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Saturday 27th August
Weather: Beautiful, sunny day although wind picked up late afternoon
Sea Conditions: Flat … slight swell in the evening but still pretty flat
Grand Princess docked at 7am this morning in Victoria, British Columbia. Callum struggled to wake up this morning – why can’t he want to have a lie-in on the sea days!
Early Breakfast and we were off the ship by 8am – only a short stay in Canada as we needed to be back on board by 1.30pm. All our immigration paperwork was completed a couple of days previously, so no delays in getting off. The only thing in hind-sight was that we should have asked to get our passports stamped.
On the quayside, there were some tourism volunteers you could chat to to find out more about what there is to see. The lady we spoke suggested we walked the coastal path into town which would bring us out at the Legislative Assembly Building – Houses of Parliament for British Columbia.
It was a really pretty walk. Lots of hotels as this is one of the ports Princess (and other cruise companies) use to start/end cruises. Outside one hotel, Jon spotted a hummingbird which was really cool to see. Very unexpected. We walked past Victoria’s version of Fisherman’s Wharf. All very colourful, but nothing open so no point in hanging around. Callum wanted to try the Jackson’s Ice Cream!
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It took about 30 minutes to reach the Legislative Assembly – very cool building. There was a massive totem pole in the grounds along with a statue of a young Queen Victoria.
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The first tour of the day (free!) heading inside the LA was about to start. As it was going to take about 30-40 minutes, we joined it and glad we did. Our guide was Lexi, and she was very knowledgeable about the history of the building and also the British Connections. They have very strong British roots, and we got the impression that British Columbia are very proud of their roots. She pointed out the change in the flag over the years. The original version had the flag of British Columbia over the Union Flag. This was changed as it meant the sun was setting on the Union Flag (sun never sets on the British Empire) so the mistake as sun setting was on Union Flag (apparently there is a saying that the sun never sets on the British Flag) so they swapped the flags over!
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The images on the coat of arms and the flag of British Columbia were explained. And we got our first peek inside the dome. Very impressive. We headed up to the first floor balcony – looking up a better view of the dome. Looking down, you had a great view of the large blanket made to remember the 100s of women who disappeared.
Some stunning stained glass windows to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria and Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. Plus a portrait to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth – our guide had all her British facts correct (and answered all questions with confidence)!
Tour over and the guide recommended walking around the back of the building to see the rose gardens, speakers chair and statues/fountain.
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Afterwards, we spotted the Museum of British Columbia had a Woolly Mammouth Exhibition but first, a mission for mother. We wandered up Government Street passed the Empress Hotel and found the needlework shop for Mum. Alas, they hadn’t heard of the sampler mum wanted. They went to the trouble of looking up the designers website, and again, nothing.
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We made our way back down Government Street to go back to the Museum. No time for the IMAX show and we only had an hour or so before we needed to start heading back to the ship. The exhibition was really cool and very well done. Russia had loaned the exhibition Lyuba – a 1 week old woolly mammouth found preserved in Siberia. Loads of interactive models and displays for the kids (big and small!) to touch and work out. Alas, not enough time to linger and really appreciate the exhibition (or see the rest of the museum).
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Time to head back to the ship and we decided to pick up the other coastal path to walk back. We walked down Government Street in the opposite direction to early, heading past the Legislative Assembly. Within a block, we’d arrived in the residential district. Some lovely houses (although one a little gawdy!).
15 minutes later we picked up the coastal path leading us back to the ship. A small beach but we were surprised just how much wood was washing up on the beach. We got back to the ship just after 1pm and the queues were quite long to get back on board.
We were quite hungry by the time we got back on board. We went straight to Alfredo’s for a pizza lunch and got the last family table. The queue built up quickly thereafter.
The staff were working hard to get people through as quickly as they could, but at one point we thought there was going to be a situation when a man wandered into Alfredos, bypassing the queue and checked out the window by a table that had just been vacated. The lady first in the queue then proceeded to shout at him that that was their table. Staff jumped in quickly to diffuse the situation. The lady in question did get her table, but then proceeded to delay ordering as two people from her party hadn’t arrived. One gentleman strolled up half an hour later and the other never turned up at all. You are meant to order as soon as you are seated to turn the tables around quickly. There were only 12 or so tables so speedy turnaround keeps everyone happy. They won’t do take out (so many people asked) as this would slow things down in the actual restaurant.
Afterwards, we went back to the cabin to chill for a bit and make use of the balcony. Just as Callum stepped into the shower, Jon spotted a blow about 1/2 mile off the ship. Then another, and another three, then more whichever way you looked. A massive pod of humpback whales were passing by. We must have seen about 50 whales. We saw one breech in the distance and a couple came up close to the ship. Amazing to see (and very glad we had binoculars!). Just as Callum stepped out of the shower, they stopped. Typical!!
All ready for dinner but we decided to go along to the Movie Themes Quiz first. We surprised ourselves with a 22/25 score. Just two off the winning score.
We had dinner in the Michelangelo Dining Room. Jon finally agreed that we could trade in his Birthday Cake voucher as long as it was done discreetly without any fuss. A fabulous chocolate cake arrived and Happy Birthday sang quietly by our two waiters, Gian Carlo and Juan. Jon’s not really into the puddings, but this one was really good!
Heading back to the cabin, we headed through the Atrium. The party was in full swing … and Callum was very tempted to pull the cord for an early balloon drop!
