Victoria -- Day 1

As many of you know Lisa and I have a love affair with Victoria, BC. We love this place -- the food (3 Vietnamese restaurants in one block!), the people, the scenery, the amenities of a city but with access to complete wilderness in less than an hour. We'd move there if we could, but that is proving challenging.  Anyone know anyone in the Vic area willing to hire a couple of hard workers and sign off on their visas?  Just checking.

We just returned from a weeklong stay and wanted to share our photos and all the things we love about Victoria and the surrounding area.

I'll start out with our view. We stayed right downtown at the Executive House Hotel -- 12th floor suite with stunning views. I'd wake up early (easy to do when the sun is up at 5:30) just to watch the world go by. We took a zillion photos from our balcony (the mountains look different every day!) but I'll narrow it down to just a few. You'll get the idea.

Why stay at the expensive Victoria Empress Hotel when you can stay just behind it for a fraction of the price?  Our views are better,  too!

The bustling city at sunset

Mountains! 

We started our first day at the Blue Fox cafe for breakfast. Yummy. We had enough food to take home and eat the following morning. Great little place and worth the 20 minute wait. We spent the rest of the day exploring the city by foot. Our first stop: the Inner Harbor to watch the ferry boat water ballet.  The Harbor's 5 ferry boats maneuver to impressive choreography while music plays on loudspeakers. Adorable.

We walked along the waterfront watching seals frolic and ooh'd and ahh'd at the gardens and properties along the waterway.  At noon we headed back toward the city center to get a good spot for the start of the annual Pride Parade, signifying the end of pride week. We did not plan this, but we're glad we were there to witness it. It was such a great community gathering -- and there was not one whiff of hostility or controversy anywhere. That would never happen here in NC! My favorite parts were the 87 year old woman riding the carriage in her first ever pride parade and the 50+ year old man driving a pick up for some organization (I forget now) singing along to Pink at the top of his lungs. At the end, the entire community flooded the streets and followed the parade to its end point, a local park set up for a day of festivities.

This was the end of the parade, when the street became a sea of people and became part of the parade themselves. Notice the pride flag flying -- even the Empress Hotel flew the flag!

Later that afternoon we spent some time in Beacon Hill Park, a lovely park in the heart of the city with gardens, water features, lots of play areas for kids, trails and viewpoints, and lovely meadows like this one:

 They also have a children's petting zoo that holds a goat stampede at opening and closing every day. We knew we did not want to miss this bit of Victoria entertainment.

To close out the day, we shared a pizza at Pizzeria Prima Strada in Cook Street Village. It was good, although we are skeptical as to whether their mozzarella was truly buffalo mozz.  No matter, it was a great end to a great day.  I'll try to post more photos and adventures soon!