3525 replies to this topic

[Bambam]

I think we have another case of 425,000 people being divided by the number of restaurants in a municipality with 100,000 people.

What’s the latest population estimate, anyway? I stopped paying attention when we crossed 400k.

 

That depends on the source; the CRD website says 460,000 although I've seen others ranging down to 425,000 and even another one more recently that quoted 380,000 which we know is way off. Call it 450,000 which of course is the CRD everything from Pt Renfrew down to the core, the Peninsula and southern Gulf Islands.

[aastra]

FYI: it seems like New Orleans might have been the original city that you could freely make unsubstantiated claims about re: the number of restaurants per capita. But then at some point in the past ~60 years the zeitgeist shifted to favour San Francisco. (Probably because travel journalists finally realized there were cities and towns west of New Orleans.)

[Matt R.]

Looks like the Coho isn’t ramping up to full sailings until July due to trump issues.

[aastra]

Miniature World reviews:

 

 

Speaking as an amateur miniaturist - where do I begin?The dioramas are larger than I ever imagined. The attention to the smallest detail is incredible. The topic of the many displays varies from the historic - to cinema productions - to imaginative fantasies. Several are interactive - you can operate H.O. scale trains, vehicles, identify famous castles. City, country, battle scenes are populated with many hundreds of tiny people, each one in detailed period clothing caught in the act of daily life. An absolute MUST SEE. For full effect, allow yourself a couple of hours. I could have spent the entire day there!

 

--

 

 

Off the cruise ship walking through Victoria and saw recommendations for this. Don't believe them. I am an honest reviewer, and with my husband and I were extremely disappointed. A moldy oldy that needs a face-lift. Nothing charming about this place, and we love train set ups and miniatures. This all looked like old antique army toys lined up, a circus that was hardly a circus, and a few dollhouses. Not nearly enough to keep someone interested for more than 20 minutes. Kids will not enjoy...and will want to leave. Skip it

 

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I'm just going to say I can probably count on one hand the number of adults I currently know who would be capable of covering that distance on foot in 20 minutes even if they weren't distracted by anything for so much as a moment. Human beings have been evolving into two-footed slugs for many years and yet travel reviews are still full of these mysterious speedsters that you never encounter in real life. This is a cruise ship passenger, for crying out loud. You'd allow the typical cruise ship passenger ~20 minutes just to get from cabin to buffet, and they would probably get lost at least once along the way.

 

Heck, I wouldn't be confident betting money that the average tourist standing on the causeway would be able to get his/her phone out, determine the location of Miniature World, and walk to the front door in less than 20 minutes. Probably ~70%* of them would take more time than that.

 

*statistics

Edited by aastra, 07 May 2025 - 01:57 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Toronto has a thing called Littke Canada. Same idea. But it cost like $9 million to set up.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 07 May 2025 - 02:00 PM.

[aastra]

Miniature World is definitely not a major miniature attraction to be compared to (for example) the one in Hamburg. Victoria's version is obviously much smaller and more old school. It's an actual "hidden gem" kind of spot, rather than a destination attraction.
 

But even so, the circus/fair scene alone could easily occupy 20 minutes.

[aastra]

Considering the budget differences, I'd say the best scenes in Victoria's attraction actually compare very well in quality, if not in scale. In some instances Victoria's scenes might actually be even more detailed.

[Victoria Watcher]

EDIT: $24 million for Little Canada. Not sure it can ever be profitable.


https://torontolife....lica-of-canada/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 07 May 2025 - 02:12 PM.

[Mike K.]

Yes, but Toronto’s matters.

Toronto matters.

[aastra]

In Toronto people require constant reminders about Toronto, because otherwise they would forget about Toronto.

[aastra]

Which reminds me, what's the craziest license plate you've ever seen in these parts?

 

I've seen Hawaii at least once, I think maybe twice. And I've seen Mexico.

 

The other day I saw Nova Scotia, which is certainly a rarity around here.

[lanforod]

France

[aastra]

In Victoria and/or BC you saw a France license plate?

[aastra]

Found some people on Reddit talking about Hawaii plates.

Not exactly sure where this guy is located (New Jersey, I think) but he made a funny comment about seeing a Netherlands plate:
 

 

I remember looking it up after seeing a car with Dutch plates in my local grocery store parking lot (it was a pretty fancy car so I assume worth the cost of shipping it over or perhaps the owner works for a large company that paid for it as part of a relocation package). Apparently it's easier than I thought even coming from other countries. For international cars apparently they can drive with the original country's license plates/registration/driver's license for a year if the country is part of some particular treaty.

Anyway I permanently win the License Plate Game in my family with that find. Some cousins are still bitter their weak-ass Manitoba plate sightings don't mean anything anymore.

[Mike K.]

I see German plates quite often. They pass through Sooke is in gargantuan campers, like brand new Unimogs.

[lanforod]

In Victoria and/or BC you saw a France license plate?

 

Yup, here. It's usually some type of custom vehicle like Mike mentioned, or motorcycles. I've seen other European plates too on the mainland - Germany, Belgium...

[Bambam]

Best "whoa" moment ever for me re a license plate (two of them actually) was driving north west on the M1 from London and the bunch of us (literally) being blown away by the two guys driving their 1970's era pimp-mobile Cadillacs with the Hawaii license plates. The typically underpowered four cylinder cars of many Brit locals didn't compare very favorably performance-wise to the gas guzzling Caddies: and these were Eldorado's so they almost certainly featured 500ci V8's lol.

 

Locally when I lived in Vancouver I saw both British and German plates. Here on the island several years ago we once saw a US Virgin Islands plate near Saratoga Beach which was quite quite the head-turner.

[aastra]

It makes me wonder how many British Columbia plates are in Hawaii right now.

[Mike K.]

Hawaii plates are common in Seattle because of the navy base. Inevitably we see them here when they go road tripping.

That’s we have so many Nova Scotia plates here. Aastra, go to the base and you’ll find them there.

[aastra]

 

...go to the base and you’ll find them there.

 

(spits out coffee)

 

Um, yeah, no, we seem to have a misunderstanding about license plate spotting. If you intentionally seek them out then it doesn't count.

The highest point values go to unusual plates encountered by chance while minding one's own business, with a big bonus for proximity to one's own home and/or mundane daily routines.

Otherwise, the guy who works for a vehicle shipping firm would win every time.

 

Kinda shocked I had to explain that, but I suppose it's always good to clarify.