Playing in Victoria, BC
May. 15th, 2006 08:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rowanfFriday I did a bit of caching (I had a find a nice big cache to leave a bug in) and a good bit of getting ready for our trip and for circle Friday night.
Saturday the alarm was set for 4:00am. *sigh* Early even for me. Esp. since we got to the airport and had to sit on the tarmac for an hour whilst they played with possibly faulty navigation instruments. Luckily our connection in Seattle had been going to be a long layover and we made our flight to Victoria without difficulty. We got to Victoria in late morning and had the whole afternoon to wander the harbour area and generally sightsee. I picked up a few virtual caches but most folks up here don't want you to log until your answer is checked. I am finding that very annoying. Rather than going out for a fancy dinner since we hadn't had lunch until about 3pm, we wandered over to a movie theatre and saw Mission Impossible III which was about what we expected. A thrill ride with no particular merit.
Sunday we ate the very nice continental breakfast at our hotel, The Magnolia. I am very happy with the hotel. Our room is lovely and the service ahs been quite good. We're about two blocks from the Empress, so right near the harbour and all the tourist areas.
We went to Craigdarroch Castle right when it opened at 10am, which we were very glad for as it got crowded very quickly and we were a bit ahead of the curve. It is a *wonderful* stately home. One of those built on a scale one could actually imagine living in. It was built by a coal baron in the 19th century but fell on hard times after the 1920s and was a hospital and a school and such before being restored. They are doing a lovely job of the restoration.
For lunch we ate a Julia's, a Mediterranean place across from our hotel. Russell had ravioli in a creamy curry sauce which was amazing and I had Greek lamb chops. Yum. Then we wandered back down to the harbour and took the "Gorge" tour which goes upriver from the harbour. It was a bit disappointing since there wasn't much of a "tour". But it was nice to be on the water and to see the rocky shore and the various buildings old and new. There is a cool bridge with huge concrete counterweights. We passed a car recycling center... you could see the smashed bodies at one end and then piles of "buick chips" at the other ready to head off to China to be made into refrigerators or whatever. By then it was about 4pm and we wandered voer and found the BC Museum closed at 5pm so I decided to come back in the morning when it opens at 9am (and I'd better stop typing and go!)
So I wandered off and caught a couple of real caches along the shore and did a Travel Bug party (pictures) at Mile Zero of the Trans-Canadian highway. That was a fun.
For dinner we went to The Reef, a caribbean restaurant. I had amazing appetizers "squash fritters" which were trini pakora filled with goat cheese, "yam chips" which were yam french fries, and crab cakes. The various dipping sauces, jerk mayo, mango chutney and pesto aioli were wonderful. Russell has a thyme chicken which he pronounced very good as well. We split a pitcher of sangria which is a practice I think I need to stop... red wine has been giving me a stuffed head and it has too much acid in the fruit juice. Bah. I hate getting old.
Off to the museum!
Saturday the alarm was set for 4:00am. *sigh* Early even for me. Esp. since we got to the airport and had to sit on the tarmac for an hour whilst they played with possibly faulty navigation instruments. Luckily our connection in Seattle had been going to be a long layover and we made our flight to Victoria without difficulty. We got to Victoria in late morning and had the whole afternoon to wander the harbour area and generally sightsee. I picked up a few virtual caches but most folks up here don't want you to log until your answer is checked. I am finding that very annoying. Rather than going out for a fancy dinner since we hadn't had lunch until about 3pm, we wandered over to a movie theatre and saw Mission Impossible III which was about what we expected. A thrill ride with no particular merit.
Sunday we ate the very nice continental breakfast at our hotel, The Magnolia. I am very happy with the hotel. Our room is lovely and the service ahs been quite good. We're about two blocks from the Empress, so right near the harbour and all the tourist areas.
We went to Craigdarroch Castle right when it opened at 10am, which we were very glad for as it got crowded very quickly and we were a bit ahead of the curve. It is a *wonderful* stately home. One of those built on a scale one could actually imagine living in. It was built by a coal baron in the 19th century but fell on hard times after the 1920s and was a hospital and a school and such before being restored. They are doing a lovely job of the restoration.
For lunch we ate a Julia's, a Mediterranean place across from our hotel. Russell had ravioli in a creamy curry sauce which was amazing and I had Greek lamb chops. Yum. Then we wandered back down to the harbour and took the "Gorge" tour which goes upriver from the harbour. It was a bit disappointing since there wasn't much of a "tour". But it was nice to be on the water and to see the rocky shore and the various buildings old and new. There is a cool bridge with huge concrete counterweights. We passed a car recycling center... you could see the smashed bodies at one end and then piles of "buick chips" at the other ready to head off to China to be made into refrigerators or whatever. By then it was about 4pm and we wandered voer and found the BC Museum closed at 5pm so I decided to come back in the morning when it opens at 9am (and I'd better stop typing and go!)
So I wandered off and caught a couple of real caches along the shore and did a Travel Bug party (pictures) at Mile Zero of the Trans-Canadian highway. That was a fun.
For dinner we went to The Reef, a caribbean restaurant. I had amazing appetizers "squash fritters" which were trini pakora filled with goat cheese, "yam chips" which were yam french fries, and crab cakes. The various dipping sauces, jerk mayo, mango chutney and pesto aioli were wonderful. Russell has a thyme chicken which he pronounced very good as well. We split a pitcher of sangria which is a practice I think I need to stop... red wine has been giving me a stuffed head and it has too much acid in the fruit juice. Bah. I hate getting old.
Off to the museum!
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no subject
Date: 2006-05-15 06:08 pm (UTC)Taking notes like mad
Date: 2006-05-15 09:25 pm (UTC)Just so you know, I'm reading this and taking notes like mad. Now that we live in Oregon, we plan on visiting Canada (Oh, Canada) quite a lot.
Thank you for the tips and travel notes.
Best of luck on the Hunt!
love,
d.
Re: Taking notes like mad
Date: 2006-05-16 01:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-16 01:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-16 02:13 pm (UTC)Yes, good deals can be had during the 'shoulder season' between New Years and Empire Day. Last snowfall here in the Village is usually on the Empire Day weekend: it snowed here last week, and one more may yet come on Saturday. If global warming exists, it has not come here as of yet.
M.
who lives in Dunsmuir House, on Dunsmuir Avenue, in a pithead village which the Dunsmuirs built.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-16 06:13 pm (UTC)