We awoke around 9:00 to the sounds of the harbour waterfront; tourists bargaining with the street vendors, boat engines starting up and the chime tower in front of the Royal Museum. Soon the kilted (are there any other kind?) bagpipe player will start his extensive repertoire on the corner about 150 ft. from our spot on the dock.
By the time we got up and got to the showers, it was almost 10:30. A weather system had moved in making it a gray, muggy day with the wind now blowing at only 10 knots from the south. As we made our way back from the showers, located on the other side of the harbour, we decided to stop at Milestones for some brunch as it was on the way to the boat and well, damn it, we were hungry...sorry, I get cranky when I haven't eaten for a while.
After a very nice brunch (see how much my disposition has improved now that I've had something to eat?), we walked through the waterfront gauntlet of tourists, the local craft vendors, artists and musicians back to our dock, where we unloaded our shower bags and grabbed the camera to take along on a walk around Victoria. Since we had decided to extend our stay in Victoria to Friday morning, we're looking forward to navigating our way around the waterfront activities for a couple more days.
As we strolled up to the corner with the intention of going to the Royal Museum to pick-up some information on the Titanic exhibit and accompanying Imax film "Titanica", we noticed something taking place on the grounds in front of the Parliament building and walked over there to take a closer look. A girls marching band carrying flags bearing something that closely resembled the Microsoft logo (when did Bill Gates buy Canada?), performed for dignitaries and onlookers assembled on the steps of Parliament.
Being the astute observer that I am, I noticed a beautiful memorial statute dedicated to those who have served and died in the line of duty as part of the Canadian Armed Forces. On the other side of Parliament's "front yard" was a very cool totem pole called the "Knowledge Totem" with the "Loon, Fisherman, Bone Game Player and Frog representing lesson of the past and hope for the future". It was carved by members of the Cowichan Tribe to commemorate Victoria's role in hosting the XV Commonwealth Games in August 1994.
Leaving the ceremony being played out in front of Parliament, we walked across the street to the Royal Museum and grabbed a brochure containing a schedule of the Imax schedule for use either tomorrow or Thursday. We then walked over to Douglas Street, a main business artery, and walked the six or seven blocks up to the business district, as which time we decided to cut back towards the harbour checking out shops on the way.
At one point of our walk, I saw a cool old car (I think it was a 1946 or 47 Mercury Sedan) pulling into a parking space across the street and thought it would make a nice photo. We crossed over towards the classic car and noticed a gate leading into a courtyard with a large fountain just beyond the sidewalk. Since the guy was still parking the car and not wanting to be intrusive while he was trying to parallel park a car that most likely lacked power steering, we walked into the courtyard to have a look and would come back for the photo.
As we moved closer to the fountain, we heard live jazz music being played off to our right and looking in that direction, we saw the outdoor stage with a small, but enthusiastic audience enjoying the show. We walked over and sat down on an open bench. The band consisted of a xylophone player, guitarist, drummer, bassist and electric piano player. They sounded quite good and the guy on the xylophone rocked the house...or as much as one playing jazz could rock out.
After three songs or so, we headed back to where the classic car was parked only to find it had left the scene. Apparently, it was too much of a parallel parking challenge for the guy driving and he moved on for a spot more accessible. Oh well, it was worth missing out on the photo as we got a surprise concert and a short break from our walk.
We proceeded down some side street to check out some cool little shops as we headed towards the big shopping mall "The Bay" to look for a carrying case for our new camera. After going from store to store with no luck of finding the camera case and needing to use the restroom, we found the mall directory and discovered that they're only on the bottom floor, so down we went. Once done using the "facilities", we turned the corner from the restrooms and found a small Rebok carrying case that would work just fine in the second store down.
With our camera properly protected, we walked towards the harbour and back to the boat. On the way we saw some of the beautiful old architecture of Victoria and marveled at how well they had been preserved given their age. But hey, that's part of the charm of this cool place.
Arriving back at the Reaper around 2:30, I made a sandwich and got to work on two day's worth of updates on the blog, while Lysa took a much needed nap. Since it was even more cloudy and the winds blowing even more, I decided to hang out in the cabin for some "quiet" time on the computer, so once done with the blog update, I read the Seattle Times and watched some news videos on CNN.
Lysa's awoke from her coma around 7:00 and we dined on leftover salmon and salad, then took a short walk to restock the ol' ice supply and were done for the day by 10:00. The weather is supposed to clear up tomorrow, which may be a good time to duck indoors to check out the Titanic exhibit or we'll just see how things play out.
1 comment:
Head back to Milestone's for a Bellini for crying out loud - they're AWESOME! Brian says hello - he's lame and doesn't have a Google account but has been reading the blog and getting giggles like myself. I also passed this on Ross - we're enjoying all the fun reading material!!!
Post a Comment