Victoria, BC

Two months ago today Matt and I celebrated three years of marriage. Why am I mentioning this now you ask? Matt & I love to travel & celebrate (if you hadn't already guessed) but it can start to feel like a chore if you're not careful. So when our anniversary rolled around and all we wanted to do for the weekend was stay home and lay around, we did it darnit. (Ok not really, we went to Olalla for one night but all we did there was lay around and eat good food, and it's almost home anyways). So when a Groupon popped up for 1/2 off the Victoria Clipper we jumped on it and decided we would celebrate in September. Love it still love in September, eh?

Friday night we celebrated Devon's birthday at Sazerac, got home at midnight to pack, and were at the bus stop a bit after 6am to head downtown again (classy way to start the anniversary weekend, no?). Metro fail # 9,348 meant we arrived a full 11 minutes before our international departure but there's nothing like a 7am run through downtown with a suitcase to wake you up. I must admit that the Clipper does a good job of advertising - my minds eye picture of getting to Canada by Clipper was one of luxury. Ok the $120+ normal prices probably play into that vision somehow. Anyway I was slightly disappointed by the actual experience but I must say it was quite nice to arrive in Victoria and be deposited in the center of town  in under 3 hours without having to worry about parking or traffic.

the only picture of both of us from the whole weekend. oops

Olympics

The forecast for the weekend called for lots of clouds and quite a bit of rain in Victoria  and it certainly looked that way when we left Seattle. However we arrived to blue skies and warm weather. We had no agenda for the weekend except to wander. I had reserved a rental car for Sunday, but you don't pre-pay for those it was really a just-in-case. We stayed at the Inn at Laurel Point which was a convenient 1/2 block walk from the ferry, 5 minutes from 'downtown', and right on the harbor. I'm a cheap-o and had paid for one of the non-view rooms but we were given a nice room with a view of the Empress, Parliament, and the harbor, with a large balcony. Thanks!

Then we set to exploring. And eating. Those two things pretty much sum up the weekend. The town was very cute and the food was fabulous. It wasn't the most exciting place I've even been but we thoroughly enjoyed stuffing our faces, taking in the cuteness of all the historic buildings, and laying around without an agenda whenever it struck our fancy.

China Town

Pandora Ave 

We ate breakfast/lunch at Blue Fox Cafe. So cute and SO SO good. Worth every minute of wait. Best Eggs Benny I've ever had.

He's so good looking!

The one. The only. The Empress

;)

Parliament

Am I in Disneyland? Not impressed w/ Craigdarroch Castle. (~150 yrs old)

Gardens! We visited Government House, which is a large estate and 22 acres of gardens, open to the public.

Hard to tell, but the Pacific & the Olympics are in the distance

 You may think us odd, because the two things one must do when visiting Victoria are have tea at the Empress and visit Butchart Gardens. I'm sure both are fantastic but at $40-50/per person, each place, it was a hard sell. Perhaps if it had been a better time of year for the gardens I would have been enticed. I'm sure the tea is delicious. But really - I don't think much can beat the best Eggs Benny I've ever had so I really feel ok about the tea. I do believe Butchart Gardens are famous for a reason, but again, it's just not really my style and there were tons on great free formal gardens around the rest of the city. Again, I'm sure both are fantastic but we just chose to spend our short time in other ways - maybe we'll be back.

Empress @ night from our balcony

Parliament @ night

We dined on the tapas platter for two at Tapa Bar on Trounce Alley and it was amazing as well. "Marinated artichokes, four bean salad with salted cod, escabeche, smoked chicken breast, chorizo, garlic wings, mussels de cha cha cha, grilled eggplant with goat cheese, tortellini con salsa rose & chile relleno."

The first mussels I've ever enjoyed

The first time we've ever found Murphey's since our trip to Ireland. It's like Guinness, but better.

Bard & Banker - Scottish Pub. Overpriced, but definitely one of the (if not THE) coolest  pubs I've ever been in.

Night night.

Sunday we went on a run together. It was the first run together where I haven't completely hated my life, and where Matts sweated (just a little bit), so I would consider it a definite success. We did 6 or so miles, around the inner and outer harbour and the Equimalt neighborhood, with great view of town, marina, boats, and mountains and the whole way on a fantastic trail right along the water. We had some crepes for breakfast (at noon) and then took a bottle of wine to Beacon Hills Park (nice gardens and great view of the Straight & Olympics) and spent the afternoon lounging.  

Gardens @ Beacon Hill Park

We had our last meal at Red Fish, Blue Fish on the docks. It's in an old shipping crate, you order your food and then eat at some outdoor tables on the docks. I somehow neglected to take pictures b/c I was too busy stuffing my face but we had cod & salmon fish and chips w/ tarter sauce and shallot aioli. I know I sound like a broken record about the weekend, but it really was the best fish and chips we'd ever had. And one of the best values of the weekend in an overpriced town (country, actually).

A few short hours on the Clipper, a mad dash up the hills of downtown Seattle, and another bus ride later we were home. I feel like we saw most of what there was to see in Victoria (did I mention I think we walked zillions of miles and my feet haven't hurt so bad in a long time) but I look forward to seeing more of Vancouver Island sometime. Much love to Canada...