TA, Part Five: Victoria

At the end of a long weekend, the last thing you want is to be stuck in a foreign country for another night, in a city you have never been to. We hadn't realized we needed a reservation for the ferry so far in advance, and when we went to make our reservation, the ferry was full. They always leave some room for first-come, first-served people as well, but it can fill fast. Sunday evening, the last ferry is at 7, and when we arrived for it hours in advance, we were told we had about a 50% chance of getting on the ferry. Yikes. But, with nothing else we could do about it, we took it in turns to walk around the city of Victoria for a little while as we waited.

I can't say I know what all of the buildings are that we saw, or the right names for anything. If I do this trip again, I will plan to stay on the island until Monday afternoon, and have a full day of checking out Victoria before I leave. It is a beautiful city.

Sonic and Ptera overlooking the harbor

We didn't take all of the dogs with us, and made sure at least one person stayed with the car (the car holds your place in line, basically, and you aren't all required to be there until the customs check 90 minutes before sailing).

Rizzo was being pushy and annoying on leash, so got stuck in a bag instead. I think she acted like that on purpose to get carried. This was a hot walk, but not horribly so with a bit of breeze.

I believe this is the Parliament building, though I won't swear to that. Sonic and Ptera were being my expert posers.

And then a memorial statue, I think to soldiers in WWII. But we were on a deadline to get back to the car for the customs check by this point, so we didn't spend much time exploring or doing things like reading placards.

Huge awesome tree that we just had to pose the dogs with. I believe this is a redwood. It is amazing looking.

And finally, pretty close to the ferry area, we passed this fountain. I am unsure of what it stands for, but it was gorgeous.

As little time as we had in Victoria, I am glad I was able to explore for a little bit, and see at least some of the must see attractions in the city. I am sure I missed about a thousand times more things than I was able to see, and would love to come back sometime with more time to explore.