Victoria prides itself on being just as British as the British and when you tour around the City Centre and Harbour you can easily see why with the domination of the Government Buildings and the Empress Hotel, offset with carriage rides and double decker buses.
However, the spectacular sight of the landing and taking off of the seaplanes in the harbour is something that you won't get back home. Our visit to Victoria encompassed a walk around the quayside to Laurel Point where we witnessed 2 seaplanes landing. Not long beforehand a yacht had strayed off into what would have been the sea-runway and was told in no uncetain terms to get out of the way by the harbour patrol.
We spent the rest of the afternoon strolling around the Royal British Columbia Museum, taking in First Nation exhibits as well as the expansion of British Columbia from the mid 19th Century. We then took a drive along highway 14 to Sooke, travelling as far as River Jordan. All along this route we travelled alongside the Juan De Fuca Strait, often referred to in Geography lessons when reference is made to earthquakes. Across the Strait is the USA and before us lay the spectacular snow capped mountains of the Olympic National Park, situated west of Seattle. From Jordan River we could just see the end of the Strait and the Pacific Ocean itself. We also stopped at a point called French Beach. Here we saw lots of tiny creatures that looked like baby lobsters jumping out of some kelp washed up on the shoreline.
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