Day 2 in Victoria

Our day got started around 11ish, and we headed to the Empress Hotel for tea at noon - about four hours too early, but hey, we're Americans. We can eat whatever we want whenever we want it.

Our finger sandwiches and sweets were excellent (Kerriann while munching: "What do they do with all the crusts?"), we were given two canisters of the house blend of tea to take home, and will be instituting our own tea services on special occasions soon. Too environmentally conscious to ask for a to-go box for the only sweet she couldn't manage to eat while we were there but couldn't bear to leave, Kerriann smuggled the strawberry preserves jar into the bathroom, washed it out, and stuffed her little chocolate truffle-like thing into it. (She's been very happy about the four chocolates we get on our bed for our turndown service every day too.)

Kerriann struck up a lengthy conversation with an older couple sitting next to us, also having tea, who have convinced her that her next trip should be a ferry ride (NOT a cruise) to Alaska, where she can pitch a tent on the deck of the ship instead of paying for a cabin (this may be another one of her traveling alone escapades).

We then decided to rent some bikes to burn off some calories (Kerriann's still in training for her triathalon, folks) and headed to Craigdarroch Castle, home of the Dunsmuir's, Victoria's coalmining/railroading millionaires of the early 1900s. The place was gorgeous, full of dark woods, stained glass windows, and rounded doors.
At the bottom of these stained glass windows is an organ, all on a landing in a stairwell.



Can you believe people once painted over this amazing handpainted ceiling and made it plain white? It's being restored.

Kerriann was in heaven. One of the stranger items in the house was a wreath made from human hair, supposedly a lost art. Did we need to keep that one found?


Our bike ride home was a bone of contention as Kerriann was content to feel her way around, while I was unhappy about the potential of getting lost without a map. We did find a lovely set of gardens around a government building by accident (there are so many beautiful flowers planted all over the town, it's amazing), and asked about which way to go to get back to downtown at just the right time. Thanks to Kerriann for being so understanding of a comparatively unadventurous nontraveler the likes of me.

Our evening was rounded out by a phone call home to some close friends who just welcomed their baby boy into the world, of course while we were out of town. Congratulations to the Double D!