Chapters...wow. Victoria has something special in the downtown chapters. If you dodge the parking meter menace, this three story playhouse of books complete with coffee bar is something else. The girls spent over an hour combing the shelves, playing with toys and it felt like home with the staff offering all sorts of suggestions (read very bad ideas when traveling with suitcases for air travel) and in the end, a lovely tote to carry the books (read very bad idea and resulting in checked luggage for the return home). If you don't have to fly home, this is well worth the stop.
However, parking meters don't wait for everyone. In fact, I just dodged the meter police and drove to the Royal British Columbia Museum. This museum is an indoor playground of a museum. I loved it as a child and I still love it. Breathtaking waterfront scenery looking towards the Empress Hotel, totem poles and tourists greet you on site. You also might want to pre-purchase tickets as the line took about 30 minutes. Heading up the escalator, there are the familiar exhibits with the mammoth and the incredible interactives for climate change. These were deadly and my eldest was lost here for awhile. The echo zones still exist, in fact they added a new one in the climate area. The tide pool is still there but I loved the new to me shipwreck and all the microscopes. There is historical old town, aboriginal artifacts and temporary exhibitions. What I love here is that you can spend two hours or a whole day. In our case, the kids got hungry so that meant another experience.
Driving around Dallas road, you can find yourself at the Marina near Oak Bay. While the delicious food is definitely an attraction, the harbour seals stole the show. They splashed you for fish tidbits and generally played with the tourists. The girls were intrigued and could have spent a lot of time there had they not been with adults who were interested in moving on to the food portion of the stop. The houses in the area are tempting too.
After a late lunch, we braved the rain showers and headed to Buchart Gardens. They hosted an Easter Bunny hunt through spectacular gardens. I was also impressed when they provided us with free clear umbrellas that we could use for our visit. This allowed us to view the gardens without being blocked. The white porcelain bunnies were easy to find and were well scattered. The grounds are stunning in their expanse, floral scents and planning. This adventure took us until 6:00 when my friends had to leg it for a ferry, passing some marauding deer in the process.
In the evening, we drove out to Sooke for supper with friends. This is a lovely drive and would have been much appreciated in daylight. I fully intend to explore it better one day. That is truly one of the charms of Vancouver Island, you can't go anywhere without finding some spectacular scenery to just stop and drink in. The best part about Victoria is that it can be a day trip or a weekend trip...you won't run out of things to do.
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| Scallops and Mac N Cheese...yummy |
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