Victoria, BC, is normally a quick boat ride from Seattle -- in under 3 hours you can go from downtown Seattle to the Inner Harbor in the most British of Canadian cities. Three hours on a good day, that is. Shortly after boarding our captain announced that we'd be taking a "weather route" due to high winds, and as a result would be arriving "a couple hours late".
When you've already planned a tight day trip with only 4 hours between arrival and departure, a two-hour delay is unfortunate news. We had barely enough time to get off the boat, find a place for lunch, and get back to the boat! But travel without crosswinds does not interesting stories make -- and now we officially belong to that glamorous set who flits up to Victoria for a quick lunch and back in time for dinner on the roof...
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| Eagerly planning our afternoon (pre-weather route announcement) |
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| Nap time! I think we were about 30 minutes into the ride. |
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| The upside of all that wind was a gorgeous sunny day -- no dreary clouds here! |
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| White caps... |
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| The Empress Hotel, the iconic anchor to the entire inner harbor of Victoria |
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| Parliament building |
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| Sun, flowers and food -- all the things we needed for lunch! |
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| Surprisingly delicious fish and chips -- the cod was flaky and fresh |
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| Fortunately Lady remembered her nautical stripes for the outing |
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| Rogers Chocolates was the logical next step |
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| Orca topiaries (well, topiary isn't the right word, I think -- maybe living sculpture?) |
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China shop inside the Empress Hotel. Lady and I debated the merits of the blue background versus the pink
Either way, that's a lot of floral... |
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| A lot less frilly and hoity-toity -- the totem poles of Thunderbird Park |
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Last time I was here was in high school - strange how the park was at
once familiar and yet totally not how I remembered it |
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| Parliament building |
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| The style is grand but the scale approachable, and at night it's all lit up with white christmas lights |
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Deception Pass, linking Whidby Island to the mainland.
By this time the winds had died down, so they let us out on the deck to take in the beautiful view, |
1 comment:
It was one looong boatride, 5 hours up and 5 hours back! But Victoria was absolutely gorgeaous.
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