Royal BC Museum

On the second day of our short visit to Victoria we had the pleasant experience of spending a whole morning in the city's great museum focusing on two particular exhibitions. One was on Mammoths and the other on nineteenth century colonial history. The mammoth display covered the evolution of the species and its relatives ... the elephants etc. ... and the ways in which environmental  changes especially in the last 10,000 years or so and human activities affected the spread and or decline of the species. As an aside I found the section on how elephants and their cousins could become dwarf when isolated on islands because of rising sea levels particularly interesting because some stupendous research by colleagues of mine into Homo Floresiensis - the dwarf hominids from the island of Flores in the Indonesian archipelago - and how they hunted Stegadon, which were dwarf elephants on that island. Have a look at these photos which will give you an impression of the exhibits:

Apologies for the first photos which show two cuties, Ella and Flynn, playing with a hands-on exhibit - with the former impersonating a Panda. Their mother was also caught explaining in simple language the nature of mammoths.

And here's a lovely reconstruction of a mammoth, which was apparently preyed on by very large bears and cats.

 

And here we see Ella and Flynn having a wrestling match with two artificial mammoth heads each armed with long tusks. There were many hands-on exhibits, which made the displays interesting for young kids, and these included identifying the  species to which the various examples of poo belonged.

And finally we saw a whole mammoth skeleton.

After a short break, we then headed for the colonial exhibits, which were very well done and highly reminiscent of early Australian society and its relations with first nations people. Canadian and Australian economy, society and polity have much in common even today. The most impressive displays for me were not so much about indigenous society and culture as the reconstructions of 19th century settler life and their struggles to survive. Here are some more images:

Elements of native society and life ... which were admittedly well-done.

Vancouver's cabin on his ship.

Reconstructions of urban life.

The hardships and fragility of rural life - both mining and agriculture.

All in all a great experience.

AS

Burtchard Gardens

The day we arrived in Victoria we had a pre-booked afternoon - evening trip out to the famous Burtchard gardens, travelling there in a double-decker hired bus along with lots of other eager passengers. On arrival, there was no prepared itinerary. It was our task to wander as we pleased. It was drizzling as we arrived and so we could all pick up plastic umbrellas if we wished and most did despite the wind. Here we see the three cousins and Bec entering the grounds.

It was a fairly dull afternoon, but one of the spectacular features of the grounds were the thousands of lights adorning trees and shrubs, not to forget the ice-skating rink which all but I and Dot tried out. I chickened out because of my age and perhaps suspect sense of balance, but the other six in our party tried out ice-skating with, in the case of Bec, Greg and Max great success. But our three and five year olds were very tentative.

After the skating, we headed into the botanical displays with gusto egged on by this blue-illuminated tree. Even the dangling icicles had flickering lights.

We ambled past a model train set that attracted the littlies' attention.

There were lights everywhere, but we found they became startlingly more beautiful as dusk approached. You can just make out the lights adorning this bush.

Here's the marvellous sunken garden, not to forget the rose garden, albeit pruned and not in flower.

Increasing numbers of illuminated trees and a rotating display of fairy-tale characters.

As a connoisseur of Japanese gardens I was looking forward to rambling through this one, but entry was closed just as we got there at about 4pm.

So it was back to the rose garden with its illuminated figures and fairy-tale trees and then on up winding paths to a lake with illuminated fountains.

This also eventually led to totem poles and a carousel on which the kids eagerly jumped.

The lake with illuminated foutains.

Past yet more brilliantly lit houses and treed - all the more spectacular in the gathering dusk.

After a quick meal in the cafe, we caught the bus home on schedule. Well, when I say home we were dropped quite a long walk from our hotel so the little people and their chaperones caught a taxi while the rest of us more athletic types used our feet. One quick observation:  the US is known for its massive serves of whatever food ordered, but I though that the Canadians might reduce the calories to Australian levels. Alas no. Our serves were enormous - so large I had to give up and leave some behind on our departure.

Anniversaries

While the most recent two posts detailed busy events on the 27th and 28th of December last year (2016 for those who don't realise it's the new year!), the 29th was a very special day. It was Dot and my 40th wedding anniversary and Bec's Brittany. So Emily arranged to celebrate the occasion by taking us to another country ... Canada ... and somewhere Dot and I have always wanted to visit despite being very close on several occasions. The place in question is Victoria in British Columbia. Never heard of it? Well, it's the capital of British Columbia rather than nearby Vancouver, and it's on Vancouver Island. It's special in another way, too, apart from being rather historic and attractive. It's actually south of the 49th parallel separating the USA an Canada and closer to Seattle than Vancouver itself.

And the trip there from Seattle is lovely. We sailed on a catamaran! Well, I might have provided the wrong image in your minds. The vessel had twin hulls of course, but had no sails. Its powerful engines conveyed something like 250 people at 30 knots across Puget Sound in great comfort and with lovely views of a constellation of islands ... a journey taking a little over two and a half hours. We didn't have to take make luggage as we only stayed one night and returned late the following day. I, for example had a back-pack and Dot carried a hand-held carry bag. But the other 6 members of our party - all of the household here in Kirkland were on the trip, including Max, Ella and Flynn, had to carry rather more. Here we are at the ferry terminal at dawn (c. 8am here in mid-winter).

After a while, Mt Rainier came into view, though not its 14,000 ft summit which was shrouded in cloud

On the port side we followed the snow-capped Olympic Range, which separates Seattle from the Pacific ocean.

And here we are leaving Victoria the following evening, with Ella and Flynn rivited to their tablets.

Victoria is, as I said, lovely and here are a few images. On arrival, but after depositing our luggage at our hotel, we strolled through the city in gathering dusk.

These two pictures show the enormous parliament building lit up.

At dawn the following day we were greeted by these views.

And we were amused to see people arriving arriving by that rather dated means of travel - a flying boat from Vancouver, which Dot and I were tempted to catch in the past.

The more conventional way of arriving from Vancouver.

Parliament by day with, appropriately, Canada Geese in front. Max nearly got himself arrested for chasing them ... an encounter with the law vaguely reminiscent of Emily being evicted from the lawn in front of Vienna's Hofburg Palace when when was 4 years old in - dare I say it - the early 1980s.

Our two major excursions in Victoria saw us visit (a) the famous and very beautiful Butchard Gardens - a national historic site, and (b) the Royal BC Museum. But these will be the focus of our next post.

AS