point to explore the Victorian neighbourhood, around Gladstone Avenue and Fort Street. Apparently, Italianate and a Folk Victorian houses still live peacefully side by side here:

Downtown Victoria is quite cute and has nice Cafes and Galleries and shops, especially around Pandora Ave and Government Street. Smoking Lily (569a Johnson St) is the tiniest store in Victoria, literally a whole in the wall, and has great, locally made clothing. Next street over is Solstice Cafe (529 Pandora Ave), which has free wireless, which was a lifesaver for us .

Next street over again is Victoria’s China Town (or should I say “China Street”?). Walk through the cute Fan-Tan Alley, where you find Boucherat Gallery, which had a fantastic exhibition on when we were there. “Seeker teacher dancer dreamer”, by Vancouver’s Peter Taylor; beautifully made, enticing drawings:

Victoria also has its own nood shop, 546 Yates Street, and Capital City Cycles, 1419 Broad Street, which sells nice dutch style city bikes. Aah, so much to see/get and not enough time/money/baggage allowance.

Alright, if you do want to get out of the city a bit, go to East Sooke Park. It was a drizzly day, but seemed to be perfect for sea wildlife -  we saw whales, seals and a sea leopard, all in one afternoon.

Ok, it was off to Vancouver for us after a few days, and unfortunately we didn’t have much time at all left for Vancouver. Our main goal for the afternoon we had was to find a nice, cheap (as we had 20$ left) place to eat, and we were rewarded by stumbling upon Donburiya, 1329 Robson Street/West End. Absolutely yuuuuummy, friendly, and affordable! And their lamps were a true craft-work, made out of bowls with their bottoms cut off:

We walked once around the waterfront, and came across red men and a snowy wonderland. We left just before the storm hit, knowing we’ll be back in the creative Northwest again sometime.

Thomas

RE Store in Seattle – a good catch

A pity that you have to travel all the way to Seattle to find a really well sorted building demolition yard with amazing finds.

But, boy, do they have amazing stuff – a problem we were facing was: how do we get those floorboards back to New Zealand? Or, how exactly do we manage to take those wooden children’s lockers as hand luggage? There is a fantasmic range of materials, and amongst it, brilliant pieces. We recommend anyone who’s going to Seattle to visit this store.

www.re-store.org

Hannah’s favourite: the wooden lockers.

My favourite: the phone booth.

But see for yourself (below).

While in Seattle, you should also visit Anthropologie. The overall style is an eclectic mix of urban/eco/restore, and they present a collection of fashion, accessories and furniture. The displays are put together in very intricate and clever ways and often are design pieces in themselves. Very nicely done, I could have easily spent the whole day in there.

Seattle has a lot going for itself, and would even more, if the Alaskan Highway viaduct right on the waterfront was finally gone. If you can’t help it, go on one of the Underground tours, which will give you access to an entertaining show on Seattles history and an insight to what people will dump into sideways if they can. But, ahem, don’t expect any amazing underground shop fronts, with wonderful antique window displays (with skeletal mummified cats), that’s not gonna happen.

Hamburg is crafty

Hello from Hamburg, everyone!

We know for sure now that Hamburg is a crafty place. We discovered “Lockengeloet” today, a shop that showcases and partly creates recycled and reappropriated products.

Lockengeloet is also screening Handmade Nation tonight – an inspiring movie about makers, doers and artists in the US.

If you find yourself in Hamburg, you have to go to “Herr Max“, the yummiest cake shop around. We tried out 6 different cakes, and all where very morish. The ambience is authentically alternative independent.

-Thomas