Monday, November 7, 2011

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 AM11-08-13-06-08-57H

6:37 AM: 11-08-13-06-37-48H

6:59 AM: 11-08-13-06-59-21H 11-08-13-06-59-56H 7:00 AM11-08-13-07-00-55H 7:34 AM11-08-13-07-34-46H

Our no-can-see-um room:11-08-12-18-06-28H Penthouse perks:11-08-13-08-27-12D  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!  11-08-13-09-40-50H Other wonderful last sights:                               water taxi ride to Chinatown: 11-08-12-20-22-37H 11-08-12-20-27-29H 11-08-12-20-28-11H 11-08-12-20-34-56H 11-08-12-20-35-41D

11-08-12-20-37-14R

  11-08-12-20-57-40H 11-08-12-20-59-08D 11-08-12-21-00-31H

11-08-12-21-36-58R 11-08-12-21-08-31R Tents set up for the dragon boat races tomorrow ^

11-08-12-21-09-26D     Pretending to be Queen Elizabeth at the Empress: 11-08-12-21-25-27R 11-08-13-11-12-07H

11-08-13-11-16-01D  11-08-13-11-15-16D 11-08-13-11-15-38D 11-08-13-11-15-45D11-08-13-11-16-12D 11-08-13-11-16-32H 11-08-13-11-32-23R 11-08-13-11-32-37R

11-08-13-12-16-18R11-08-13-12-16-18RVictoria had hanging baskets of flowers everywhere!

11-08-13-07-29-15D Dragon Boat races:

11-08-13-12-49-40H11-08-13-12-48-20R

11-08-13-14-54-16R

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

4 comments:

ellen b. said...

Beautiful shots of Victoria! Now you have me wanting to go back.
When my sisters and I were there we had some dreadful weather. Love the sun on those houseboats.

Gilly said...

What a wonderful, wonderful place! But I have never, ever seen two storey houseboats before! I would be afraid it would topple over!

But it looks so beautiful. Now I must get out my atlas and find out exactly where it is!

Oh, and the dragon boat races look a huge amount of fun!

Decor To Adore said...

Absolutely positively on my bucket list.

Steven said...

Nice narrative and pics, Holly!