Victoria BC

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Three days of brilliant sunshine helped us to enjoy this lovely city. The first day the objective was a stay awake and recover from the flight culminating in dinner at Fishermans Wharf and a ride back to the hotel in one of the little water taxis they call "pickle boats".

We started next day by watching the water taxis perform a water ballet to the tune of the Blue Danube. They are very manouverable and it was quite impressive. We then visited the historic Craigdarroch castle, a stately home built in 1890 for the coal baron Robert Dunsmair lovingly maintained and restored. It is four floors of stained glass, intricate woodwork and lavish Victorian-era furnishings. It has been used for many purposes over the years such as a hospital, conservatory of music and now an historic house.

The Butchart gardens are an outstanding example of what could be achieved with old quarries and a few flowers. It covers 130 acres and began from an idea Jennie Butchart had to beautify the worked out limestone quarry used by her husband's Portland cement plant. it has been expanded over the years to include the sunken, Japanese, Italian and mediterranean gardens.

Vicki went whale watching for 2 hours in a zodiac in open water looking for whales - none to be found; and Kevin went salmon fishing and had more luck.

The setting of our hotel, the Empress, on the waterfront provided us with the perfect vantage point for Victoria's Canada Day celebrations. Thousands of people gathered as the day progressed with concerts and food stalls. The day culminated in fireworks at 10:30pm (when it got dark).

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Photos

The Empress Hotel
Overlooking the Victoria Harbour. The grand dame of the Fairmont chain

Kevin and his big catch
Kevin went fishing for chinook salmon