Victoria, BC

Heather and I headed out for a day in Victoria. Fred had no desire to go into all the shops, etc. that Heather & I like.  Victoria is 22 miles or so from here, and there is nice countryside to look at. Finding the waterfront was pretty easy. We parked in the garage under The Empress and headed up to the hotel. There wasn't really as much to walk around and see inside but it is beautiful. We just started walking up the street and wandering through the tourist shops. We hadn't had breakfast or lunch yet, so we just wandered looking for a place to eat. We stumbled upon this place called Nautical Nellies and decide to eat there. It had a view of the harbour and   was really nice inside with a nautical feel, fish tanks, figure heads, etc. I had the crab burger with yam fries, and Heather ordered the blue crab mac and cheese with arugula salad. Wow, were we impressed. The service was great, and that was one of the best meals we have eaten in a LONG time. Even if it was about 2 days’ worth of our calorie allotment. ;-) After lunch we decided to head down to the water to see about taking a harbor cruise. There are these small boats that are called pickle boats because they are green and oval, you get the idea. They had a 45 min tour leaving right away for $22/pp, so we hopped on. It toured the marina, the bay, by the houseboats, cruise ship dock, etc. We saw a few seaplanes take off, and got a great view of the waterfront. Once we returned, we wandered up by the Parliament building, and looked at the statues and the Sequoia tree that California gifted to B.C. in the late 1800’s. We saw horse drawn carriages, and after inquiring and found out it was $50 for a 15 minute ride. We passed. We decided to stop for coffee instead... and a piece of tuxedo cake. YUM!! We sat and people watched and the wind whipped through the area. We had a lot of sun, and the temp was great, but it was a windy day. We wandered a few more shops on the way to the car and headed out of town.  Heather saw of the map that just a couple miles away was this "castle" that she had wanted to see, so we took a detour to Craigdarroch Castle. It was closed, but we walked around and took pictures, which was fine. So we just headed back to the boat, gave Fred a few things we brought back for him, watched a little TV and relaxed. We are ready for another full day tomorrow as Monica flies in. Then we'll either head out on the boat, or if the wind is too bad, maybe stay one more night and head to Butchart Gardens.