Victoria

Photos to be uploaded later, when we have better Internet access.
(We are currently aboard Amtrak's Adirondack in Schenectady, NY en route to New York City.)

We boarded the Pacific Coach Lines bus to Victoria, which would deliver us onto the ferry at Tsawassen Terminal (Pronounced Tuh-WAS-sen) on the mainland and drive us in to downtown Victoria from the Sidney terminal on the island. PCL buses get priority booking on the ferry, so they're the first aboard and the first to depart upon docking. After our driver got us situated on the Spirit of British Columbia's vehicle deck, we were all shuffled off the bus and up to the passenger areas of the ferry. Dani and I were expecting to get a bit of time to relax and enjoy BC Ferries' complimentary wi-fi. (As you can tell, we haven't had a lot of time on the Internet on this trip.) However, the damn thing didn't work until 20 minutes before our arrival in Sidney, during which time Dani was able to upload some photos to Facebook (and that's it). We were forced to look out the windows, and the scenery was spectacular- cabins and homes clinging to the sides of the tiny islands that form the passage between the mainland and Sidney, served by smaller ferry boats that shuttle between docks on each one of them. While I can't say the isolation appeals to me, the views certainly make a case for moving there.

(Photos from boat go here!)

We were called back down to the bus as the ferry arrived on the island, and they drove us into downtown Victoria- stopping along the way at Mayfair Mall. Of course, I only realized after we left the stop that our hotel was within a block of said mall. (On the way in, I also spotted an Accent Inn which I recognized immediately as the former Stay-N-Save Victoria, where I stayed the last time I was in the city with the Serrano High Rattlesnake Regiment. Sadly, the attached restaurant no longer advertises their famous sirlion steak.)

Upon our arrival in downtown Victoria, we quickly found ourselves confronted with Dani's lack of bus fare, so we had to find a place to make change- and this on a budget. The local 7-11 was unable to make change without making a sale, so he managed to extract a loonie from me for unnecessary breath mints. We grabbed one of the many frequent buses along Douglas St. and headed to our hotel.

At our hotel, we found ourselves confronted with the same trouble that befell us in Vancouver- the hotel wanted a $200 deposit, and we were in no position to provide the same. This time we were unable to bargain our way out of the requirement, and had to cajole my mother into providing a credit card to hold the room. This would be the first time I would reach out to my family for assistance, but not the last. After a tense hour or so, we managed to get situated in the room, proceeding to take care of things like blogging and laundry and planning our next day's sight-seeing.

I woke up early the next morning to go take in the sights, while Dani slept in. (This turns out to be a theme of the vacation.) The first thing about Victoria that was immediately apparent to me was the fact that the town is a tourist trap. Not a bad place to go if you've got money and are looking for a quick getaway, but most of the attractions of the area were a bit too rich for our tiny trip budget. Victoria's two main industries are tourism and government- it is the provincial capital of British Columbia- and it seems like what you would get if you crossed Avalon, CA (on Catalina Island) with Sacramento. Readers familiar with both places should catch my meaning.

Anyway, I wandered the harbourfront for a time, taking pictures of the various operations going on there. Victoria is the second-busiest floatplane port in the region, behind Vancouver, and its small and beautiful harbour makes for excellent photography. I also watched the departure of the M.V. Coho on her way to Port Angeles, WA- it is amazing to see a boat of that size maneouvre its way out of such a small harbour. It basically had to perform a giant three-point turn. After that departure, the Victoria Harbour Ferries performed their "world famous" water ballet. I'm not sure how world-famous it is, seeing as I'd never heard of it, but I did watch for a while and take pictures.

I found myself in the early afternoon wife-less and without much motivation to go sight-seeing without her, so I was lucky that we were in town during the Victoria International Jazz Festival. Free concerts were being held in Centennial Square, so I took my lunch next to a fountain while listening to live jazz. There are worse things in the world...

After lunch, I met up with Dani and we proceeded to check out the (actually) world-famous Empress Hotel. This massive structure was built by the Canadian Pacific Railway in order to entice eastern leisure travelers to the company's rails and steamships. Along with Wimbledon, it is one of the last snooty British things- you can still take high tea in the dining room, or visit the attached conservatory (complete with a live pianist). It is also a magnificent building which dominates the harbourscape of Victoria, topped in copper roofs that have turned green with age, complementing the Parliament Building across the water. So, of course, we had to have a look around.

There are a few interesting things open to the public at the Empress, including the aforementioned conservatory (which is now attached to the Victoria Convention Centre). Another nice spot is the Empress Archives, which showcase the history of the building and have quite a few knick-knacks from the hotel's past- old brochures, menus, invitations, silverware and toiletries and the like. There was also an amusing hallway of self-deprecating editorial cartoons. (Also on this hallway were a pair of ridiculously comfortable chairs. Neither of us wanted to get up from them...)

Of course, since we won't be able to afford to stay somewhere like the Empress for a very, very long time, we decided to take a quick peek at how the other half lives. We didn't manage to get terribly far. There was an unguarded elevator near the Archives which led us straight up to the top floor, where I was hoping to get a view of the harbour. Sadly, it seems that all the windows on the floor have been reserved for paying customers, so we headed back out.

We wandered in the general direction of the Parliament Building, but stopped to listen to a busker on the waterfront. It seems that the Victoria Interntional Busker Festival was running concurrently with the Jazz Festival- they were quite organized, down to arranging locations and selling programs and t-shirts at the local mall. This particular guy was quite good, singing mostly covers of classic rock songs with a boy who, I assume, must be his son. We dropped a few cents into his guitar case after a half-hour's listen. (Would've given more if we could've.) The new-found knowledge about the busker festival made my happening upon a superhero playing a keyboard earlier a touch more sensible.

When we arrived at the Parliament Building, they were just starting up an organized tour- the only way you can get in the building on weekends. I'd played on the steps of this structure before, in 1999, but if I'd been inside the memory escapes me. I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

As most of downtown was rolling up the sidewalks (and we were limited, by budget and transit agency whim, to traveling in the direction of our hotel), we proceeded to try and visit one of Victoria's other landmarks, the Craigdarroch Castle. It was built by the coal magnate John Dunsmuir as a testament of his wealth and prestige, although he died before its completion. It now belongs to the City of Victoria, which gave us hope that admission might be free. It wasn't, so we didn't go in, but we did take some great pictures of the outside.

After the castle, with our bus transfers running out of time, we headed back to the hotel and went to sleep. The next day would bring us to the Victoria Clipper and our first deviation from the original itinerary- an unplanned night in Seattle.