Since I can remember, my mom has told me stories about visiting Victoria as a young girl. And being in Vancouver and not knowing if I'd ever get the chance to go back, I had to go! Victoria is 43 miles from Downtown Vancouver, the only problem is Victoria is a city on Vancouver Island so you have to take a ferry. Because I didn't have a car to get to the ferry, I decided to sign up with a tour bus company,
Land Sea Tours. It was pretty expensive, about $190 Canadian, but worth the price. Included in the tour was a pick up from my hotel at 8 am, free admission for the ferry, admittance to a museum of my choice in Victoria, and my entry was paid for Butchart Gardens, and then the tour dropped me back off at my hotel at 9 pm. No way I could have done all that without a tour.
I have never been higher than San Francisco and didn't realize that Washington branches up into British Columbia territory. Going through the Straight of Georgia on the ferry, Washington was on one side and BC on the other. For a period of time I even got to use my phone because I was in US waters (it's way pricey to use your phone out of the country so I didn't do it often).
After an 1 1/2 hour cruise, I arrived on Vancouver Island and we made our way to Victoria. My highlight was having
afternoon tea at The Empress. This is am AMAZING hotel. It's the closest to England I have ever been. Afternoon tea at this swanky establishment is not cheap! I had to make a reservation and was lucky to get one for my $76 (with tip) experience. Included with the tea are finger sandwiches and desserts, along with a box of teas to go. While the food filled me up and was tasty enough, you are definitely paying for the atmosphere. I don't even like hot tea, but I wasn't skipping this opportunity.
Fun fact: Pamela Anderson and Steve Nash are both from Victoria.
Next we headed to
Butchart Gardens! This amazing setting started off as a garden at the home of the Butchart's and expanded over time into the beautiful attraction it is today. Not much can be said that would outshine these pictures I took:
On the ferry home I saw two orca whales. Unfortunately they were far away and didn't really go above the water, but it was still quite exciting. And of course, the day was ended with the famous, beautiful sunsets that I grew to love.
One more Vancouver post left! Stay tuned...er...keep visiting =)
