Eric’s Blog

Victoria was the one port visit that we didn’t plan any excursions or tours. We decided to get off the ship ourselves when it was available to us and we walked around the town a bit.

After leaving the pier, we walked into town and stumbled upon the first unique place we visited, The Fisherman’s Warf. It’s a neat little part of town on the water where there the sidewalks are all docks and all the buildings are boats. There are restaurants and houses that are boats. You can walk all over the area of the floating city and see how people live on the water.

After Fisherman’s Warf, we found ourselves in downtown, Victoria. We were near the Parliament building, a statue of Queen Victoria, and a Redwood tree that has been there for a long time. We found our way over to the British Museum of Natural History and took a tour of it. It was okay, not great, and a bit dusty for such a nice day outside, so we walked through and admired the exhibits before going back outside to do some more sight-seeing.

We found another park that was devoted to totem poles called Thunderbird Park. We walked through a bit, then worked our way further into the city in search of some local cuisine. Of course, we found a place that sold poutine and shared a large portion as we enjoyed the day.

We took a water taxi back across the water to the Fisherman’s Warf and walked back to the pier where the ship was moored. We stopped at a little tchotcke shop for some souvenirs and got back onboard the ship.

We got back underway later that afternoon and had dinner for the last time onboard the ship. This time,w e ate at the last specialty dining restaurant called Wonderland. This was a molecular gastropub based on C. S. Lewis’s Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass stories.

The food included test tubes of tomato water which sounds awful, but they were the most delicious, savory, tomato soup I’ve ever tasted. The dishes were all based on the elements, Earth, Air Water, Fire, Ice, and the Seas. The food was delightful, we’d obviously saved one of the best for last.