Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria, Queen of England, embraced the world as her kingdom. From her roots grew kings and queens of not just her own lands, but Greece, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Romania, Yugoslavia and Spain as well as an Emperor of Germany and a Grand Duke of Russia.
Victoria, the City of Gardens, named in her honor, greeted us with grace and dignity. Streaks of pink in the eastern skies were peppered with purple as we zigzagged into the narrow channel of Victoria Harbour. The air was still and the water flat calm. The sentinel, a great blue heron, was no more than a shadow stalking silently beside a glacially sculpted islet. As the sun inched closer to peering over the horizon, it unrolled a golden carpet across the sea, a royal gesture of welcome to a royal city. The actual sunrise was hidden behind hillsides but it was reflected in the windows of grand buildings lining the waterfront.
The quiet of early morning was shattered by screaming gulls and roaring float planes bearing businessmen in suits to towns across the waters. We escaped the urban rush hour, transported to the calm of Butchart Gardens not far away. Riots of color, golds and reds, purples with pinks and glowing yellow flowers massed in contoured beds. Sedate green vines and rounded shrubs drooped from hillsides. Water cascaded in tiny streams, whispering gently or in secret alcoves misted in ornate fountains. We wandered alone or with chosen companions inhaling the beauty around.
Back in the city, the Royal British Columbia Museum channeled us through time, from life long before the glaciers came to the plants and wildlife of today. We peered into the lives of the First Nations Peoples and followed the settlers west in search of fur and gold, timber and salmon. Modern life could be sampled, if one so desired, in the galleries and shops nearby.
A dinner cruise became a frenzy of excitement. Bound for Race Rocks in search of a lighthouse and pinnipeds, our progress was halted abruptly. Whilst focusing binoculars on murmuring common murres, a blow was spotted and then a fin. Killer Whales! Closer and closer they came until we could hear their exhalations. A tiny calf regularly surfaced a fraction of a second behind its mother, its rounded head rising like a cork as it struggled to learn control with the change in density from water to air. They entertained throughout the cocktail hour until declining light and dinner brought the show to a close.
