THE GREAT NORTHWEST: THURSDAY, AUGUST 7

THURSDAY, AUGUST 7:

A second day in Victoria proper – this time, the city itself (Butchart Gardens are a few miles north of the city proper.)

The highlights of Victoria are all clustered within the main downtown square: the harbor,

the Provincial Capitol Building (Parliament),

the historic Empress Hotel.

Our first stop was the lobby of the landmark Empress Hotel.

We wanted to book an early afternoon High Tea if we could. We knew that it was outrageously expensive ($59/person + tax + tip), but, if you’re going to indulge in English Tea for probably the only time in your life, then where else to do it but the Empress, where the Upper Crust have been partaking for over a century (and, more recently, motley tourists like us). They had a 1:30 opening, so we booked it.

Then we walked across the street and joined a group for a tour of the Parliament Building, led by a veddy proper British lass. A 25-year old unknown architect won the competition to design this building in 1893. The young province of British Columbia wanted an impressive government building with which to make a statement of the new province’s growing economic, social, and political status. (This same architect designed the regal Empress Hotel a few years later.)

We enjoyed seeing some of the impressive features inside the building, including a commissioned portrait of Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II.

Outside again, we enjoyed getting another little history lesson in the origins of Victoria, Vancouver Island, and larger British Columbia, played out by Queen Victoria herself and James Douglas, the Queen’s appointed representative of the Hudson’s Bay Company outpost here and, later, the first governor of both the colony of Victoria and subsequently the colony of BC.

One interesting tidbit we learned was that the treaty ending the War of 1812 established the 49^th parallel as the dividing line between the territories of “British North America” (lands which are now Canada) and the United States. However, it was soon discovered that the lowest portion of Vancouver Island, actually lay beneath the 49^th parallel. Oops! So the English felt that they needed to establish a physical presence on the island to protect their interests here . . . hence, a fort was built in 1843 by the natural harbor, where the Hudson’s Bay trading company was located . Queen Victoria lent her name to it . . . and Fort Victoria was established. It was all about the fur trade for the settlement’s first few years, but then, in the mid 1850’s, gold was discovered on the mainland. Consequently, little Fort Victoria grew into a bustling supply center for the gold-seekers, akin to Skagway during the Yukon gold rush. It wasn’t until decades later that Vancouver (the city) surpassed Victoria in population and influence. But by then, Victoria had long been established as BC’s capital city.

Hung out around the harbor for a while longer,

and then Tea Time! We were most graciously ushered into the luxuriously-appointed Tea Lounge and seated. Our distinguished server, Sam, arrived with a selection of teas from which to select and soon returned with a 3-tiered platter of delicacies and 2 piping hot tea pots. We worked our way up on the food platter – first, 5 kinds of finger sandwiches, next, 2 scrumptious scones with butter and jam, and then a decadent sweets assortment. A most veddy proper civilized tradition! It used to be that there was a strict dress code (as Bill said, “Just dress as you would as if you were serving Communion at TOPC”) . . . one story is that Barbara Streisand was once turned away for dressing too casually. However, that part of the tradition has clearly changed. A few people were in T-shirts, jeans, etc. Tsk, tsk. Oh deah, I guess that anybody’s money is good nowadays. Even though we spent the equivalent of a very nice dinner (with good wine!), it was worth the once-in-a-lifetime-and-I-can-say-I-did-it experience.

Strolled around the grounds for a bit,

Use your imagination . . . are these a pair of dogs . . . or . .??

and then we hopped on a double decker bus of British vintage to take a tour of the city.

Our driver was an absolutely delightful older man who had moved here from England. Took us on a lovely route, and pointed out many interesting sights which we would have otherwise missed, including a close up of a cruise ship docked in the harbor,

the tallest totem pole in the world,

Mile 0 of the Trans-Canadian Highway (which runs from here at the Pacific to the a town in Newfoundland at the Atlantic), a statue of a young man with an artificial leg who attempted to run all of that highway in an effort to raise funds for cancer research (but who died about 1/3 of the way across),

Christ Church Cathedral, inspired by a gothic cathedral in England, and which cornerstone was laid by none other than Winston Churchill (we had time to go inside for a few minutes),

and lovely views of the harbor at the other end of town, where many of Victoria’s retirees reside.

He told us that Victoria has the highest per capita retirement population of any city in Canada, primarily because of its mild climate. Its summers are comparable to Vancouver’s – dry and warm, but its winters are less wet. More of a mist a lot of the time, he says. A very nice, relaxing tour.

We then headed up north, on the Saanich Penninsula, to a place at the very tip of the peninsula called Deep Cove. I’d read of a restaurant there which we thought would be lovely for our anniversary dinner. French cuisine. Very pricey, yes, but we agreed to splurge. We both chose a prix fixe option – 4 courses: salad, fish, choice of entrée, dessert. We both absolutely loved the salad – greens with prawns and other accompaniments in an amazing warm dressing. Bill loved the rest of his meal as well – especially his venison, perfectly roasted. But I realized that it was a mistake for me to get that much food. I didn’t really like the fish course (halibut), but felt obligated to eat most of it. Dumb, dumb, dumb. And then I was full! So I really didn’t enjoy my entrée, scallops in a curry sauce, even though it was good (although I’ve had many seafood dishes I liked better). For dessert, we both had a simple dish which featured a poached pear with homemade vanilla ice cream, a divine chocolate sauce, and a hint of caramel. Again, delicious, but I was just too full to really savor it. So I had a bad case of Buyer’s Remorse on the way home! But lesson learned. Despite all of that, I was able to really enjoy the setting – the sun setting on the cove was peacefully sublime.