2015 Canada West: Victoria (6/24/2015)

Wednesday, June 24, 2015 (continued)
From the Butchart Gardens, we drove into the city of Victoria and were taken through the various neighborhoods.

Deer (real!) in someone's lovely garden

View across the Juan de Fuca Strait
of the Olympic Mountains in the state of Washington

Beacon Hill Park:
Totem (1954) designed by Chief Mungo Martin;
the tallest in the world at 127'7"

Beacon Hill Park:
Mile 0 of the Trans Canada Highway 1

Statue of Terry Fox whose right leg was amputated
due to bone cancer; he decided to run across Canada
to raise money in a Marathon of Hope;
made it 2/3 of the way before pain stopped him
and he died before reaching this spot in Victoria

British Columbia Parliament,
Victoria is the capital of BC

Maybe not the biggest, but the fullest Christmas store

Gate of Harmonious Interest (built in Suzhou, PRC)
in Victoria's Chinatown (KSS)

We were dropped off with two hours to explore. We started with the highly recommended Royal British Columbia Museum.

Special Exhibit: Gold Rush! El Dorado in BC,
400-ounce gold bar

Special Exhibit: Gold Rush! El Dorado in BC,
Kent's weight in gold

Miners in a geode

Natural History Gallery:
Nautilus fossils

View from museum across the Inner Harbor,
with the Netherlands Carillon (1967, gift from the Dutch community)
to the right

First Peoples Gallery: Combs made from elk antlers

First Peoples Gallery:
Forest of arrow heads

First Peoples Gallery:
The Man Who Fell from the Sky
replica petroglyph

First Peoples Gallery:
Seed bead vest (1965, St Mary's Band Nation)

We left the museum.

Statue of Emily Carr (2010, by Barbara Paterson),
renowned Canadian artist,

Emily Carr with her Javanese monkey "Woo"and dog "Billie"

The Fairmont Empress (1908,
designed by Francis Rattenbury in Edwardian Victorian style)

The Fairmont Empress Tea Lobby

The Fairmont Empress: The Crystal Ballroom and Palm Court

The Fairmont Empress Reception Lobby

Orca Topiary titled "Surfacing" (2010, by Sandra Bilawich)

After an ice cream break, we returned to the Royal BC Museum.

Wawadit’ła/House of Chief Mungo Martin

Ellicott Square with the Helmcken House (1852 on right),
the oldest house in Victoria standing on its original site,
and statue of Dr John Sebastian Helmcken

Sculpture of Spindle Whorl (2008, by Butch Dick),
used by the Lekwungen Nation

Fannin Building (1967, BC Archives)
and Spirit sculpture (1964, by Elza Mayhew)

Back in the tour bus, we had time to drive around the town of Sidney ("spelled the right way").

The Sidney Opera...

Nil u,o (bas relief mural by IceBear)

Here comes our ferry, the Spirit of Vancouver Island

The Westcoast Sightseeing tour bus

Now for our 90-minute ferry ride, where we had dinner in the cafeteria.

Gulf Islands: Georgina Point Lighthouse (1969) on Mayne Island

BC Ferries Henry the vacuum cleaner

A fairly clear sighting of Mount Baker in the USA

After landing at Tsawwassen Terminal, the bus drove back to Vancouver, crossing the Fraser River.

They still transport logs by floating them down the river

We were dropped off at our hotel.

Next: Sun Yat Sen Garden.