But our trip into Canada really begins at Pier 69 in Seattle. There we boarded the Victoria Clipper IV, the surprisingly swift ferry that got us to Victoria in just over two hours. It wasn’t your standard slow-and-scenic-loop-around-the-harbor type of vessel. Most of the time, the ride literally felt as smooth as a car on the interstate. Then there was the absence of a main deck that would allow the majority of passengers to mosey around “outside.” Instead, there was an observation deck that could comfortably fit six to eight people. This didn’t matter much as, once we were outside Seattle, there was little to be seen other than water. We were also given a “champagne breakfast,” which consisted of a miniature bottle of champagne and a breakfast basket of your choice. Melanie and I both went for the Danish and crackers-and-cheese combo. Like all the other choices, it also came with a cereal bar, juice, fruit snacks, and apple slices (instead of the advertised applesauce—though several slices were admittedly mushier than I would have expected). Adding to the thrills was the presence of Rick Steves, PBS travel guide extraordinaire. Mr. Steves appeared sans camera crew, so it took a while to notice a celebrity (yes, I use the term loosely) on board. Sadly, I didn’t get a photo of him. Dang.
This gives you some idea of the thrust with which the Victoria Clipper IV moved through the water. Water was spraying out behind us like mad. You’d think we just ran over an orca.
The Victoria Clipper IV docked in Victoria. The observation deck atop looks more accommodating than it was. You can’t see all the crap that would get in the way of walking around it.
When we got to Victoria, the first thing I noticed was how small it was. Thanks to some tourist maps, I was already familiar with the city’s layout, but I had no idea how it would translate in person. When I saw that our hotel was literally next to the pier at which we docked and that the Hotel Empress (Victoria’s famous landmark and unofficial city center) could be walked to in a matter of minutes, I knew we’d do just fine without taxis or a rental car. This proved to be the best aspect of our honeymoon—seeing everything on foot. Being freed from the confines of an automobile allowed us to take in sites at leisure, stopping, turning, and looking around at a moment’s whim and without any concern for parking, crashing, or otherwise causing traffic jams.
Our view from the dock, whilst standing in line to go through customs. That’s the Hotel Empress on the right.
Because we arrived so early in the day, Melanie and I were able to spend several hours on the town. With my Frommer’s guide in hand, we ventured “downtown” for lunch. We chose the supposedly locally famous Sam’s Deli. Ignorant as to the currency exchange rates, we spent about $30 US on cold cut sandwiches, a shared bowl of soup, two cookies, a bottled water, and a can of Pepsi. Determined to eat some kind of seafood during my trip to the great northwest, I had a shrimp and avocado sandwich. Being such mild flavored crustaceans, my sandwich was more texture (cold and goopy) than taste. Melanie’s turkey and avocado sandwich was also so-so. If we had spent even half the price, we would have been fine with it, but it’s definitely not a place I’d voluntarily recommend.
This is the Parliament Building. It has nothing to do with anything in my post, but it’s a tourist attraction nonetheless. It was located about halfway between our hotel and the Hotel Empress, featured above. Melanie took this one, mostly trying to get a picture of the sky.
After walking around a bit, we made a two-mile venture to another Frommer’s hot spot, the Craigdarroch Castle. We arrived just ten minutes before they closed the doors, which meant we had about forty minutes before they would actually kick us out. The battery in our camera was dying, so we didn’t get as many shots as we would have liked. The billiard room and an ornate, hand-carved, black throne-of-a-chair were two particular pieces I wish we could have captured. But I am pleased with the photos we got, most notably an amazing stained-glass window. All in all, it was probably the nicest mansion (re: not a castle) I’ve ever visited, but perhaps a bit underwhelming given our expectations. Still, we had fun, and our long walk to and from the place gave us much time to peruse the city.
Almost every room featured stained glass, but this was by far the most impressive and beautiful. And, being a very amateur photographer, I’m pleased that I was able to capture the luminescence so well. Kudos to me!
Craigdarroch’s unofficial uvula. This odd piece of décor hangs down from the ceiling in the main stairway. I don’t know its significance, but it looks cool. And the lizard seems to be enjoying himself.
This organ was located between floors in a little nook within the stairway (this photo was taken from the same spot as the above photo, only looking down). A cool little niche if you ask me. And, as solid as it looks, that is actually a stained-glass window right above it. Nifty!
The castle and one of its visitors. Wait, is that me? Uh oh, my anonymity is slipping!!
Later in the evening, Melanie and I were both exhausted but once again in need of food. We wanted something a bit more relaxed, perhaps a pub or something with upper-scale casual food. Turning again to Frommer’s, we settled on The Pacific Restaurant, the purportedly laid-back, family-friendly restaurant at the nearby Hotel Grand Pacific. I called to see if it would be easy to get a table, and I was informed that a window table was available and would be saved for us. Impressed, I hung up the phone, and Melanie and I once again took to the street. Upon arriving at The Pacific Restaurant, I realized we had been duped. It was dark. Piano music was playing in the background. The menu featured shucked oysters with raspberry shallot mignonette, Cornish game hens with red onion confit, goat cheese panini, and other seemingly mythological entities. It was a far cry from casual. And the favor of holding a table by the window for us? With only one other party in the restaurant, it was hard to feel flattered. Four or five other tables had an equally generous view of the harbor.
Luckily, the food wasn’t all that bad. At least in my opinion. And the waitress seemed nice enough. I tried the Roasted Moroccan Albacore Tuna Rigatoni, while Melanie strove for casualness with the Jack Daniels Alder-Smoked BBQ Steak Sandwich, which was about as normal as one could get. Even so, it featured shaved Brie gratin, sun-dried plum tomato relish, and was served on a garlic baguette. It cost us about $60 US, and I’m still not sure what exactly I was eating the whole time. There were these chewy ribbons in my food that were a textual cross between linguine and a fruit roll-up. The only similar thing I’ve seen was at the Vancouver Aquarium, which does not exactly put me at ease.
Next time, I’ll tell you about the hotel we actually stayed at and about our trip to the unbelievably beautiful Butchart Gardens (the first of Frommer’s recommendations to actually get it right). This was probably the very coolest place we ever ended up, and I’m excited to share pictures of it. So until then…
So romantical! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteHow nice. I'd love to visit Victoria one day. Glad that you had such a great time.
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