Victoria, BC

We docked today at Vancouver Island and visited the city of Victoria. Very historic, very beautiful. After an early breakfast we took a bus excursion to see Butchart Gardens. Along the way, the driver gave us a city tour and pointed out various important and/or historic buildings.

Many of the most interesting buildings date back to the mid-1800's. Fort Victoria was established in 1843 and was a large whaling and sealing port. After the brief city tour, we made the short drive to Butchart Gardens.

Without question, Butchart Gardens are some of the best gardens we have ever visited. At this time of year, the gardens are filled with tulips of every imaginable variety and color. I'm sure that Jill could go on about all the other flowers that we saw - but I will simply say that it was glorious.

The variety of flowers and colors were fantastic and the landscaping was beautiful. Only problem is that it is too early for the roses. So...guess what? Yep, we'll have to come back during rose season.

After about a 2-hour walk of the gardens, we sat down for an English tea. The tea was every bit as good as tea in London. Half a dozens types of sandwiches, pastries, scones, quiche, chocolates, sausages in pastry, cakes, etc. - all served quite properly on a 3-tiered dessert tray. Certainly much more than we could eat.

The driver took a different route returning to the ship. So...he pointed out other sites. In Jill's words, "The entire trip was worth the experience today.". Obviously, she loves visiting gardens and this was one of the best.

As we are leaving port, we are a Princess ship waiting to go into port. We were in port with the HAL Volendam and our bus driver told us there are 3 ships coming into port this afternoon. Very busy port.

Tomorrow is a day at sea - our last day onboard the Millenium. Doesn't seem like the trip is almost over. But...gotta finish this one so we can get ready for the next.