To round out our vacation, we made a quick stop in Victoria, Canada for about four hours. Originally we’d planned on going to the Butchart Gardens (which has been on my dream list ever since I’ve heard of its existence), but due to cost and time constraints, we decided to save it for some future trip.
(I WILL go back, folks–I am determined to see those Gardens, dang it!
We first wandered around the main heart of the city, where we spent significant time around The Empress Hotel, which was surrounded by some of the loveliest rose gardens I’ve ever seen (not to mention some of the largest hydrangea bushes!).
In my future trip to Victoria, I plan to get a cup of [herbal] tea at the Hotel’s official Tea Time Room. Pretty much I just saw all the little cakes they had on their cute little silver serving platters, and I was officially determined right then and there that we were coming back someday.
Luckily for us, we had a backup plan to Butchart–before we stepped onto land, Matt had glanced through some of the other tourist sites available, and we’d discovered that there was a castle within walking distance from downtown.
And I knew that we were going as soon as I heard Matt utter “Castle.”
I married such a [cute] nerd.
And really, when it came right down to it, Craigdarroch Castle was definitely worth the 30-minute walk it took to get there. Although not an actual “castle” in the traditional sense of the word (more of a glorified mansion from the late 1800s), the castle boasted all-wood walls and floors, authentic furniture (much of it from the original home), and loads of ideas for Matt’s future castle plans.
He took pictures of every room.
Even the bathroom.
We rounded the night off by checking out the sights and sounds of the artists and musicians set up around the pier.
One of my favorite pictures from the whole trip is the one below that Matt got of his parents.
Can’t wait until next time, Victoria!