Victoria is the capital of the province of British Columbia.
The BC legislature building overlooks the city's harbour. The grand architecture is admirable during the day, but even more impressive at night when over 3,000 light bulbs provide a beautiful, illuminated sight. At the rear of the building are poignant memorials to people who have passed away performing their public duties as firefighters, police, search and rescue volunteers, and paramedics. These monuments are immaculate and well-tended.
Nearby is the Confederation Fountain, where I found the shields bearing the coats of arms of all the provinces and territories displayed in a row. The date when the province / territory joined the Canadian confederation appears at the bottom of each shield.
Across Government Street is The Royal British Columbia Museum, one of the finest in the world, due to its First Peoples Gallery with a massive collection of totem / house poles, carvings, and masks. The argillite carvings of pipes impressed me the most. Argillite is a dense black shale composed of fine mineral clay and carbon changed by heat. This shale is wet when quarried and then dries out before being carved using woodworking tools. The first carvings created were copies of wooden pipes smoked on religious and ceremonial occasions. The quarry for argillite was at Slatechuck Creek near Skidegate on Haida Gwaii. It is not only the exhibits which are first rate, but the information too. For example, in British Columbia there are 203 First Nations communities who speak thirty-four distinct languages in sixty-one dialects. On the other side of the museum from the legislature is Thunderbird Park, with its collection of totem poles, St Ann's Schoolhouse, and Helmcken House.
Dr. John Sebastian Helmcken, a surgeon with the Hudson's Bay Company, built Helmcken House. It is one of the oldest houses in British Columbia, still on its original site. Dr. Helmcken set up house in Victoria when he married the daughter of Governor James Douglas in 1852. He became a political leader and helped negotiate the entry of British Columbia into Canada as a province. Dr Helmcken was the first doctor in Victoria and there is a marvellous statue of him carrying his medical bag outside his house in Elliott Square.
St. Ann's Schoolhouse may be the oldest building still standing in Victoria. Jacques Lequechier constructed the building in 1844 in the Hudson's Bay Company Red River style. Roman Catholic Bishop Demers purchased it in 1853 for use as a residence and a schoolhouse. Four Sisters of St. Ann returned from Quebec in 1858 and lived in this building where they held school classes teaching First Nations and Metis children. The Sisters gave the school to the Museum who in 1974 moved the building to its present location behind Helmcken House on Elliott Square.
Thunderbird Park has a rich collection of totem poles, some painted, some not, showing the variety of styles used in these works of art.
Before heading for a look around the harbour, I would recommend walking to Beacon Hill Park, a 200-acre open space along the shore of Juan de Fuca Strait. The park contains woodland and shoreline trails, a petting zoo, and landscaped gardens. Sir James Douglas, governor of the Colony of Vancouver Island, set aside the land as a protected area in 1858. In 1882, the land became a municipal park of the City of Victoria and was given its present name because people once placed navigational beacons on a small hill within the park boundaries. This hill was a burial site for the Coast Salish people, the original inhabitants of the Greater Victoria region.
The park is notable for its human-made features. Most prominent is the world's fourth-tallest totem pole, a 38.8-metre (127 ft) work carved by Kwakwaka'wakw artisan Mungo Martin, erected in 1956. At the time it was the world's tallest pole. "Mile 0" of the Trans-Canada Highway is at the south-west corner of the park, along with the old Beacon Lodge, and a statue of Terry Fox with information about his inspiring Marathon of Hope.
Also inside the park is a pebble bridge over the stream between Goodacre and Fountain Lake, a tribute to renowned BC artist and writer Emily Carr, created by her sister Alice in 1945. The Emily Carr house is located close to the park at 207 Government Street. The family built the house in the Italianate style in 1863, and Emily was born there in 1871. She spent much of her life within walking distance of this family home, which left an impression on her, mentioned in all of her books. The house is six blocks from Victoria's Inner Harbour, where I found the Robert Bateman Centre displaying the definitive collection of one of Canada's most celebrated wildlife artists. The aim of the centre is to encourage visitors to become more interested in the natural world and to understand why it is important to preserve the planet for future generations.
Further west along Belleville Street is the Huntingdon Manor hotel, well known in Victoria for serving traditional English afternoon teas at the Pendray Tea House. There is also a bicycle rental shop on the property. I continued westwards and came to the popular Fisherman's Wharf, with its floating houses, tour companies offering ocean adventures, restaurants selling Fish and Chips and Mexican food, and a floating bed-and-breakfast. About a mile past Fisherman's Wharf is the Ogden Point lighthouse on a breakwater jutting out into the ocean. This is a popular place for a stroll and a jog. On the landward side are tugboats and pilot boats waiting for the next big ship to enter the harbour. At this point, I could have continued in my present direction and reached Beacon Hill Park.
However, I chose to go back to Fisherman's Wharf to catch the water taxi. This miniature ferry connects the wharf with Chinatown, Harbour Air, and the Empress Dock. The last-mentioned stop is opposite the grand ivy-covered Empress Hotel, a famous Victoria landmark since 1908. The Empress serves an elegant, expensive afternoon tea in its upper lobby and the lavish public spaces, including the reception area, are worth seeing in their own right.
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