Victoria, British Columbia - 3 June 2016

I found Victoria to be a very charming and friendly city.  It is full of well-maintained Victorian buildings, a diverse group of people and some interesting places to visit. We were blessed with good weather also.  The one big negative is the cost of everything – much more expensive than anyplace we have visited so far.  I frankly don’t know how regular folks can live here, the housing is quite expensive and there does not appear to be the type of industry needed to support wages necessary to be able to own them.

I was able to cross two items off my bucket list: high tea at the Empress Hotel, and a visit to the Butchart Gardens. The Empress Hotel was just down the street from us and after walking around the town a bit, we stopped in to enjoy the afternoon tea. We were lucky in that the tea room had just reopened after being closed for several months for renovation.  The room area was beautiful; painted in soft greys and white with traditional moldings and lighting. We had the best service and spent a good couple of hours enjoying ourselves. I had a delicious Rooibos tea which is a naturally decaffeinated root tea from Africa. The food was good, especially the desserts. So, check off high tea at the Empress Hotel.

Next up was a visit to the Butchart Gardens – about a half hour from downtown. I was so glad we were going to be able to see it.  I had read a feature article about the gardens in the Traveler magazine a number of years ago and was impressed with the descriptions of the garden’s layout. The gardens had shut down a few years ago, I think because the 3^rd or 4^th generation of the original family had decided they didn’t want to operate it anymore. I was so sad because these gardens are said to be some of the most beautiful in the world and I had wanted to see them for so many years. I was thrilled to learn they had reopened when I first started planning this trip. Again, we were blessed with absolutely beautiful weather. The gardens are actually a set of themed gardens including the original one which was made in the limestone quarry the family owned and emptied. This sunken garden is breathtaking with the variety of plants and trees. They plant the annuals on a seasonal basis and I saw lots of plants that I use in my own backyard. We spent most of  the whole day at the gardens and it was well worth it.

Our last day was a lazy one; we walked next door to the Royal British Columbia Museum which houses some interesting exhibits on the natural aspects of British Columbia and also her people. It isn’t a huge museum but one of the nicest I have been in. There were two, count them two, gift shops! In addition to the museum’s store, there was a National Geographic shop which sold some nice (and expensive) art and craft items made by local artists.

Front view of the Empress Hotel.  This has been around since the late 1800s and has hosted queens and kings.

Getting ready to order high tea.



The tea room area had just opened up a couple of weeks earlier after a total renovation.



 

The view across the harbor to our hotel.  There were several yachts and the ferry boat was in.

 

The colors were pretty bright in the downtown area - competing with the painted ladies of San Francisco, I'm thinking.



Russ in the rose garden at Butchart Gardens.



There was a computer controlled water fall at the end of the sunken gardens.

Some of the beautiful seasonal flowers that were planted everywhere.



There was a nice merry-go-round with this brass figure outside of Nellie, I guess she is the lead horse of the ride.



The flowers drew lots of birds and butterflies.

One of my very favorite roses, a Double Delight.  Many of the roses were Jackson & Perkins, roses that are sold extensively in Southern California.

This is the Butchart home. I think some of it is still home for a part of the family. The rest has been converted to restaurants and gift shops. Everything was of top quality and well maintained.

The Japanese Garden is small but nice.

This was the Italian Garden, ok, but not as big or sophisticated as others I have seen. 

Lyuba is a 40,000 year-old baby woolly mammoth. Discovered in Siberia in 2007, Lyuba is the world’s most complete preserved mammoth. Most of her fur was gone, but you could still see a little on her back legs. She was only about a month old when she fell into a depression.

Some of the totems collected by the museum.  There was an interesting exhibit of the history of the local tribes and the impact on their culture when the white man entered the picture.

A beautiful mask used during ceremonies. At the time when white man first appeared, Vancouver Island had a very large population of First Nations people with many different cultures and languages.

The outside park area of the museum included many modern totems and a replica of a clan house that is used for seminars and classes.



Lots of totems in Totem Park.  All were modern but the style has remained from the past.