Victoria, BC

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 23:59:59 -800

For a provincial capital, Victoria doesn't seem to be a terribly
touristy city. We drove downtown and wandered around the city a little bit,
but the parliament building was closed for the day. The Empress Hotel was
open, so we walked around in it, looking at all the old pictures of the hotel
that they had on display in the basement. It's a finely finished Fairmont
hotel, with an ongoing tea service, a formal wood-panelled dining room, and an
arboretum. The strangest part of this grand hotel was walking over to the real
registration desk, which is in a new annex and nowhere near as grand looking.
But the old part of the hotel was pleasing to look at. After the hotel, we
surveyed operations at the ferry terminal in preparation for our return to the
United States the next day, drove through the old neighborhoods looking at the
bungalow houses there, stopped at the sea wall on the south end of Victoria for
some sunset photos, then went back to the restaurant district for some sushi
before turning in. And by "turning in" I mean watching The Office before
passing out.