This morning we walk several blocks from our hotel through the grounds of the British Columbia Parliament to a park with a bronze statue of author & artist Emily Carr (with her dog ‘Billie’ & her Javanese monkey ‘Woo’). I have no problem walking this morning – I wore my comfortable sneakers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We catch a bus to The Butchart Gardens, one of Victoria’s most iconic sights. Mike & I enjoy taking public transportation so we can see more of Victoria, including the “non-touristy” areas where people actually live.

We arrive at The Butchart Gardens at about 11:30 and spend three hours wandering around, drinking in the beauty. These 55 acres of gardens were created in the early 1900s by Jennie Butchard to beautify the worked-out limestone quarry on their property. Today the gardens are still owned by the Butchart family and receive about a million visitors annually!

 

 

My favorite garden is the Sunken Garden, an old quarry transformed with a riot of colorful tulips, daffodils, and other spring flowers.

 

At the end of the Sunken Garden, there’s Ross Fountain that rhythmically shoots the water in different designs, like the Bellagio fountains in Las Vegas but without the music.

 

 

 

 

 

We also enjoy the Japanese Garden and the Italian Garden (it’s a bit too early  in the season for the Rose Garden).

After all that walking, we relax in the shade at Butchart Cove Lookout and just gaze at the water.

At the greenhouse, we take a moment to ask the question we’ve been wondering about: “How many gardeners are needed to keep Butchart Gardens so beautiful?” The answer is anywhere from 50 (in the off-season) to 70 gardeners! We’re also shocked to find out that when all these beautiful flowers are done blooming, they’re simply pulled up & turned into mulch.

 

We take the bus back to downtown Victoria and then walk the rest of the way back to our hotel. We take just a minute to freshen up before heading out again, this time walking west (the opposite direction than we usually walk to the Inner Harbour).

 

We walk along the waterfront trail and see a community of charming houseboats. The houseboats turn out to be a in Floating Home Village that also includes shops, restaurants, & fishing boats in an area known as Fisherman’s Wharf.

 

 

 

 

We get a dozen oysters at The Fish Store (another “Buck a Shuck” special) and eat them at one of the picnic tables by the marina.

 

 

Five harbor seals are gathered there, begging for fish. The Fish Store sells cut up pieces of fish for the tourists to feed the seals! There are also river otters but there are also warnings not to feed them (Mike is told “They’re vicious creatures – they’ll bite your finger right off.”).

We don’t buy any fish because we can watch everybody else feeding them. The seals get impatient if they have to go a while without being fed and splash the people.

 

 

 

 

After we finish our oysters, we share an order of fish & chips from Barb’s Fish & Chips, which we also eat at the picnic table while we watch the antics of the harbor seals.

 

 

 

 

Then Mike & I walk through the marina looking at the working fishing boats, and stroll around the Floating Home Village. The eclectic houseboats are fascinating!

After dinner we walk back along the Inner Harbour waterfront. The sunset is so pretty and the British Columbia Parliament Building is all lit up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This morning Mike’s brother Gary really went above & beyond his brotherly duty and got up ridiculously early to drive us to the Seattle Waterfront to catch the Victoria Clipper ferry to Victoria, British Columbia. We leave our RV in guest parking at the RV park for a few days.
They call us to board at about 7:30 am and soon we’re settled in our comfortable seats at a table in the upper cabin. We have a great view as our ferry gets underway promptly at 8:00 am.

Our route from Seattle to Victoria, BC takes less than 3 hours. I venture outside to the back deck to take some photos but it’s very cold & windy – the speed of the boat is deceptive from inside the cabin but we’re actually moving quite fast. The view as we transit the Puget sound is especially beautiful as we pass Whidbey Island, the Cascades rising behind it. Mike is excited to see a submarine as we pass Port Townsend.

 

The boat slows down as we enter Victoria Harbour so I’m able to step out on the back deck and take photos.

 

We dock at 10:38 am. After we clear Customs, we walk the short distance from the ferry terminal to our hotel, Harbour Towers. Unfortunately, it’s too early for us to check in but they do allow us to store our luggage so we can explore Victoria unencumbered.

 

 

 

We thoroughly enjoy walking through small parks full of colorful tulips & other flowers down to the waterfront, which is called the Inner Harbour.

 

We stroll along the waterfront watching the seaplanes take off & land from their terminal, the huge yachts & small fishing boats mingling, and a beautiful tall ship.

 

 

 

 

We talk to Jeff who is a painter on the tall ship, the Pacific Grace. The tall ships aren’t actually not old; the Canadian government commissioned the ships to use for teaching high school students how to sail. The students sail the ships, even taking them in & out of the harbor, under the supervision of a few instructors.

 

 

 

Mike & I stop for lunch at a cute pub near the waterfront called The Local. It’s very warm & sunny but luckily they’re able to seat us outside but partially in the shade.

After lunch we wander around the shopping area by The Local and enjoy the interesting murals.

 

Towards the end of the day, Mike & I walk along the waterfront again and notice a “Buck a Shuck” (CN$1.00 per oyster) promotion at Steamship Grill & Bar. It’s 4:57 pm so the manager tells us we’re just in time. We’re seated on their lovely deck overlooking the waterfront and order two dozen raw “Paradise” oysters (from Baynes Sound), which are served on a heaping bed of ice with lemon juice in one cup, cocktail sauce in another cup (too sweet for our taste), and shaved horseradish. The oysters are absolutely delicious and we thoroughly enjoy our Happy Hour together – we even see HARBOUR SEALS (as they spell it in Canada) & RIVER OTTERS swimming in the water!

After Happy Hour Mike & I wander down to the water taxi dock and catch one to Swift Street, the nearest stop to Victoria’s Chinatown.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A short walk uphill and we’re exploring the few blocks of the oldest Chinatown in Canada, what’s left of what was once a large Chinese community. We enjoy walking up Fisgard Street & down Fantan Alley and end up eating a Chinese dinner at Ocean Garden Restaurant.

I’m wearing “cute shoes” instead of my comfortable sneakers so of course I’ve developed blisters and walking is painful. We go back to the Swift Street dock and call for a water taxi, which takes us back to the dock close to our hotel. I actually take off my shoes and walk barefoot for a while along the waterfront, my feet hurt so badly, but (of course) I make it back to our hotel. Obviously tomorrow I’ll be wearing my sneakers!