Yesterday I was greeted by another perfect day with radiant blue skies, great temperatures and no humidity. After a lovely fortifying breakfast and some business, Clare and I set off by car to explore British Columbia’s capital, Victoria.
We started by parking our car fairly close to “Mile Zero”, right next to Beacon Hill Park. This sprawling city park is right on the waterfront and at its southern end has a perfect view across Juan de Fuca Sound to Washington State’s Olympic Range.
Beacon Hill Park has beautiful landscaping, hundreds of flower beds, a petting zoo with squealing peacocks, serene shady ponds that are home to several families of ducks, a variety of totem poles, and an array of shade trees, many of which are I have never seen in Toronto. . The whole boardwalk around Beacon Hill Park reminded me a lot of California and seeing the weird palm tree reinforced that image. I had to remind myself that we are still in Canada here.
Our next step was to explore the boardwalk to the east along Beach Drive. We pass beautiful, well-kept houses and several inlets and bays, and about 3 km east of the city center, we arrive 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 foyer and out the back door and saw one of the most beautiful backyards and patios on the ocean. The hotel, like many other places in Victoria, boasts beautiful landscaping and a multitude of brightly colored flower beds, right next to the Pacific Ocean.
Next, we visit Oak Bay Marina and then turn inland to Oak Bay’s quaint shopping area, adorned with hanging planters and plenty of outdoor patios. We knew our menu included exploring the Empress Hotel and the Provincial Parliament Buildings, so we started heading downtown via Yates Street. We turned right onto the waterfront and to find a parking spot in this bustling neighborhood, we ended up parking on Johnson Street, right in front of a retail store that had a large mechanical doll dressed as an old lady with a big hat out front. . The doll was able to blink its eyelids and move its head from side to side, much to the fascination of local tourists.
We filled up the meter and made our way along the waterfront along Victoria’s serene Inner Harbor area. Past various buskers, mimes, and outdoor performers, we slowly made our way to the Empress Hotel, a beautiful grand castle-style hotel dating from 1908. Just to the southwest are the Parliament Buildings, built between 1893 and 1898, with gardens and flower beds to the front and presented by a statue of Queen Victoria, offer an impressive visual delight.
Having fortified ourselves with a tasty turkey sandwich and delicious ice cream, we slowly walked back past the Empress on Government Street and checked out the various retail stores. This area is packed with people, and we saw several street musicians and bands. Many of the retail stores are located in historic buildings that have been painted in bright colors. Just as our meter expired, we briefly checked out Market Square, an open-air market area with lots of eclectic little shops.
Back in the car, we cross the bridge at the north end of the Inner Harbor and look out over the west side of the harbor, which features a beautiful waterfront, flanked by luxury condominium buildings, most of them retirement homes, surrounded by lush landscaping and fragrant flowers. beds Seaplanes landed and took off, and tiny ferries from the local port glided across the water.
After taking in the Empress Hotel and the city center from the west side of the harbor, we decided we were going to explore Victoria’s next door neighbor: Esquimalt, a much more basic area that is home to a large naval base. Esquimalt is definitely not as quaint and dressed up as Victoria, but it still seemed to be a pretty neat place. We continued west on suburban roads and ended up having a beautiful nature experience on the shoreline of Albert Head Lagoon. We drove down winding roads in a shady forest, parked our car, and walked along the beach past hundreds of stranded wooden logs to a shady corner at the west end of the lagoon where Clare and I had a lovely chat about life. . human relations, changes in lifestyles and mentalities in the new China and other esoteric topics.
Around 5 pm we decided to go even further west and 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 one path goes down to the lagoon. Sheltered from the heat by a beautiful forest canopy, we hike up a steep slope past the Seated Lady waterfall. Along the way we saw hundreds of ripening wild blackberry bushes and got a taste of some of nature’s goodness. After about 20 minutes of walking along a swamp on the left hand side, we finally ended up at a beach on the southern tip of Vancouver Island that offered a perfect view of the majestic Olympic Mountain range.
18 minutes uphill later and we were back in the hiking car, ready to drive downtown where we would pick up Haishan, Clare’s husband, for dinner. The perfect meeting place was the Emperatriz Hotel, of course. We picked it up and drove back over the Inner Harbor Bridge and arrived at our dinner destination: the Spinnaker Brew Pub at the western end of Victoria Harbor. On the outdoor patio we had a beautiful view of Victoria Harbour, taking in the condominium buildings, boats and seaplanes that still came and went. It was a bit chilly outside at the time, but the restaurant provided us with blankets to keep us warm at night.
Having strengthened ourselves after a long day of sightseeing, we arrived at the house around 9 p.m. M. And since I had been practically awake since 4 a.m. bed.
Now it’s only around 2:15am, which means I get another 3.5 hours of sleep before I have to get up, pack, have a short breakfast, and then Haishan drops me off on my way to work at Victoria Bus Terminal. . . From there I will have to say goodbye to beautiful Victoria and return to the mainland by ferry and bus, to meet my next destination: Vancouver. I’m already excited…
