Day 9 Victoria

Ok, I'll apologize now--this is a long, photo heavy post--but Victoria was so lovely!  I also won't promise that the photos are in order, but at this point I'm not sure I can successfully re-order them, so I'll just do the travel-log thing...And there were just too many gorgeous photos to leave out any more than I already did...
We started the morning on the boat, noticing that we were headed towards land and it wasn't raining (whoo-hoo!)  We actually landed in Victoria mid-day and were due back on ship at 9pm, I believe, so we had a nice stretch of daylight time when shops, etc. were open.
We originally planned to do some geocaching, and although we had cell phone service, we were having some trouble with the GPS being accurate enough to get us where we needed to be. We ended up following a walking trail along the ocean, then cutting into town to visit the public garden and see some sights. We declined the trip to Butchart Gardens, and instead visited the city public park and the grounds of Empress Hotel--see photos below!

An out of order photo of almost the whole group one night at dinner.

Coming into port--we think this could be Mt. Ranier, but we were so confused because it is a different angle than we've ever seen before.

The breakwater around the Harbor

A walk along the beach--there was a paved path above the beach and fun things to explore on the beach.

Some photo ops...

Along the public walking trail

First discovery at the public park was this fantastic water feature--it was hot, we enjoyed taking a short break and playing with the local little children for a few minutes.
















The public park was incredible--these photos don't capture how gorgeous it was--we had to take a few photos!

Beautiful fountain with pond and water lillies...


















Look at the color of those flowers--really--just beautiful!


























We did briefly stop and observe a "Canadian playground" (not pictured...looks just like an American playground)

And read some signage about nesting birds and history of the park (it used to have a zoo...now just has a petting zoo). We took a few photos as we left the park and headed out for our next adventure...

Outside the Royal BC Museum--it closed at 5, but the grounds were open and fun to explore























We then headed towards the government building area and the Empress Hotel













Before having some delicious dinner at the (locally?) famous (and recommended by the nice young man at the Visitor's Center--Red Fish Blue Fish!  Dinner on the dock--lovely!

All the seating is outside and the kitchen is in a shipping container (with plants growing on the roof!

This is for the Boy--"3 Hour Sail.com"...he's a big Gilligan's Island fan and thought this was hilarious...

We walked back along a different public path along the water (other side of the harbor)--equally beautiful and different sights!

Sooooo pretty....



This "yard" was so incredible--my photo doesn't do it justice--lillies, a pond, really awesome...

Our ship was gigantic...but that is it, dwarfed by Princess and Holland America--wow!

Back to the breakwater..

These are from back on the boat in the late evening--a sign on the Carnival Cruise Ship docked next to us--stating "Security Warning:  Stay 15 feet back"...um, who exactly is five stories high closer than 15 feet to the ship?

And, overheard, a teenage girl (not ours) stating, "Oh!  Look at all those penguins!"  (Ummm...those are seagulls...)

Lights of Victoria as we left--Goodbye Victoria---wonderful day!