Victoria Trip Day 3: Butchart Gardens and killer whales
Day 3 started with breakfast at the hotel again. This time, Andy had a candied salmon frittata with ricotta and cress salad. Note the small yellow courgette flower in the salad and flower petals sprinkled on the frittata. Pretty.
I had a prawn and chorizo omelette with fruit salad (the server brought me the fruit salad when I said I didn't want hash, how nice). I got flowers in my fruit salad too, heh.
After breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and made our way to the Butchart Gardens en route to the ferry terminal. It was pretty easy, a direct bus from downtown Victoria. The gardens were also a must-see on most visitors' itineraries, even for those with just a passing interest in things horticultural, and I must say that this was not exaggerated. The landscaping was absolutely beautiful and unlike Kew or other botanical gardens that I have been to, this one had a lot more emphasis on blooms and formal garden designs. Being in the middle of summer, many flowers were in full bloom and it was a riot of colours out there in the brilliant sunshine.
As expected, I took way too many photos even without my DSLR. So here is just a selection:
Beautiful borders
Immaculate lawns
Large, old trees
The Sunken Garden was the first garden to be installed in what used to be an old quarry
Seed fields
I have never seen so many varieties of dahlias in my life. The blooms were of varying sizes but most of them ranged from the size of my fist to half the size of my head!
There were gardeners at work everywhere, all the time. Not surprising given how much work it must take to keep everything looking so good. Fading blooms were picked immediately to keep everything in tip-top shape.
Sunflowers
Being silly
Into the rose garden, which was still a couple of weeks away from full bloom
The Sturgeon Fountain
The Japanese Garden
The Star Pond
The Italian Garden
After lunch at the Gardens, we took another bus to the ferry terminal to return to Vancouver. It was a nice and relaxing journey back on the ferry. We got a seat right by some huge windows with a great view. About halfway through our journey, we spotted some killer whales in the mid-distance! The captain made an announcement about the sightings and just about everybody on board suddenly moved over to the starboard side, LOL. There was a whale watching boat parked nearby so there was certainly no mistake. I think we saw about 8 of them in total, coming up and down a few times. That was a nice bit of excitement to finish off a very enjoyable trip.
I had a prawn and chorizo omelette with fruit salad (the server brought me the fruit salad when I said I didn't want hash, how nice). I got flowers in my fruit salad too, heh.
After breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and made our way to the Butchart Gardens en route to the ferry terminal. It was pretty easy, a direct bus from downtown Victoria. The gardens were also a must-see on most visitors' itineraries, even for those with just a passing interest in things horticultural, and I must say that this was not exaggerated. The landscaping was absolutely beautiful and unlike Kew or other botanical gardens that I have been to, this one had a lot more emphasis on blooms and formal garden designs. Being in the middle of summer, many flowers were in full bloom and it was a riot of colours out there in the brilliant sunshine.
As expected, I took way too many photos even without my DSLR. So here is just a selection:
Beautiful borders
Immaculate lawns
Large, old trees
The Sunken Garden was the first garden to be installed in what used to be an old quarry
Seed fields
I have never seen so many varieties of dahlias in my life. The blooms were of varying sizes but most of them ranged from the size of my fist to half the size of my head!
There were gardeners at work everywhere, all the time. Not surprising given how much work it must take to keep everything looking so good. Fading blooms were picked immediately to keep everything in tip-top shape.
Sunflowers
Being silly
Into the rose garden, which was still a couple of weeks away from full bloom
The Sturgeon Fountain
The Japanese Garden
The Star Pond
The Italian Garden
After lunch at the Gardens, we took another bus to the ferry terminal to return to Vancouver. It was a nice and relaxing journey back on the ferry. We got a seat right by some huge windows with a great view. About halfway through our journey, we spotted some killer whales in the mid-distance! The captain made an announcement about the sightings and just about everybody on board suddenly moved over to the starboard side, LOL. There was a whale watching boat parked nearby so there was certainly no mistake. I think we saw about 8 of them in total, coming up and down a few times. That was a nice bit of excitement to finish off a very enjoyable trip.