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Port Call: Victoria, BC, Canada!
Our driver turned around to pass along some information while we were stopped at an intersection, and I took her picture.
We had started on Menzies Street, briefly ran long Belleview Street and then had turned onto Government Street, which ran along in front of The Empress Hotel. We remained on this street all the way to Chinatown, where we turned on Pandora Avenue to begin our loop back. So, when this picture was taken, at 7:29 p.m., we still had a long ways to go on Government. (If you look at the map of our route, we heading north and were pretty close to the intersection with Wharf Street.) Dotti and I have taken a number of tours over the years, and some guides never stop passing along historical facts and bits of trivia, and others don’t say much at all. I felt our driver was a very happy medium between the two extremes. She kept us informed but allowed spaces of time for the four of us to share our thoughts and observations with each other, and to ask her questions. 
Continuing along Government we passed this souvenir shop. We were already farther north than we would be able to reach on foot later after the carriage ride. We didn't know it at the time be we were only one block over (west) from the street where Dotti and I stayed at our hotel 10 years earlier on our 20th anniversary trip.
We thought this bear beside the street was interesting. Our driver told us that it was only one of many around town, and was part of a charity drive that was going on locally.
As it turned out, this was part of a drive called Spirit Bears in the City. The sculptures were auctioned off on November 8th, 2006 in order to raise money for the BC Lions Society's Easter Seals Services on Vancouver Island. This particular bear, placed to face the pedestrians on this side of the street, was called: Mustimuhw, and it was done by the artist Joe Jack. It sold for $20,000. 
Whether you look at the warm and colorful decorations celebrating my favorite time of year, or you read the sign above the windows, A Victorian Christmas Store obviously loves Christmas! It bought back memories of the many Christmas stores that Dotti and I have happily browsed though over the years.
This is the Bay Centre shopping mall, and we caught a moment when the interior hallways were empty. Another painted bear stood watch beside the doors.
Looking up (to the east) along View Street we see very little traffic. If you read the lips of the driver in the car, he is saying, "Will you move that..." The rest is garbled. ☺
Starbucks anyone? Dotti and I have different definitions of what makes a "real town." I say that a town must have a library in order to qualify, but Dotti says it has to have a Starbucks!
We have now gone as far north as the carriage ride was going to take us. The Chinese arch, as one does in San Francisco, marks the point where Chinatown in Victoria begins. We didn't have the opportunity to tour that part of town. Our carriage was about to start on the return portion of the trip, as we turned left on Pandora Street.
The city lights had taken over the sun's job of lighting our way. The sun was not only down, but even the twilight was fading fast. The lights looked warm and inviting in the darkening evening.
This looks like a glass enclosed restaurant, where patrons would feel especially warm and happy to be inside on a cold and rainy winter' day.
Off in the distance is the silhouette of the Johnson Street Bridge. (See Sidebar.) Although you can't tell the color from this picture, the bridge is blue, and has the nickname of "Big Blue," reminiscent of the IBM company handle.
This is still looking towards the Johnson Street Bridge, across a little park we passed as we turned onto Wharf Street. The sky at the horizon still has some color in it, but it does little to light up our surroundings. We have to rely on the city lights and a bit of flash from the camera that has bounced back from the leaves of the trees.
Looking across the Inner Harbor we see the sky running from dark orange to black as we look upward, and the lights skim across the water, almost appearing as colored icicles hanging down as the rippling water plays with the light. The lights on the building closest to us, look warm and inviting as the surrounding area darkens more and more.
As we rode along the scenery passed by in changing colors, even as the sky darkened: a mural painted on a wall; people walking by taking in the view; distant street lights; and reflections from the water, all jumble together.
Once again we can see the Parliament Buildings lit up brightly as we come down Wharf Street towards the point where we would return to Government Street. Our enjoyable ride was nearing its end.
Our driver's attention is set on the traffic around us, and the view of Jim's head makes it appear as if he is peeking over a wall. (This is a pretty good picture of his USS Ranger hat. ☺)
A final goodbye to our very friendly and more than competent driver, and to the Black Beauty Carriage Tours, as we were back on foot and ready to see some more sights.
Dotti, our flower girl struck again!  She spotted this one beside the sidewalk and we stopped for a couple of pictures.
We walked over to The Empress Hotel next. We had to see what all the fuss was about. I took this picture of Dotti in the lobby. We can't see the lobby very well in the picture but Dotti looks wonderful!
There was an old TV show once, called "I've Got a Secret," I look like I am the poster boy for that show in this picture.
In the background Jim is walking around checking out the lobby and up on the facing of the floor of the mezzanine a crown is visible, indicating the regal name of the hotel. The hand railings are brass, and everything, though older, has the same luxurious feel as our cruise ship. 
While the elevator doors are not covered with carvings and embellishments, they are brushed brass, and the mailbox is quite ornate.
I am following the group as they wandered down a hallway just to see what lay on the other end. By today's standards the halls were narrow and felt cramped, but the quality was unmistakable in the workmanship of everything we saw.
This building was completed and opened for business in 1908, about 4 years before the RMS Titanic set sail on her disastrous voyage. The Empress Hotel was of the same era, and it carries that majestic old feel in its walls, and in nearly everything they contain. 
At the end of the hall, we turned around. There wasn't much to see down this corridor, but we had to look, just in case. ☺
We walked along Government Street a ways and then cut over to the Harbour Trading Company, a fairly large store that had a lot of souvenir items. We had to go down some steps, because it was below street level, but it opened into a large room, with many aisles. We saw many souvenir and novelty items, but there was some really nice art as well. One painting really caught my fancy. (See Sidebar.) It was hanging on the wall calling my name. Alas, the price tag was too high to bear. Still, I enjoyed looking at very much. We found several things to purchase, and then wandered across the road to the Information Center where they had some very clean public rest rooms, which we were thankful for by this time. Next we walked straight ahead along the sidewalk of the Inner Harbor Promenade. It was down next to the water, and there were a number of people present. We passed by a knot of people surrounding a musician right away, and the found some open space, where we were nearly alone. 
I loved the name of this boat: Over Budget. Candor can be a very good thing at times.
Looking at the background, I am reminded that there is something about light reflecting off the surface of water that is very pleasant to the eye. 
Dotti and Tammy have found one of the plastic charity bears to get close to. Tammy is seeing if she can mind meld with the Spirit Bear, but she didn't have much success. ☺
My lovely Dotti in front of the Parliament Buildings. The lights form an outline, that reminds me just a bit of Disneyland at night, and I have always loved Disneyland. This is not a theme park, but the location where the serious business of running the British Columbian government is conducted but even so, it, like my Dotti, was beautiful to see.
 And this is the other beautiful member of our group, lighting up her face with a smile, while also posing in front of the outlined structure in the background. The lights marking the harbor path on the left look like mushrooms glowing in the magical darkness.
As we got closer to the end of this stretch of waterfront, we came upon an illusionist/juggler doing a show. I call him an illusionist based solely upon his own word. We didn't see him do any "magic tricks." The man had laid claim to a section of the sidewalk for his show. He was asking people to come up to a rope line he had laid across the sidewalk, to draw the people in closer. We came in from his left side, and he had a wall behind, between him and the water, and he was facing the seats cut into the hill that ran up to Government Street. We were coming in from his left, and he sounded pitiful as he was trying to get people to come in closer. While everyone else was holding back, the impetuous Dotti ran right up to the line as he had asked. Tammy was not far behind her. The illusionist looked like someone had just handed him a $1000 bill. He got a big smile on his face and came running over and gave Dotti a big hug. (Dotti just brings that out in people.) He yells out how impressed he was with Dotti and told her that she was a leader and everyone was going to follow her. We all got a chuckle out of that. Also, it was the second time this cruise an illusionist had gotten her into the act a bit. He juggled a little bit, but most of the time he just wasted talking about what he was going to do. But he didn't really do anything. So, after we watched him for a while waiting, we finally gave up and went on our way. 
Right at the end of the Inner Harbor Promenade, we saw this plaque mounted on the wall. It looked a bit familiar because, when Dotti and I came to Victoria in 1996, we saw signs still up in several places about the XV Commonwealth Games. (See Sidebar.) We were not familiar with the games at the time, and didn't think too much of it. However, now we know more about them, we can see why the people of Victoria were excited.
Well, it was 9 p.m. and time to head back. They were pulling the gangway at 11 p.m., and the ship was going to drop lines and depart for Seattle by 11:30 p.m. We didn't have to rush, but we did need to be on our way. We retraced our path down Oswego Street, this time in the dark. The little cottages were pretty with their lights glowing through the windows. The temperature had fallen to 55 ° but we had been actively walking and it felt very comfortable. Even the weather had made our visit great; and of course Victoria really is a nice city, and we liked it a lot. 
We're back! Jim and Tammy are standing in front of the port building that we had to pass through in order to get back on the ship. At the extreme left of the photo, beneath where you see the lights of ms Westerdam looking down, there is the last chance to shop at a port of call for this cruise. And you guessed it, Dotti and Tammy were going to make a beeline for it. ☺
Here are Dotti and I, having swapped places with our friends.
Dotti is still smiling big after our visit to Victoria. It's 9:26 p.m., and it's been just under 3 hours since we went down the gangway and left the ship. We filled it up with some nice memories though!
My knee was killing me about this time. I really needed to get off of it. So, I left the others in the gift shop and headed back to our stateroom alone. 
Because of my knee, I took the elevator to the Verandah Deck, where our stateroom was waiting for me, and there was Venus, welcoming me for the last time. Tomorrow we would be leaving for home, and this would all be just a memory for us.
I had to start getting my stuff packed when I got back to the room. Although we had started doing a little packing before we left for Victoria, we still had a lot to do. Jim and Tammy were way ahead of us, and they were all packed already. We had to have the luggage out into the passageway by 1 a.m. So, when Dotti got back to the room a few minutes later we spent the rest of the evening putting everything together into the suitcases. We packed everything except what we would be wearing off the ship, and what we would be carrying with us. In case of emergency, we had some bathrobes that stayed with the room. ☺ When I pulled our suitcases out into the hall, it looked very strange having all the previously empty walls lined with luggage. It was beginning to sink in that the cruise was coming to its end! We got everything out into the hallway and got to bed around 11 p.m. that wasn't too bad, and we settled in for our last good night's sleep on ms Westerdam, as she made her way back to Seattle. |
