Punkins

 

So I just knock on the door and people give me candy?!

             Happy Halloween Everybody!

Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria, BC

After our bus tour of Victoria, we walked back to Christ Church Cathedral to see its interior. ( I love it when churches keep their doors open during the week so people can enter for respite or prayer!  Sadly, most are locked up for security reasons.)

The church was begun in 1849 by the Hudson Bay Company when Victoria had a population of 200.  This cathedral is the third building, built over an extended period of fund raising, church squabbles, and weather-related issues.  It was designed in 1891 by a Victoria architect imitating England’s Durham Cathedral but in 1923 funds were sufficient to begin construction which continued until 1929 with improvements added subsequently.  Visitors have included Sir Winston Churchill, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, and Prince Charles and Camilla.

 

 

I enjoyed looking at The Book of Common Prayer with which I am not familiar, and I found this phrase amusing: “to such as are of riper years”.  I can see much use for this in the days to come as I send birthday cards to my friends of riper years!

I particularly liked that in the cathedral the Stations of the Cross were depicted by different artists. One is below, not particularly my favorite, but thought provoking.  I like to see the individual, human interpretation of religious events expressed uniquely by each artist.

As we were leaving the church I saw this simple little table set with a white cloth basking in the sunlight and stained glass.  To me it speaks of the simplicity of our faith, the beautiful simplicity of faith at the core of man’s attempt to glorify God as represented by the cathedral.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_Church_Cathedral_(Victoria,_British_Columbia)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Our_Lord_(Victoria,_British_Columbia)

Architectural Field Trip of Victoria, BC

For our anniversary, we drove to the Olympic Peninsula, that northwestern corner of Washington state and thus the whole United States.  The Olympic Peninsula deserves its own blog; it has rain forests and hot springs and gorgeous mountain peaks and ocean beaches and oyster beds and the wonderful Hood Canal that is such a joy to drive through.

At Port Angeles, we parked the car and walked onto the ferry saving fifty dollars by leaving the car behind.  We knew that our lodging was very near the ferry dock at the Victoria end and an easy walk with our cooler and one suitcase.  Such fun to feel footloose!

This is the Empress Hotel at the head of the harbor.  The Royal Family stays here when they are visiting.

Houseboats from the ferry:

We took a Grayline bus tour to get a bigger view of the city than our feet could carry us.  It was a red double decker bus with an open top where we sat so as to get the best view and pictures, of course. These photos are the result; pardon if some are a bit blurry or have a bus railing in the foreground.

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In a beautification project years ago, the city put up old fashioned street lamps and hangs 1500 flower baskets every year.

Chinatown:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Chinese public school ^

^This Visitor Centre is on the site of a former Esson gas station which fashioned this monument after the Empire State Bldg. in New York City, the headquarters of Esson at the time.

The Bay Mall (Hudson Bay):

The next morning after our bus tour I got these houseboat pictures from our resort at 6:30 AM—a different kind of architecture, but one that appeals.

We already have our Victoria reservations in for next year!