Victoria The Third Finally- a bit of a sleep in! We had a leisurely breakfast at our hotel and then headed out for a walk about. Victoria is really a beautiful little tourist town, with
Victoria The Third
Finally- a bit of a sleep in! We had a leisurely breakfast at our hotel and then headed out for a walk about. Victoria is really a beautiful little tourist town, with the harbour and a lot of cute little boutique stores. We all picked up some useful souvenirs. Max got a couple of dress shirts and a new tie, Chris got a couple of nice shirts and Cathy got a pair of shoes. We found a little mall and I took this picture because Max looks so grown up with his Starbucks coffee.
We got all spiffed up and went for tea at The Empress. It was very fancy and in a really beautiful room with ornate features. Max describes it as the best tea he has ever had; this is likely because his tea arrived on a three-tiered tray just for him with all kid friendly foods. His little sandwiches were ham and cheese, peanut butter and jam, turkey; and his desserts were all recognizable (marshmallow dipped in chocolate etc).
The adult tea sandwiches were smoked salmon, cucumber and turkey salad on a mini bioche bun. Cathy thought it was lovely and beautiful. Chris suggests it was overpriced hot water but that may be because he got the bill. 😉 I think Chris was less happy because Max’s cupcake was bigger.
After tea, we wandered around The Empress- the flowers were so beautiful.
We then had a scheduled tour of the Parliament building in Victoria. Have you ever wondered what will happen to you if you attempt to bring a weapon (pocket knife) into a Parliament building Canada? You should ask Chris! We started our tour by going through security (exactly like airport security). We were asked to empty our pockets into a plastic bin to go through an x-ray type machine. I did this, Max did this, and Chris stood pretty still and quietly said “I have a pocket knife in my pocket”. The security guy smiled and told Chris they would need to keep it at the security desk but he would be given a ticket so he can re-claim it when he exits. He then complemented Chris on his knife. Before we left, three other security officials complemented him on the quality of his pocket knife. I do love Canada.
We learned a lot of interesting things about the B.C. Crest and some of the meaning behind the stained glass.
They also have a display right now honouring women in politics which I enjoyed seeing.
Max loved the souvenir we bought “Parli-mints”.
We had some down time back at our hotel, and then we headed out for dinner. We had made reservations at one of the top-rated restaurants – but we found it to be HOT and LOUD. Max actually chose to skip dessert so he could leave sooner and cool down.
We are leaving Victoria in the morning- goodbye harbour and beautiful buildings, goodbye street buskers, good bye horse drawn carriages that clipped clopped under our hotel room window every evening and every morning.