Victoria reigns!

When I left you in Victoria, it was still summer and we were having lovely days in the sunshine.  After spending a day at Butchart’s Gardens, we came back to our timeshare in the city where had been moved into the penthouse because of last minute reservation grabbing on my part.

What I want to observe is that we had a great time in our 6th floor unit and we had a great time in our 1st floor “penthouse” unit (yes, they call the ones closest to the harbor the penthouse, not the top floor units.)  Our friends actually liked the 6th floor one better because of the view toward Parliament and the Empress.  Being on the first floor end unit put us right on the harbor with a front row seat to the seaplanes taking off and landing, the cruise ships and dragon boat races, the water taxis, and also all the joggers, dog walkers, and strollers.  We could have fed them over the railing.  I’m not complaining, I’m just saying that the the big advantage to the penthouse was 1) not having to walk the length of the hallway and down the elevator and across the lobby in our swimsuits to get to the hot tub because there was one on our own deck and 2) in the penthouse they give courtesy bathrobes which you really don’t need because you are not walking down the hall, down the elevator and across the lobby in your swimsuit, anyway.  So as an improvement, it was a wash.  I couldn’t leave the drapes in our bedroom open in order to see the early morning light as I like, because the passers by right outside my window would have been seeing me, which I don’t like.  To sum up my thoughts on penthouse dwelling: It doesn’t matter either way.  You make your own fun wherever you are.  Most of the time we were outside, anyway.

But I want to show you the last pictures of Victoria.  I got up at 6 AM because I was determined to take an early morning picture of the sun on the houseboats.  I sat on the deck waiting for the light to hit.  I made coffee and sat some more.  I dozed.  By the time the sun rose high enough to hit the fronts of the houseboats it had also diffused over the whole sky, so it wasn’t as spectacular as I had hoped.  But it was lovely: 

6:08 AM

6:37 AM:

6:59 AM: 7:00 AM 7:34 AM

Our no-can-see-um room: Penthouse perks:  Remember how we ate ice cream for breakfast on the first day of our trip?  This last day, we had Hot Dogs for breakfast on the deck!  Other wonderful last sights:                               water taxi ride to Chinatown:  

 

Tents set up for the dragon boat races tomorrow ^

     Pretending to be Queen Elizabeth at the Empress:

 

Victoria had hanging baskets of flowers everywhere!

Dragon Boat races:

Leaving on the ferry, but we’ll be back, Victoria!