The town of Victoria is a wonderful place to wander around, and that's exactly what we did on Saturday. It's a strange location to have a capital to be honest, as far in the corner of the province as you can get, but Hannah listened to a history talk while Ellen and I got lunch and tells me it's something to do with having to be between the 48th and 49th parallels when the Brits settled it in 1843.
Its Britishness hasn't diminished since that time, as red double-deckers tour the streets and fish shops and pubs are everywhere. There's the second oldest Chinatown in North America too (after San Fran), and lots of nice thrift stores in easily walkable distance. Maybe I'll move here.
We toured the parliament building and met Queen Victoria herself (she was a fake, Meg complained), saw the house boats and took a water taxi. Most of Sunday was spent lazing in Beacon Hill Park, where a Celtic band played many a tune, including "Donald Where's Your Troosers", and Pete worried goats at the petting zoo.
While the trip over by public transport had been very picturesque it hadn't been the quickest so we returned by float plane. Pete, who's been obsessed by the things since we moved, fell asleep on take-off. Meg, who didn't sleep a wink on their ten-hour transatlantic flight, was snoring shortly after that. I enjoyed looking down on the various inlets we'd sailed through a couple of days earlier. "I think we should buy a yacht," I told Hannah. "I think we should buy a float plane," she replied.
All aboard!
Sailing away from Vancouver.
Tiffany turned out to be a naturalist rather than a naturist, as I'd originally hoped.
In between the inlets.
Pete takes the wheel.
Some more splendidly beautiful islands.
Victoria's Chinatown.
She's got the whole world in her hands.
The parliament building, completed in 1898.
By the fountains outside.
The queen herself! They had a younger one too, walking around and speaking in a lovely accent.
The BC coat of arms. Splendour without diminishment!
Some more of the decoration inside.
Where the work takes place. Or doesn't, because they're politicians.
God bless you, ma'am.
By the houseboats.
Enjoying an ice cream.
One of the local rides - it's the easiest way to get around Victoria's big harbour. But they charged $3 for Pete! Outrageous. Do we look like tourists?
Another tourist ride, one we didn't partake of.
There's a sign asking you not to pick up the pygmy goats. Shame.
Priority boarding for us, as we needed an extra safety demonstration with Pete. It involved being handed a tiny life vest and told "this is for him".
On board, in first class.
Pete checks everything is done the way they do it in Coal Harbour.
The main safety video, on a convenient iPad.
Sailing out of Victoria...
...before taking to the air!
Just like the Caribbean, except for the temperature.
Swooping in over Stanley Park.
Touchdown back home.
A flying end to a very fine weekend.
