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Good morning, everyone! Hope you had a relaxing weekend. For a good dose of inspirational boost on this marvelous Monday, it only feels right to wrap up the Alaskan cruise post (as promised) by sharing some of our photo journal of beautiful Victoria, British Columbia. It’s a place we’ve been wanting to visit for quite some time now and were overjoyed when we saw it was one of the destinations on our cruise itinerary. Being that I have a penchant for gardening/gardens and high tea – the Butterfly Gardens and Butchart Gardens were a priority on the must-check-out-places list. So, this post will mainly be about these two spots.
As soon as we disembarked at the port, we chartered a bus to our first stop – the Butterfly Gardens, which is only a short five-minute drive from Butchart Gardens. Walking through the souvenir shop, you head out the back door and enter into this intimate miniature tropical jungle with surprises at every turn (I’ll point out what startled me in the photos below as we go along, so keep an eye out). You immediately are surrounded by all sorts of butterfly species not only under foot, but flying all around you. As you continue to wander around, you come to a serene pond filled with a variety of large tropical fish, Flamingos and a refreshing waterfall. To our surprise, Victoria was a lot warmer than expected that day (mid-80’s), which left me looking like a wet chihuahua in my faux fur vest and light cashmere turtleneck. It was comparable to our typical hot soupy summer days in NYC, which I secretly enjoyed feeling the dewy drops on my skin, getting the moisture that it desperately needed – given that we’ve been living in the desert these last 10 months.
This is what startled me and had me almost running, screaming with fear when I picked up my head and spotted him perched right above ogling at me. (Insert a screaming face with two hands holding the jaw and cheeks emoji).
Victoria is one of those incredibly breathtaking destination islands that’s worth spending more than a few hours in. It was definitely the perfect port to finish up in before we docked back in Seattle the next morning and is officially ranking as our third favorite city from this cruise vacation. We’re already planning to go back to explore the amazingly picturesque spots we didn’t get to see this time around like, Inner Harbour and the Royal British Columbia Museum. We’d also love to do the hike through Goldstream Provincial Park and experience the ferry ride to Sooke, since I’ve heard whales can be spotted on this one. Rounding it out with the main goal of any vacation – wine tasting at Cowichan Valley, where there are dozens of small vineyards offering tours and tastings. Yes, please… just say when?!
Fun fact:As if the story of Jenny Butchart turning this abandoned limestone quarry surrounding her home into the incredibly stunning gardens that are now one of the most famous tourist attractions (certainly, a woman after my own heart), the Butchart family story gets even more interesting. Did you know that while traveling in Europe, they received word that both of their German Woodland Ducks had died after an eagle attack? Since they were already mostly there, Mr. Butchart insisted on going to Germany to purchase new ducks. But Mrs. Butchart would hear nothing of it, insisting that if they went, they’d miss their steamship home. Her husband, Robert who had a love for ducks put his foot down and insisted to go, so off the family trekked to Germany. At last, after making his purchase and arranging for the ducks to be shipped back to British Columbia, the family rushed back to England only to find out that they missed their boat by two days!
What boat did they miss? The Titanic!! Thus, the story is, two dead ducks saved the Butchart Gardens. You’re welcome America and Canada!
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