2014 Exploring The Northwest – DAY 29 – Victoria, Vancouver Island
Today’s trip to Victoria is the centerpiece of our stay in Port Angeles. With passports in hand, we caught the first ferry this morning. The Strait of Juan de Fuca demarks the separation between Canada and the USA. The weather was perfect during the one and one-half hour ride to Victoria.
Butchard Garden’s Fall display
Roselie going over the Geisha bridge in the Japanese garden
Butchart Garden’s Sunken Garden
Victoria is located at the southern tip of Vancouver Island that is part of the British Columbia Province. The city is very charming and is much larger than I anticipated. As soon as we disembarked, we caught a bus to see the renowned Butchart Garden. To the credit of Butchard’s wife, Butchard Garden was built on a century old quarry, after it’s minerals were depleted. It was beautiful but none of us thought it was exceptional. Given that we invested more than four hours and lots of money, we would not rate the value as very high. The Parliamentary Building is very grand and in the British tradition. Since we were here on a Saturday, the building was not open for tours.
Empress Hotel
Victoria is not small
Mt. Whistler in the distance.
Victoria from the air
Ah, where’s the oxygen mask and parachute?
Yes, I’m really going to fly on this.
Waving goodbye to the ladies as we board the seaplane
Victoria harbor
We discovered that one of Carmine’s bucket list items was to fly in a seaplane. Victoria does not have an airport so is serviced by scheduled seaplanes. It also offers Victoria Panoramic flights. Carmine and I signed up for their 35-minute flight on a De Havilland DHC-3 Otter seaplane. SO MUCH FUN! We took off from the bay, then flew along the Saanich Peninsula, flew over Butchart Gardens before taking a couple of turns over the city. It was so clear that we were able to see Mt. Whistler to the north and Mt. Olympus to the south. The landing was smooth as silk, but the pilot and ground crew had problems ‘docking’ the plane – needed the help of the harbor patrol to bring her in. It was a fantastic experience.
I survived the seaplane flight, so lets celebrate with High Tea
Saying goodbye after a great day.
High Tea at the Empress Hotel
While we were flying, Roselie and Rosemarie headed to the famous Fairmont Empress hotel for high tea. Carmine and I joined them for this very delicious, high-fat, high-sugar British tradition. Needless to say, we couldn’t eat it all. We caught the last ferry back after fantastic and full day.
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