Lovely little Capital.

Not so little really but it has a small feel compared to Vancouver.

Victoria on Vancouver Island is the capital of British Columbia and has its own Parliament building which is lit up like a Christmas tree at night.
Sadly we had to leave today. Chris liked it here more than Vancouver.
I'm undecided as I think they both have their merits.

Vancouver has a stunning setting surrounded by bays and mountains and has that big city buzz. Victoria has this lovely harbour at its centre, lots of First Nations imagery and has more of a holiday feel. It's apparently drier here too but we have had great weather in both places.

This view of the harbour shows some of the activities. The big ferry is the Coho which goes to Port Angeles in Washington State, US. The smaller one is the Clipper which is a passenger ferry between Victoria and Seattle. There were three tall masted ships. The nearer one you can see here is the Pacific Grace so I was interested in that one!

In the distance to the right you can just see a sea plane, mainly going to Vancouver. These were passing our hotel all the time (the hotel is next to the second set of rigging near the centre of the shot on Laurel Point) but our favourites were the little ferry boats which we nick named 'tugs'. You can see a yellow one here just setting off for Fisherman's Wharf or a harbour tour. There were blue ones and green ones too! They are like the one we took across False Creek to Granville Island in Vancouver.

The usual view of the harbour is taken looking across the other way at the magnificent Empress hotel behind me, but in a morning you are looking straight into the sun.

We crossed on the lunch time ferry and spent the whole time on the deck enjoying the view. No Orcas this time! Our only wildlife today was the at least two dozen sparrows watching us eat our breakfast but I did see a fast moving Humming bird in the tree behind them.

Picking up a car from the airport we crossed the Lion Bridge out of Vancouver and followed the Sea to Sky highway to Whistler. A wonderful drive back to the mountains which I am sure we will enjoy but we have loved our holiday filling in the NW Pacific even though we never actually saw the Pacific Ocean!