Why is it called Inner Harbour? As you can see in the picture below, the harbour narrows and then opens up again, creating a bay of sorts along the edge of downtown Victoria:
Here are some of my pictures of the Inner Harbour on a gorgeous Tuesday morning:
I thought the cherry blossoms and the pink building (it overlooks the harbour) were a pretty shot:
The Inner Harbour is bordered by two perpendicular streets, Belleville and Government. At the intersection of these two streets are three major attractions, the Empress Hotel, the Royal B.C. Museum, and the Legislative buildings.
Legislative buildings:
The Empress:
The Empress garden, looking towards where the Royal B.C. Museum is:
I wandered around for a bit, then spent an hour-and-a-half or so at the Royal B.C. Musuem. It is fabulous. I didn't spend too much time there, though, because I'm coming back in May with my sixth grade students. : )
I had a date at noon with Grayline Tours, to take a bus to the Butchart Gardens (click for a brief history). I met up with the tour in front of the Empress and away we drove. The gardens were...well, let's just let the pictures speak for themselves, shall we?
The Sunken Garden--designed by Jennie Butchart to make something pretty out of an abandoned limestone quarry in her back yard. She succeeded, don't you agree?
An interesting tree:
Even the garbage bins are pretty:
My favorite flower:
Contrast:
The Japanese Garden:
A little cove behind the gardens:
The Italian Garden:
The greenhouse:
Boar fountain:
I took many more pictures; these are the best of the best.
I got back to downtown Victoria at about 3:00, and wandered into the Empress to make a reservation for High Tea.
Having tea at the Empress is a tradition that many people told me I should try to do. Being a big tea lover myself, this was high on my list of things to do in Victoria. I made a reservation for Wednesday afternoon at 2:15. More on that in the next blog update.
It was still sunny at this point, and I'd long abandoned my tweed blazer in favor of the cotton t-shirt I was wearing underneath. I wandered along the harbour for a little while, poking into souvenir shops and listening to a man playing steel drums:
A mosaic orca:
The orca and the Empress:
As I wandered, I spotted the Victoria Harbour Tour, and decided that I had to do this. I'd seen one of the boats from the Coho on Monday, and, well, these boats are just too damned cute for words:
This is how close to the water you are:
I took a lot of pictures, but only uploaded a few...most were of the same things I've already posted pictures of. Though I thought the little bird habitats (still boarded up for winter, not open for the summer season yet) were adorable:
Just a quick observation: Everyone I talked to told me Victoria is like a little England. I did find some elements of England in Victoria (tea, some English products, spellings of words like "harbour") but I also found a strong flavor of the Pacific Northwest. It's not fair to cast Victoria as being "English" or "PNW." It is so much a blend of both that it really just comes out as it's own unique, beautiful place. A place were you will find a Scottish man playing the bagpipes next to an aboriginal totem pole:
It is a startlingly international little city. It's also a place where people can save the endangered birds and make little houses for them, and the next moment sip tea at the Empress. Needless to say, I'm in love.
I spent some more time after my Harbour Ferry Tour wandering in the garden at the Empress, taking pictures of their impressive tulips:
Then I went back to my hotel for a bit of a rest, and to clean up for dinner. I'd found an Old Spaghetti Factory, and, out of nostalgia for some great family memories, I had to have dinner there.
After dinner, it was just dark enough that the Legislative Buildings were lit up. My new camera takes night pictures (whereas my little Vivitar did not), so I got some nice shots of the harbour at night:
Then it was time to head back to my hotel and to bed. I had a lot to do the next day.
To be continued...
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