Victoria, continued...

Victoria is a beautiful town. It is the capital of the province of British Columbia in Canada it is small enough to get around easily, and it isn't called the city of gardens for nothing! Because we spent Sunday at the Dragon Boat Festival (see prior post), we decided to just stay downtown and walk around, even though it meant missing some of the nearby "must see" things on Vancouver Island.

We visited the magnificent old Canadian Pacific Hotel for breakfast:




My dungeness crab benedict, and Fred's Belgian Waffles...we splurged on orange juice at $5 a glass!






A view of the Parliament building and the harbor:


Flowers were everywhere!

A statue of native daughter and artist Emily Carr, with the Empress Hotel in the background. Her pet monkey is depicted on her shoulder. Her art is scenes in British Columbia, particularly aboriginal and forest scenes.



Some of the other art we found as we walked around Victoria...



Sidewalk art...






Totems outside the BC Museum..






Performance art...



Well, maybe not art...but I couldn't resist....


Victoria's Chinatown is a popular destination that we didn't get to, but we did see the gate, which was being repaired that day:



We ended the afternoon with a walk and drive through Victoria's Beacon Hill Park, which encompasses everything from lovely formal gardens near the BC Museum to a hilly, slightly wild cliffside path:









On the hight point of the park, near the cliffs, is the western mile 0 of the TransCanada Highway, and also a monument to Canadian Terry Fox, the amputee who ran across most of Canada to raise money and awareness for Canada







Evening in Victoria--the Parliament Building and the harbor:






--From our blog. If you're viewing this on the blog, you can click on any picture to see a larger version.

Victoria, BC Dragon Boat Festival

We were only in Victoria for three days, but it felt like we were there so much longer, we did so much and saw so much!

The highlight was definitely the Dragon Boat Festival which happened to be taking place on the Sunday that we were there. The harbor was packed with spectators, tourists and participants. There were all kinds of festivities--dragon boat races, music, games, food stands, and more. Dragon boat racing is hard to describe, the pictures will have to suffice. I think there are about 20 paddlers per boat, and a helmsman and a drummer. The festival has been going on for 17 years, and it seems like everyone in Victoria either participates or knows someone who does. Even the quilt shop owner we spoke later to was a racer! The weather was absolutely beautiful, and Victoria's lovely harbor, surrounded by gardens and lovely old buildings, made the perfect setting:



Above, finishing strong! The first races we watched were part of the Cancer Survivor's Challenge. Every participant in these races was a breast cancer survivor. Ages ranged from 30 to 92! Below, two particants of the Survivor's Challenge watch one of the heats.









Above, at the end of the Survivor Challenge race, the particpants gather for the Carnation Tossing ceremony. Spectators purchase pink carnations (proceeds to Victoria's cancer foundation) and toss them to the participants and into the water.


Watching these strong women (and a few men)


compete was a very moving experience. Below: for a donation to Victoria's cancer foundation, you could hang a lantern with your wish attached.



In between races, these little harbor taxis ran around:



And occasionally, a sea plane would taxi out of the inner harbor, guided by a pilot boat:







The harbor patrol kept things under control, though I'm not sure what the standard poodle does:



We walked around to the other side of the harbor, which meant we had to cross this bridge:


Of course, it raised just as we got there...


to allow this barge to go under.


The view from the other side of the harbor. The dragon boat races began here, and ended at the inner harbor.


More from Victoria next.

-- From our trip blog at www.truetrip.blogpost.com

Seattle's Pike Place Market

If you love being overstimulated with colors, scents, sights and sounds, Pike Place Market is the place to go. The Market opened in 1907 and is "one of the oldest continually operated public farmers' markets in the United States." (Wikipedia) I also read that it is the oldest still in its original location.






Covering roughly seven acres, it is a riot of color. Or maybe just a riot. On a Friday, it was packed with people. One wonders if there is ever a slow time?

Although there are food stalls and small restaurants scattered throughout the Market, we opted to eat at Lowell's--famous for its clam chowder and the fact that one scene (featuring Tom Hanks and Rob Reiner) from Sleepless in Seattle was filmed there. We happened to park right outside and were starved, which also helped us decide.





Fred has already finished his clam chowder and is busily dispatching a salmon sandwich in the above picture. I had fish tacos (yum!)

One of the most entertaining free things to do at Pike Place Market is to watch the fish tossing at Pike Place Fish. Once a customer selects a fish from the display case, the fishmongers all chant the order in unison as the selection is tossed behind the counter to be wrapped. A dungeness crab is flying, almost dead center, in the picture below (click on the picture to see a larger size).



People also like having their photo taken with Rachel the Pig, one of the icons of Pike Place Market. It was so crowded, we couldn't get close, so I settled for this family getting their turn. Rachel is also a piggy bank, collecting money that is used for the Market's social services program.


We walked around for about an hour, marvelling at the number of different things for sale and trying samples, despite being stuffed from lunch.










Above, from top to bottom: Making cheese at a cheese shop; a window of glasses in an alleyway, and the original Starbucks, opened in 1971, which was so crowded we couldn't get in it. The line went down the street.

We had a great time strolling around, people watching and marvelling at the offerings. Pike Place Market is located along the downtown waterfront, just north of Pioneer Square and just south and west of the Space Needle. (Obligatory Space Needle shot here.)



I highly recommend taking advantage of Seattle's excellent public transportation system if you want to visit the downtown area. You can get off and on within the downtown zone for free. We drove, and while yes, we did get parking at the Market, we were lucky, and driving downtown in general and in the Market in particular is a slow tortuous process.

Next...Victoria, British Columbia

Seattle's Underground Tour

A quirky bit of history in Seattle has given birth to an equally quirky walking tour in downtown Seattle. By east coast standards, Washington is a young state, becoming a US territory in 1872 and a state in November 1889. Just before statehood was official, on June 6 of that year, much of the downtown Seattle business district burned down. (Miraculously, no deaths.) When the city was rebuilt, wooden buildings were banned in the district; new buildings were built in brick. Because Seattle was essentially seven hills surrounded by water, there had been many problems with boggy streets, where horses would get stuck and at least one child drowned. The tidal flow wreaked havoc with the sewer system and with water pressures. In rebuilding, the decision was made to raise the city by as much as 22 feet.

In order to allow businesses to open as soon as possible, buildings were rebuilt with plain brick entrances at the current ground level, with more elaborate facades built to be used once the city streets were raised. In between the buildings, the initial streets were raised to the new levels, with the sidewalks next to the buildings at the old street level. So, to enter the buildings, people had to climb down ladders from the new street level and enter the buildings at the old ground level. Eventually, sidewalks at the new level were built, covering up the old sidewalks and entrances. But all of those old sidewalks and entrances are still there....

Enter Bill Speidel in 1954. Bill Speidel, a Seattle publicist, began trying to save Seattle's Pioneer Square, the original business district, from redevelopment. His promotion of the historic nature of the district and the uniqueness of Seattle's hidden city was directly responsible for Pioneer Square being designated a historic district, which encouraged business owners to save the buildings. More on the history here



Our tour guide, in blue, on the left, was knowledgeable, entertaining and loved bad puns. We took the tour on a bright afternoon, making the descent to the underground even more dramatic.



As shown above, access, for us, was from outside down a stairway. Easier than the old ladders! Some of the sidewalks have skylights in them (below, taken from underground), but fortunately, the parts of the underground city we went through (about 3% of the total underground) were well lighted.



Below, some of the former entrances, now bricked up. Others are still usable, and apparently, in parts of the underground that we didn't tour, the underground level is in active use.



A typical passageway on the underground tour.



There were many piles of junk. After the earthquake of 2001, a lot of debris was dumped in the underground passages.



Wall decor in the tunnels.



Definitely one of the more unique city tours we've been on. It reminded us in some ways of the underground tour of Roman ruins we've been on in a couple of cities. However, those tours didn't cover "seamstresses" who didn't sew and underground flush toilets. You'll have to take the tour to learn more!

Next: Pike Place Market....

-- Posted from my iPad!