Life with Andrea

June 18-21, 2010

We took a trip. Elizabeth was going to a conference at the University of Victoria, Bob was going to be in Canada for a conference, so we met up in Victoria, BC – Soren and Andrea and Bob and Elizabeth. We had 2.5 days to run around like crazy and do everything that it is possible to do.

First, there’s the university. They have rabbits. Soren was so busy taking pictures of the rabbits that he missed the deer, which are also on campus, but they do have rabbits.

Then, there are castles. We went to two – Craigdarroch and Hatley. Craigdarroch was built by the older Dunsmuir, and it has lovely furnishings and beautiful rooms. Hatley was built by his son (who constantly fought with his mother about who should get the first castle), and we didn’t see the rooms, but the gardens were FABULOUS

Victoria also has a house of Parliament! No senate and house of representatives for them. Their capitol building/house of Parliament is beautiful. They have a fancy door which only visiting heads of state can use – like the queen, or the president of Japan. And a beautiful dome.

We walked around downtown, seeing Chinatown, and people, and the outside of “The Empress” – the classic fancy hotel. We weren’t dressed to go in. We saw horse drawn carriages (phaetons) which people use for tours. They looked very upscale, in an 18^th century way.

Victoria also has totem poles. In Canada, they actually seem to respect their Native Americans, calling them First Nations. There was a longhouse, and lots and lots of totem poles. We didn’t go to the museum (too bad), but we looked at stuff outside.

There are gardens all over. We walked through a few, but really focused on only two. The Gardens of Government House are the gardens of the private residence of the Governor, the queen’s representative in British Columbia. The Governor makes her gardens available to the people of British Columbia – and by extension, also to us.

The most wonderful gardens, though, were the gardens of Hatley Castle. There was an Italian formal garden, a Japanese garden, a fern garden, and many others we didn’t even get to. They had peacocks – a splash of color. We walked into the gardens even though they were supposed to be closed, but nothing can keep out a Gillaspy.

We also went kayaking. None of us had ever been before, so when we drove to Nanaimo, we stopped in Ladysmith and went kayaking. We all saw seals – they’re rather like the deer in Colville. Something of a pest to the local residents, but you can’t help liking them anyway. The seals were in the water, though, not the gardens… surprise. We did NOT get too wet (except for me, because I’m a clutz), and no one tipped over, and it was fun.

Nanaimo was OK, but Chemainus was cool. They have murals all over the town, painted on every flat surface available. It’s a very small town, but they have over 30 murals. We took part of the “mural walk” to see them, just for a bit, and there kept being more and more. I believe they represent parts of the history of the town. But they also represent murals on walls – big time.

And the last thing we did was see the lighthouse and the historical fort. Lighthouses are lovely. The fort was from WWII. We saw athe bunkers, some of the artillery, and a “command central” room – which was just like the movies. I guess they must have been based on fact! There was even a map room, and computers (very old fashioned) and teletype or other transmission and listening stuff. And walls with arrow slits, undoubtedly not for arrows, but the principles have remained the same for centuries.

A most eventful weekend. It was lots of fun.