Victoria

Last evening concluded with a lovely dinner with Gerry and Diane, a Jays loss and a game of Bite Me, in that order. The wind died down a little for the time being but light rain continued and as we greeted a new day, things were status quo. When we awoke this morning we discovered that if we'd opted for the ferry versus the wild plane ride yesterday, we wouldn't have made it as the ferries could not dock due to high wind. After breakfast, our plan was to head out to Sidney, about 20 km due north of here, for a fine arts show. We went to the Mary Winspear Community Centre for an impressive display of local artist works. Sidney in the rain is a quiet place, but we got down to their pier for a quick look. On the way back to Victoria we stopped at Island View Beach with it's impressive littering of driftwood on the shore. Then we took a drive up to the top of Mt. Douglas named after the first colonial governor, James Douglas, which is the highest point in Victoria. The views were not startling today in the overcast conditions, but this shot shows the subdivision - the clump of darker green midway in the photo- where Gerry and Diane live. Then it was back to Maltwood Terrace for lunch, before continuing our exploration of Victoria. By the time lunch was over, the rain decided to take a break, so we could actually get out and have a walk about. Our first stop was at the harbour with it's fishing, sport and house boats.

Clearly seals were also part of the attraction. Next we drove past two iconic buildings in the downtown- the Parliament Buildings and the Empress Hotel. Next we walked through the oldest Chinatown in Canada, with it's intriguing alleyways. To finish up a full day we had dinner out and took in a concert. Dinner was at the Med Grill, a short 5 minutes from their home, shown below. We had the Tuscan Menu featuring 4 courses for $24.95, the mains ranging from duck confit to lamb risotto to beef short ribs and red snapper. What an excellent meal and a bargain to boot! Then we were off to the University of Victoria's Farquhar Concert Hall to see the Wynton Marsalis ensemble, featuring the iconic trumpet player and 14 other outstanding musicians. The pianist, Helen Sung, we discovered later, was replacing the regular pianist for our show. She was AMAZING! I wouldn't consider myself a fan of jazz and I knew really none of the music played tonight, but we all thoroughly enjoyed the evening. As you can see from the photo, we were almost sitting on top of the band. Wynton by the way, is sitting in the back row beside the drummer. And BONUS, on our way home, the rain and wind stayed away!