We were up and ready to head to the city of Victoria on Vancouver Island at 6:00 AM this morning. After driving the car onto the ferry, we passed the time during our 90 minute voyage by playing Kings on the Corner. Once the ferry docked, we drove the car off the boat and headed toward Butchart Gardens.
*Disclaimer: I am not very interested in nature and gardens, so you'd probably benefit from reading my mom's perspective on this part of the day.
Butchart Gardens was originally a cement plant owned by businessman, and 20th century rich guy, Robert Butchart and his wife Jennie. Over the years Jennie Butchart created gardens where the limestone deposits used to be and decades later, there are acres of lush flowers from different countries planted in this park. There was the Sunken Garden, Rose Garden, Japanese Garden, Italian Garden, and Mediterranean Garden. Lots of flowers everywhere you looked. I like the Japanese Garden the best because it had most interesting architecture as well as the most shade. There was also a pretty neat fountain called the Ross Fountain that sprayed water high in the air. It reminded me a little bit of an ancestor to the fountains used in Disney California Adventures World of Color show. There were also a Dragon Fountain, a Frog Fountain, and a couple other ones I can't remember.
After seeing most of the gardens, we stopped to have afternoon tea at The Dining Room. I do not consider myself to be an elegant eater and my favorite kind of tea is Lipton. So when I saw the menu featuring nine different kinds of tea, I just chose one quickly from the top of the selections. I picked the 100th Anniversary tea because it seemed festive, plus all tea kind of taste the same to me anyways. There was also a variety of different sandwiches, none of which I liked. The pastries and sweets however, were the best part of the tea experience. I think I liked the scone the best. Mom and Joe chuckled when I started to drink my milk from the pitcher, but like I said, I'm not an elegant eater.
We left Butchart Gardens to our next destination, Craigdarroch Castle. Built for coal baron, Robert Dunsmuir, though he died before it was finished. This place has been many things over the years: a manor for the Dunsmuir family, a military hospital, a university, a music conservatory, and now a museum. Craigdarroch Castle was gigantic with four floors and a fireplace in almost every room. I joke with Joe that it looked like the Canadian version of Wayne Manor from Batman, but unfortunately I didn't find the entrance to the Moose Cave. Most rooms had been restored to their original look and there were plenty of placards that explained the history of each room. After completing the castle exploration, we drove back to the ferry to head home.
Tomorrow is the start of our Alaskan Disney Cruise and I can't wait to step on the magic ship.
*Wi-Fi may be a bit spotty on the ship, so I may not post consistently for the next week.
If you'd like to read the day's events from my mom's perspective, you can read her blog here.
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