Victoria, British Columbia

We’re at Victoria, B.C, Canada. Victoria is on Vancouver Island (not Vancouver itself). The coach cum ferry ride takes about 4.5hrs, each way. The other alternative is to take the seaplane, which takes only 35mins. However, the cost of the seaplane is rather steep, about CAD110 each way.

Victoria was the first capital of Canada, if I’m not mistaken. It was so simply because of its location. Its located south on Vancouver Island. In the history of Canada and USA, there were many conflicts between the 2 countries as to where the border between them should be. Hence to first gain more land, so to speak, Victoria was slated to be the capital.

Victoria is very much like England, bearing in mind that Canada was once under the British colonial rule. So, afternoon teas are quite popular in Victoria. There seems to be quite a few things to do in Victoria. We only had 2 days and 1 night in Victoria, so again, we had to rush.

We went to the Royal B.C Museum. Boy, this is a must come museum. Its way cool! Only in the summer, is there the Titanic exhibition. This exhibition showcases certain artifacts that were taken up from the sunken Titanic itself. There were museum staff who posed as certain people who were on board the ship on that fateful journey. So before we were admitted to the museum, we were given boarding passes. These boarding passes indicated which real passengers we were on Titanic. In a room in the museum, we can then find out if the person with the name on our boarding passes survived the Titanic event. Turns out Mum, Nick and I were all first-class passengers and Gwen is the only third-class passenger. Haa haa! I was the passenger who booked the most expensive suite on the Titanic. Er-hem!!! And the 3 of us high-class ones survived while poor Gwen didn’t.

The Titanic exhibit is quite amazing and touching. They didn’t just display the artifacts. They also included many quotes and comments from the actual people on board it. When I see how the ship sunk again and again, it still strikes some kind of awesome fear in me. There was even a display of the kind of iceberg that Titanic hit. Being through the cold temperature in Whistler, I can comprehend how cold and terrible it must have been for the people out there in the sea.

The rest of the Royal B.C museum was even better. This is especially so of the nature section. They have displays of the animals, some of which were extinct. These displays were coupled with sound and lightning effects, which all add up to an awesome experience.

Then we went Whale Watching. It is a 3 hours tour. So we were dressed in wetsuits which would keep up warm in the event that we fall into the water. We were told to put on hats and gloves as well as it will get really cold out in the water.

We have to search for the whales. The guide told us that there was a sighting of a transient killer whale on that day. So that was out first search. The guide told us there are 3 main types of killer whales. Basically, they all look the same. They are classified according to their feeding behaviour. If I remember correctly, the transient killer whale is the one that will kill other whales, hence giving the killer whales their names. The transient killer we saw is a male, as can be seen by the sharp fin. Females have a shorter and rounded fin.

When we all saw the first whale, we were all so excited. We can’t get too close to the whales because the regulations are strict. Something like 100yards away from the whales. However, there are ways to get round the rules. Our guide maneuvered the boat and positioned it such that the whales will come close to us in their direction of swim. We got really close to the whales only at one time (or at most 2) and Gwen managed to get some nice shots!!! One boat was lucky because one whale did a tail flip very near to their boat. Some distance away, a whale breached (jumped up)! We were told another breach will usually follow the first one and we waited. Unfortunately, the whale didn’t want to entertain us further.

The whales are really impressive. They looked so majestic and somehow, I just feel so privileged to be able to see them, even at a distance. With some imagination, I feel like I’m in Free Willy 4.

On our way back to the shore, we spotted the bald-head eagle!!! It seems to be quite huge. It was standing really still, preying on fish I suppose. Its quite cool, that botak! Hee Hee!

For dinner, we went to this Italian restaurant recommended by the hotel. This has got to the THE best Italian restaurant around ever!! The price is actually very reasonable, if you are earning Canadian dollars. The food here is the best that I’ve ever tasted. This meal changed my perception of pasta, and I kinda like pasta now (only by that restaurant). The pasta is quite QQ and the way they did my tuna is absolutely fantastic. The outside of the tuna is cooked but the inside is raw. This is apparently the best way to have the tuna. The seafood is soooo fresh and you can taste the sweetness of the veggies. Il Terrazzo is it!! Its really so good, I feel like flying to Victoria now to have dinner there!

The next morning, we went to the world famous Butchart Gardens. Butchart Gardens was set up by a couple and the gardens are still under the care of the Butchart family. Isn’t that a nice tale? If I’m not wrong, Butchart Gardens has been in existence for over 100 years now! Somehow, I find it very touching that a legacy of this kind is going on.

Know what? Butchart Gardens indeed lived up to its name! The spectacular sights of the colourful flowers within will definitely brighten someone’s day. My vocabulary is actually quite limited at this point. I think no one will correct me if I say no words can do justice to the amazing, wondrous garden. Just look at the pictures we took! In this garden, a picture says a thousand words and more!

The roses in the garden are huge and so pretty! How the Butchart family ever started and maintained the garden is really quite remarkable. There is a Japanese garden within the garden but since we are not fans of the bonsai type of vegetation, we couldn’t really appreciate them. But still, to the untrained eyes, the plants look quite good.

In addition, there’s a lovely fountain in the garden. Needless to say, this fountain was also designed and created by one of the Butchart descendants. While there is no fancy ultra high tech movements of the fountain, the simplicity of the fountain, with the backdrop of the quarry on which part of the garden is built on, is enough to awe.

There’s also the Italian garden. This garden is the most formal section of all. The Italian garden is small compared to the rest of the garden. But despite its small size, it still managed to impress. At one side of the Italian garden, there is a nice spot for taking photo. At this spot, we can get the view encompassing the Rose garden.

After Butchart gardens, we headed to the Empress Fairmont Hotel for Afternoon Tea. Now, after all that’s been said and done, its been said that if you don’t have much time for everything in Victoria, you must make time for the Afternoon Tea at the Empress Fairmont. The Fairmont chain of hotels are rather high end, catering to royalties. The Hotel Vancouver Fairmont in Downtown Vancouver is the hotel in which Queen Elizabeth would stay when she goes to Vancouver. The Empress Fairmont is where the Queen of England had her Afternoon Tea at, hence the tea that is served for Afternoon Tea is now called the Empress Tea.

So we were seated for Afternoon Tea at the Empress Fairmont. And of course, among the variety of tea we were given, we chose the Empress Tea (which came highly recommended by our server). The traditional way to have tea is to have 2 lumps of sugar with milk. Anyways, the tea comes with sandwiches, scones, biscuits and other snacks. We all loved the sandwiches, particularly one sandwich which has chicken and curry in it (its not curry chicken) and one with salmon. Maybe its just us but we felt that certain snacks were too sweet for our taste. Although the sweetness of the strawberry jam suits the scones just fine. And surprise, surprise, each of us were given a box of the Empress Tea for us to enjoy back home. That was a nice touch to round up our trip to Victoria.

P/S: We’ve decided not to post too many nice pics for you guys to view. Cos we want you guys to meet up with us. So we really don’t mind showing you our entire photo collection, let you ooh and aah and enjoy B.C from where you are. One very important thing, remember to bring your card or loads of cash to pay for our meals and drinks!