the stunning Pacific Northwest. NEXT STOP VANCOUVER/VICTORIA rolls

JON: Welcome to beautiful British Columbia. On this episode of Next Stop, we

will feature Canada's most fit and walkable city, Victoria. We will also feature one of

the most livable cities in the world for the past decade, Vancouver, B.C. We will show

you where to go, where to stay, what to do and how to do it in our always fun and positive

Next Stop style. The fun starts now! Next Stop logo

JON: Victoria is one of the few places where you can whale watch year round.

Today we are with Eagle Wing Tours to see some whales, and a whole lot more.

JEFF: First of all, I just want to welcome you guys all to Eagle Wing this morning, my

name is Jeff. Today we have 2 pods of killer whales, we've got resident whales over in

the San Juan islands. we're going to start over here in Race Rocks lighthouse, so we

are going to head southwest first. This lighthouse, Race Rocks lighthouse, is the second oldest

lighthouse on the west coast of Canada, what is happening here guys, is Pearson College

conducts research, and the lighthouse keepers have been allowed to stay here as caretakers,

or custodians on the island, and they help out with Pearson College. So what we've

got here guys, these are called Harbor Seals, the Harbor Seal weighs about 2-3 hundred pounds,

and these seals are extremely lazy, and 70% of their life, that is pretty much it right

there. Alright, so for some of you guys, this is your national bird for the United States.

Outside of Alaska, we have some of the highest concentrations of North America, there are

thousands of mating pairs here in the Northwest, and this will be one of the adults, right?

We know this because when they are an adult they have a white head and tail. The whales

are with all these boats, these are a mixture of the US and Canadian whale watch boats.

Whenever possible as well, we always shut the motor off to minimize noise, right? These

killer whales are very acoustic animals, sound is very important to them. Each whale can

be identified quite easily, by looking at the white saddle patch, every saddle patch

is slightly different. We also look at the tall dorsal fin, because it is different in

size, different in shape. Right there, L 72 Racer. That is L 72 Racer, oh that is so cool,.

look at this! JON: Thanks for the 65 mile jaunt!

JEFF: Allright! No worries, it was great, it was awesome.

JON: What a day, what a morning, a little bit wet, but you know, it didn't really

matter, the whales didn't care. JEFF: That is true, the whales are always

wet. JON: You guys are a very eco friendly company.

JEFF: For the 2 seasons we have been offsetting all our emissions, and we are also members

of One Percent for the Planet as well, which means we take one percent of our gross revenues

and we invest it back into the environment into green areas.

JON: Very well done. You guys are about conservation, education, and entertainment.

JEFF: Absolutely. Thanks very much for coming out today, good to have you on board.

JON: Thank you Jeff. Next Stop logo

JON: Coming up, a majestic hotel in Victoria's sparkling inner harbor, and

a lively ale trail. Next Stop logo

JON: We are very fortunate to be staying at the Fairmont Empress, the lovely

and historic hotel, and we are in the tea lobby, for afternoon tea. How cool is this?

NATHAN: The hotel we are in right now was actually built in 1908, designed by Francis

Rattenbury. JON: Oh my God, we pulled up and we are like,

this is our hotel? It looks like a museum. NATHAN: It does, it does, yes. Turn of the

century, so very old, very rustic, very iconic in our city.

JON: And I like how you have historical pictures on the wall, it really takes you back, you

really feel like you are back in the early 1900's. Wide hallways too.

NATHAN: Yes, definitely, very big hallways too.

JON: Tell us about this, because this is kind of unique for me.

NATHAN: It is, our afternoon tea service here starts generally with fresh berries with some

cream as well, and of course our tea that is created just for us here at the Fairmont

Empress. We start our afternoon tea services with our sandwiches here, we have our sun

dried tomato tapenade, followed by our cucumber and ham sandwiches, my personal favorite here,

the mango and curried chicken. Finished off by our wonderful dessert tower there, most

peoples favorites, Some people start here and work their way down actually.

JON: Is there really any method to it, can't you just go all over the place? It's beautiful.

NATHAN: You can pick wherever you want actually, that is half the fun of it, yes.

JON: Well the tea is delicious, but you guys actually take this tea and do something else

with it for a little bit later on. NATHAN: We do, in our Bengal Lounge, formally

known as the Cornet Lounge, in 1954. we do a what we call our 1908 martini, which is

tea infused vodka. We actually take our vodka and soak a bunch of tea bags in it for a few

days, and it adds a nice tea flavor to the vodka.

JON: I love the location of the hotel in Victoria, it's Canada's most walkable city, Canada's

most fit city, how does it get that title? NATHAN: The weather is great here, all year

around you can be biking, walking to work, be doing what you need to.

JON: You bike to work, right? NATHAN: I do bike to work.

JON: This city walks to work, bikes to work, that is why it is such a fit city.

NATHAN: Yes, it is, yes. JON: What else about Victoria, you are not

from this part, so what do you love about Victoria?

NATHAN: We have an oceanfront here, we have a lovely ocean, the mountains just up island

a little bit, it's a beautiful place. Next Stop logo

JON: We all know Canadians love their beer, tonight in Victoria, we're going

on an Ale Trail, our first stop? Swan's Brewpub.

ANDREW: Swan's is a brewpub in downtown Victoria, this building, a beautiful building,

it was built in 1913. This is just 3 of our beers, first beer we are going to have is

Tessier's wheat beer. JON: That is your last name.

ANDREW: That is my last name, named this one after myself, favorite type of beer. Cheers.

JON: Good for you, cheers. That is really nice. Perfect summer beer.

ANDREW: Summer beer. Second beer we are going to try is our Extra IPA, really hoppy, really

bitter. JON: I think I like this the best, I like

your summer, and I like your IPA. I like them all, but this is my favorite.

ANDREW: Cool. You can like them all! JON: It's like your children, right?

ANDREW: Yes. JON: So we found our way to award

winning Canoe Brewpub, Yogi here is going to tell us about these props on the table,

that aren't just props, these are awards my man.

YOGI: They are not just props, they are awards, they are really awards, we actually won 3

silver awards for 3 out of 4 of our beers, for our lager, which is our czech inspired

beer, and our brown ale. JON: Well done, and your process is really

fresh, there aren't that many steps. YOGI: Yeah, very fresh. it is only literally

10 paces from the grain until the beer which is another tap, so it is a really, really

fresh beer. This used to be a coal powered power plant, for Victoria, so this place used

to actually power Victoria's city, which is pretty cool.

JON: And now beer powers the city. YOGI: Yeah. exactly. We are still powering

it. JON: So should I try one?

YOGI: Yeah, definitely, try one. JON: This is one of the award winning ones,

yeah? YOGI: Cheers, this is our lager, this is our

lightest one we have, more of our summer drink. What do you think?

JON: I like it, very light, for a nice summer day, perfect.

JON: Our last stop on the Ale Trail, Canada's oldest licensed brewpub,

Spinnakers. RYAN: Since back in May of 1984 we have been

brewing all of our own beer, building local community, we still have people that have

been coming in since 1984. This is our Hoptoria, brewed this one in commemoration of Victoria's

150 years. Hoptoria says it all, Victoria. JON: You guys are also all about your food,

and local foods. RYAN: Definitely. I mean even with our cattle,

we have an arrangement going on with our cattle farmer, we give her all of our used barley,

she gives it to the cattle and in return we get beef. So you get a burger and beer, you've

kind of got a tiny little circle of life going there.

JON: Beautiful. Next Stop logo

JON: British Columbia Ferry Services Incorporated, also known as BC Ferrries, began

in 1960 with only 2 vessels. Today it is one of the most elaborate ferry systems in the

world, with 36 vessels and 40 ports of call. It also plays a vital role in BC's economy,connecting

goods and services, people and places, friends and family, and today, connecting our Next

Stop crew from Victoria to one of the worlds most livable cities, Vancouver B C.

Next Stop logo JON: Coming up on Next Stop, the

popular peak on Vancouver, a culinary walking tour, and more.

Next Stop logo JON: Grouse Mountain, also known

as the peak of Vancouver, is located just 20 minutes outside the city. It is open year

round, and it is fun! So our first activity here on Grouse Mountain is ziplining, now I have ziplined

before, but this is a little bit different set up Chris.

CHRIS: Completely different than a lot of places around the world, no open glove, bamboo

pole, or anything like that, fully automatic system so alright, up you come Jon, just watch

your head when you stand up here, feels good? JON: it is like sitting in a harness, in a

chair, perfect. CHRIS; Alright, off you go, see you down there.

JON: Woo hoo! CHRIS: Perfect, line number 2 here, we are

starting to get into the good stuff, ok? This line, it's a lot longer, a lot steeper than

the first one, we are basically going to end up going a lot faster.

JON: Woo hoo! Oh my gosh, how beautiful is this! Woo! So I mentioned we have ziplined

before in different places, but the harness in completely different, the stopping is completely

different, and taking a chair to our next zipline? I love it!

CHRIS: This line is about 1200 feet long,, and if you are going fast enough, you can

reach up to speeds of 80 kilometers an hour up here.

JON: Guys, thank you so much for an exhilarating afternoon. What is up next on our tour of

Grouse Mountain, what should we see? CHRIS: Right behind us, the eye of the wind,

you get some insane 360 degree views of the city and the mountains around us, so I definitely

recommend heading up there. JON: Meet Ian, he is going to

tell us about this impressive wind turbine, it's not a windmill, what is the difference?

IAN: Windmill makes bread, wind turbine makes power. This makes power, makes power. First

one of it's kind in the world to actually have both a passenger elevator and a viewing

platform on there, so accessible to the public, super easy for anyone to get to. These are

the coastal mountains here that are actually a sub site of, they are called the Northshore

Mountains, so these big ones that we have in back are called Cathedral, and then the

one in front of it is Mt Coliseum, and it is as rugged as you get.

JON: And then the view of Vancouver. IAN: Absolutely gorgeous, eh?

JON: Yeah, it's probably the best view in the city.

IAN: I don't think you can get anywhere else better.

Next Stop logo JON: We are staying at the Westin

Grand, located right in downtown Vancouver. When you drop into a city and the locals tell

you they love the hotel you are staying in, you know it is a pretty special place. The

first thing that stands out, it is called the Westin Grand, it is shaped like a grand

piano, we have a grand piano keyboard right here, what is up with the music thing?

BRYCE: Well it is just the cooperation kind of between the hotel and really the industry

that surrounds us, kind of that theater area, we have some theaters close by, so when the

hotel was built in 1999, they decided hey, lets get the building involved, and not just

the staff and not just kind of the culture. JON: You are right on Robson Street, which

is the happening street, you have restaurants, so many things around that you can walk to.

BRYCE: We get comments all the time about, geez, I came here to Vancouver, didn't know

much about your hotel, but came in right from the airport and stayed here and I stepped

out of the hotel and there is shopping and restaurants, and theater, and gas town, and

yale town, and everything is kind of within that walking distance, so we are pretty proud

of that. JON: So you are from Vancouver, how has Vancouver

changed, especially after the Olympics? BRYCE: It's been incredible. When I was

growing up in Vancouver, downtown wasn't as developed as it is now, so when you went

to a restaurant, it was sometimes out of downtown, now, if you come downtown, you never have

to leave, everything is here. JON: Last night you guys had a pop up bar.

What is a pop up bar? BRYCE: Yeah, so we started this this year,

called a pop up patio, so we have a little lounge set up, a DJ, drinks, appies, people

love it. JON: Love it. And your rooms, I mean, it is

the Westin Quality, all rooms are suites which I love, but what I really love and is something

unique is you have little kitchenettes in your room.

BRYCE: Yeah. JON: So you really can grab food, there is

a grocery store next door, and really make your own dinner if you want.

BRYCE: Yes, so it works for both, works for corporate travellers who who want to come

here whether they are staying for one night, works for those families who maybe want to

have a bowl of cereal for breakfast, they don't feel like they want to go to a restaurant

every time, so it really works for everyone who wants to come here. Being a 31 floor hotel,