Langford,
Vancouver Island, Britsh Columbia, August 5, 2005, 1:40 AM
Hello from Victoria (2) -
Exploring Victoria and Its Vicinity
Another perfect day with beaming blue skies, great temperatures
and no humidity greeted me yesterday. After a lovely strengthening
breakfast and some business issues, Clare and I set off by car to
explore British Columbia's capital Victoria.
We started by parking our car pretty close to "Mile Zero",
right next to Beacon Hill Park. This expansive city park is right
next to the waterfront and at its southern end you have a perfect
view across the Juan de Fuca Sound to Washington State's Olympic
Mountain range.
Beacon Hill Park has beautiful landscaping, hundreds of flower
beds, a petting zoo with screaming peacocks, serene shady ponds
hosting various families of ducks, an assortment of totem poles
and a great variety of shade trees, many of which I have never seen
in Toronto. The whole waterfront around Beacon Hill Park reminded
me very much of California and seeing the odd palm tree just reinforced
that image. I had to remind myself that we are still in Canada here.
Beacon Hill Park flower beds
Our next step was to explore the waterfront to the east along Beach
Drive. We moved past lovely well-kept houses and various inlets
and bays and about 3 km east of downtown we arrived in the Oak Bay
area. When we saw the Tudor-style gables of the Oak Bay Beach Hotel
we decided this needed further exploration. We stopped the car,
went through the lobby and outside the back door and saw one of
the most beautiful patios and backyards on the ocean. The hotel,
just like so many other places in Victoria, has gorgeous landscaping
and a multitude of brilliantly coloured flower beds, right next
to the Pacific Ocean.
Coming up next we checked out the Oak Bay Marina and then turned
inland towards the quaint Oak Bay shopping area, bedecked in hanging
flower pots, and featuring many outdoor patios. We knew an exploration
of the Empress Hotel and the Provincial Parliament Buildings was
on our menu, so we started heading downtown on Yates Street. We
turned right at the waterfront and to find a parking spot in this
bustling neighbourhood, we ended parking on Johnson Street, right
in front of a retail store that had large mechanical doll dressed
up as an old lady with a big hat in front of it. The doll was able
to open and close its eyelids and move its head from side to side,
much to the fascination of the local tourists.
Oak Beach Hotel
We filled up the meter and made our way along the waterfront along
Victoria's serene Inner Harbour Area. Past various buskers, mimes
and outdoor performance artists we slowly made our way towards the
Empress Hotel, a gorgeous chateau-style grand hotel dating back
to 1908. Just southwest of it are the intricately styled Parliament
Buildings, built between 1893 and 1898. With expansive lawns and
flower beds out front and introduced by a statue of Queen Victoria,
they offer an impressive visual delight.
Having strenghtened ourselves with a tasty turkey sandwich and
a delicious ice cream, we slowly walked back past the Empress on
Government Street and checked out the various retail stores. This
area is just hustling and bustling with people, and we saw several
street musicians and bands. Many of the retail stores are located
in historical buildings that have been painted in bright colours.
Just as our meter was expiring we briefly checked out Market Square,
an outdoor market area with many ecclectic little shops.
Back in the car we crossed the bridge at the north end of the Inner
Harbour and checked out the west side of the harbour which features
a beautiful boardwalk, flanked by upscale condominium buildings,
most of them retirement homes, surrounded by luscious landscaping
and fragrant flower beds. Sea planes were landing and taking off,
and the tiny local harbour ferry boats were zipping around on the
water.
Empress Hotel
After gazing at the Empress Hotel and the downtown area from the
west side of the Harbour, we decided we were going to explore Victoria's
next-door neighbour: Esquimalt, a much more basic area that is home
to a large naval base. Esquimalt is definitely not as scenic and
dressed up as Victoria, but it still appeared to be a pretty tidy
place. We continued to head west on suburban roads and ended up
having a beautiful nature experience at the waterfront of Albert
Head Lagoon. We drove in through curvy roads in a shady forest,
parked our car, and walked on the beach, besides hundreds of stranded
wooden logs, to a shady corner at the west end of the lagoon where
Clare and I had a beautiful chat about life, human relationships,
changes in lifestyles and mentalities in the new China and other
esoteric topics.
Around 5 pm we decided to head even further west and we decided
to find another hidden lagoon, called Witty's Lagoon which is part
of a regional park system. We found the entrance and parked our
car since only a footpath takes you down to the lagoon. Sheltered
from the heat by a lovely overhead forest canopy, we walked down
a steep slope past the Sitting Lady Waterfall. Along the way we
saw hundreds of wild blackberry bushes that were just getting ripe,
and we sampled some of nature's bounty. After about 20 minutes of
walking beside a marsh on the left hand side, we finally ended up
on a beach at the Southern tip of Vancouver Island that offered
a perfect view of the majestic Olympic Mountains range.
Victoria Parliament Buildings
18 minutes of uphill hiking later and we were back at the car,
ready to drive downtown where we were picking up Haishan, Clare's
husband, for dinner. The perfect meeting place was the Empress Hotel,
of course. We picked him up and drove back over the Inner Harbour
Bridge and reached our dinner destination: the Spinnaker Brew Pub
at the Western End of Victoria's Harbour. On the outdoor patio we
had a gorgeous view of the Victoria Harbour, looking down at the
condo buildings, ships and sea planes that were still going back
and forth. It was a little chilly outside at that time, but the
restaurant supplied us with blankets to protect us against the evening
cold.
Having strengthened ourselves after a long day of sightseeing we
arrived back at the house at about 9 pm and given the fact that
I had pretty much been awake since 4 am due to jetlag, I thanked
my gracious hosts for their hospitality and made my way to bed.
Albert Head Lagoon
It's now just about 2:15 am, that means I get another 3.5 hours
of sleep before I have to get up, pack my bags, eat a brief breakfast
and then get dropped off by Haishan on his way to work at the Victoria
Bus Terminal. From there I'll have to say goodbye to pretty Victoria
and make my way back to the mainland by ferry and bus, to check
out my next destination: Vancouver. I am already excited.....
The colourful buildings of Victoria
Useful Books:
Related Articles:
Hello from Victoria (1) - Reaching
the West Coast
Hello from Victoria (2) - Exploring
Victoria and its vicinity"
Hello from Vancouver (1) - Arrival
in Vancouver
Hello from Vancouver (2) - Wheeling
around Stanley Park
Hello from Vancouver (3) - The Grouse
Mountain Experience
Hello from Vancouver (4) - A Walking
Tour through the Downtown East Side
Hello from Vancouver (5) - Gastown
and My Final Explorations
Hello from Vancouver (6) - Covering
the Servas Conference
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