We arrived late last night on our flight.  It’s so nice flying on a smaller plane and into a small airport.  It’s much less crazy.

For our first day in Victoria, the capitol of British Columbia, we walked from our hotel down to the harbor.  It’s very scenic down there with a couple large ornate buildings adjacent to the water – the Empress Hotel and the Parliament Buildings.  We meet for a tour of the Parliament Buildings and are surprised that there is no fee and no security.   Granted, the government was not in session, but I can’t see this happening in the U.S.   The tour is interesting, but not being Canadian, not as meaningful to us Yanks. 

We head over to the nearby BC  Museum which is large and well done.  It has exhibits on the First Nations Peoples (the term Canada uses instead of Native Americans; I don’t know why they didn’t use Native Canadians).   We learn that Canada treated their natives about as well as we did down in the U.S.    We also check out the nearby Helmcken House (first occupied in 1852) and St. Ann’s Schoolhouse, another old building.

After all the touring, we browse through the Empress Hotel on our way back to the hotel for the all important nap.  Once we are rested, we head over to a nearby restaurant (Brasserie L’Ecole) that is highly recommended but does not take reservations.  We put our name on the waiting  list, wander nearby Chinatown and then return about when our table is ready.  Dinner is very good and we’re ready for our next day of the trip.

View all the trip photos here:

http://sanjoseabrams.com/photos/VancouverIslandAug2011/