Colorado Cruiser: Victoria British Columbia Day 7

Victoria on Vancouver Isle

Last night I really crashed after getting the blog written. I had slept during part of the drive and still I was exhausted. Mike thinks it might have been the motion sickness pills that were doing it and I think he might be right.

Whatever the case, I slept very soundly all night and didn't wake up until after 7:00. I would have slept later but someone texted me and I hadn't muted the phone. Oh well, time to get up anyway, we were burning vacation daylight.

After breakfast we headed down to the docks to see what we could see. It was overcast and slightly chilly outside. The docks were interesting, but nothing special so we walked on by and headed toward the British Columbia Museum. The museum didn't open for another 30 minutes which left enough time to go wander through the Fairmont Hotel, a 5 start hotel. It was very posh.

When the museum opened, we bought tickets and started wandering through the exhibits. They had a visiting exhibit about vikings that was very good. I learned all sort of things, like the fact that no viking ever had horns on his helmet, that's a myth. Also, no one ever called themselves a viking, instead, they went viking or in other words, went raiding.

The museum was very kid friendly and had a lot of hands on things to touch and feel.

Around noon we started thinking of lunch and consulted the all knowledgable Fodors guide book. It had some good recommendations but I'd seen, heard and we'd had recommended a good fish place called Red Fish Blue Fish, so we looked up it's address and started walking. The clouds were thickening and the temperature was dropping by the time we arrived. The Red Fish Blue Fish is in a converted shipping container right down on the docks. There was a line of about 20 people waiting to order, and allot of people sitting on stools along the dock eating their food. It was not high dining but it appeared to be popular dining.

As we neared the front of the line (30 minutes) I told Mike to go find us a spot and I ordered the food. We got a double order of Halibut and chips, and I got a Halibut and chipotle taco to try. The fish was awesome, really crispy and cooked perfectly. Mike found us seats under an awning and we dug in. They had a great malt vinegar to sprinkle on the fish and chips, it was really dark and potent. I wish we could get such good vinegar in the states.

My taco was ok, but not as good as the battered fish. I think it must be yesterday's fish turned into a salad, then wrapped in a tortilla. Next time I'll know just to stick with the straight up fish and chips.

We were nearly done eating when it suddenly started raining. And I do mean suddenly. There was no piter pater of drops that slowly increased. Just suddenly rain started coming down. It was hard or windy or anything, just a good steady rain.

All the people along the dock scrambled to move under shelter, but the people in line just stood there. No one was giving up their spot in that long line for just a bit of rain.

We finished our lunch and sit for a minute, but we couldn't sit the rain out. Too many people needed our spaces to eat their own meals, so we put on coats and started back for the hotel. I grabbed a picture of the food stand as we went past.

The rain kept drizzling lightly all the way back to the hotel. We decided to dry off and figure out where to go next.

After consulting the Fodors oracle, we decided on the Butchart Gardens about 15 kilometers away. The rain had stopped by now, but we asked the concierge if we could borrow umbrellas just in case. By the time we reached the gardens the sun was nearly shining. We opted to take the umbrellas anyway on the theory that if we were prepared for rain it surely wouldn't come, and it didn't.

It also turns out that Butchart gardens is prepared for rain too. They have carts full of umbrellas all around the gardens, so if it rains, people can just grab an umbrella and keep wandering. That's a great thing to know if we ever come back again.

The gardens were a pet project by Mrs Butchart. When a limestone quarry near her home ran out of limestone, they purchased the remaining hole in the ground and she began designing gardens in those holes.

The first garden we saw was the Sunken Garden and it's easy to see the rectangular shape of the old quarry. It's so filled with trees, shrubs, and flowers that it's easy to forget it's origins and just get lost in the colors.

We descended the stairs and wandered the paths through the garden. Each flower bed was filled with different flowers, sometimes one variety but different colors mixed, and sometimes several varieties. The words "A riot of color" was very apt for describing what we were seeing.

At the end of the garden it suddenly dropped off into a deep pool, and in the middle of that pool was a dancing fountain. Different water jets turned on and off, or waved around to produce curtains and swirls of water in the air.

The next garden was the Rose garden. Hundreds of different bushes surrounded a central ring of grass. We wandered around looking at all the varieties and colors. One rose bush had a dark red that was nearly black, and the petals looked like velvet. There was every color you could imagine a rose being, from yellow, to pink, to purple, and orange. This was clearly the most popular garden because it was packed with people. It was very hard to get a picture without 10 other people being in it with you.

There was a large arched walkway leading out of the garden with hundreds of roses and other plants growing over the arches.

From the Rose garden we next went to the Japenese garden. It wasn't so much about flowers and color as it was about tranquility and flawless design. Everything was trimmed and manacured very precisely. We sat on some benches for a while and enjoyed a babbling brook running through the middle of the garden until some loud americans came by and asked Mike to take pictures of them.

Speaking of nationalities, we've heard a whole lot of different languages being spoken. English speakers seem to be in the minority here. Japenese seems the most common with Chinese a close second. But we've heard German, Dutch, Spanish, French, and I think Nigerian and a few other African languages. But everyone seems to understand a little english and we hear "Please", and "Excuse me" all the time as we attempt to pass people on the narrow walkways.

We continued on to the Italian garden which was set in a stone courtyard with stone lined ponds. Lastly we saw the Medeteranian garden with many plants that I've seen at home and in Arizona.

Between us, Mike and I took way over 200 pictures, so I'll have to pair it down a long ways for the report. There are just too many to put in the blog.

From the garden we returned to our hotel to ask for a dinner recommendation. We were thinking Sushi and he knew a great small place nearby. He made us reservations and we took off walking. It was 4 or 5 blocks away.

When we reached the restaurant the lady had our reservations mixed up. She thought we weren't coming for another hour, but a bit of fast talking by Mike and she seated us anyway. We sat at the counter watching the chefs creating food for the other customers.

We ordered a bit of everything including Miso, Inari, Taro, Sake, california rolls, and a few other things that I didn't know how to pronounce. Mike took a picture of me to post on facebook.

I ate as much as I could, but in the end, Mike had to finish the last few taco and sake. It was good eating for sure.

Back at the hotel I actually got to working on the blog by 8:00. I'm hoping to get it done so I can go sit in the hot tub before going to sleep. Wish me luck.

An exhibit in the British Columbia Museum