Day Nine

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This was an eventful day. We got up early, packed and were picked up by a bus that would get us to Victoria, B.C. After meandering around the city picking up passengers, the bus went to the boat terminal and actually drove on to a massive boat that holds 2,000 people and over 400 vehicles including buses and 18 wheelers. It was huge! Once on, we got off the bus and walked around the boat. They had a huge buffet dining room, another cafe, a store, a playground for kids, etc. Steve found us a quiet "first class" space to purchase our way into that served complementary continental breakfast and we sat and watched the scenery. We were traveling on the boat for 1 1/2 hours, then we continued on our journey by bus for another 1/2 hour into Victoria. It dropped us very close to our hotel, this time a beautiful Marriott. We are directly behind the Empress Hotel, a very famous and historic building that we have visited before. We went back to revisit it but couldn't have high tea as the room was reserved for a private party. But no worries, we did our usual "walking" around the area to sight see. I'm getting used to these five to eight mile walks of ours! We saw Bastion Market (original site of Fort Vancouver), the wharf and waterfront, and wound up in the Victoria China Town for dinner. This time we went to an amazing dim sum restaurant called Don Lee and ate way too much food. It was incredible, very white glove. A lot of movie stars have been there and left autographed pictures. I can't understand why they didn't ask for ours!

We wandered through a local craft area where musicians play, you can buy food and ice cream, and sit by the water. I didn't buy anything. I am showing great restraint! LOL We ran into some people from Australia that had been on our train trip from Banff and caught up on their news.

We are back at our hotel now and it's 9:00 p.m. It doesn't get dark in this part of Canada at this time of year until about 11:00 p.m. So it never feels like it's as late as it is. And it gets light again at about 4:00 in the morning so we are waking up early. I have to go home to get some rest!

We are in Victoria all day tomorrow. We are going to the Butchart Gardens (very famous). I should have some wonderful pictures tomorrow. Good night all. Thanks for reading!
Sue and Steve

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