Weekend in Victoria

Saturday 25 March

Having packed the night before we have time for a cuppa before we set out on our drive to Victoria. It started off as a very dreary morning, but the clouds slowly lift and all of a sudden we have a reasonable clear day.  We arrive at noon and wander to Fisherman's Wharf where we have lunch and watch the seals swim around and being fed fresh fish by the tourists.

Later we get on the tour boat, a big catamaran, which brings us out into the bay and even in US waters to see what wildlife we can find.  It's very cold, but beautiful on the water and we manage to get a good look at the sea lions and even a bald eagle.  Much later we discover the first orcas.  They are, and stay, far off though, but Wim manages a series of photographs with his camera.  Mine doesn't have the special lens for such occasions.  I'll pinch a few from his facebook to show here.

Sea lions

Bald eagle

Orca

Upon return I managed to shoot a few pictures of the colourful floating houses at Fisherman's Wharf.

And a few more walking through town.

Cherry blossom trees

Government House

Totem Pole

Towards the end of the afternoon it was getting really cold again and as we were ready for dinner anyway we went to Brown's Social House where I had been before with Dianne.  Good food and a great atmosphere.

Then it was time to drive to Saanich where we would stay overnight with Pat and Wayne from the ATC.  Another great couple.  We also had a marvellous room with en-suite and I have never been to even a real B&B where everything was so organised and where so much was made available to the guests!

They also had a dog, Bongo, who took to Wim, who has never had a pet in his life! ;-)

We had a glass of home-made wine, like we had at Steve and Susan's, and talked about anything and everything.  We also learned a lot more about Canada and the Canadian way of life.

Sunday 26 March

On Sunday morning we were welcomed with a yummy breakfast: porridge (the Scottish way), fresh fruit (oranges and strawberries) and toast.  As we seemed to have so much to talk about we chatted away until it was time for us to leave, because we wanted to visit the Royal BC Museum again.

Luckily Wim's interest was in the Human History department, which I hadn't seen before.  It kept us busy for the next few hours until we were too tired to take in more.  We quickly walked through the Natural History department, where I showed Wim the beautiful wildlife scenes which I had seen on my first visit.

Before we were finished with the museum we had a bite to eat and Wim wanted to have a look at the museum shops to see if there was something of interest in the way of souvenirs.  I had no intention of buying anything, as I hardly ever buy souvenirs for myself, but this time I fell for a cute little Jade bear with a fish in its mouth.

As it was far too early to go home we decided to walk through town and get to see a bit of the city itself, which I hadn't had a chance to do before either.  The most interesting part was Government Street and surrounds.

After spending some time at Starbucks with a nice cuppa, and at the end of the afternoon, when we got really cold again and it had started to rain, we were ready for dinner.  We found a beautiful old pub, the Bard & Banker Irish Pub, where we had some great food and Wim his favourite: beer!

Then it was time for our second night at Pat and Wayne's, where we had a great social evening again together and where I could enjoy a glass of wine (zero tolerance in Canada when you're driving!).

Bongo, the dog, really took to Wim as you can see...