Victoria

Back to the Canadian trip posts, but with a slight change of scene. Today I'm going to show you a bit of Victoria...capital city of British Columbia, located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. We had less than 24 hours in this pretty "City of Gardens", just long enough to get an overall feel...

Starting with Victoria's landmark, the Fairmont Empress Hotel that was built in 1908, designed by the architect Francis Rattenbury.

The Empress Hotel, on Victoria's Inner Harbour

The Empress

Rattenbury also designed the British Columbia Parliament Buildings, which were officially opened in 1898.

British Columbia Parliament Buildings - by day

British Columbia Parliament Buildings - by night

Free guided tours of the Parliament Buildings are available to the public....

The legislative chamber inside the Parliament Building

Stained glass window commemorating Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee

Pretty stairwell in the Parliament Building

From inside the Parliament Building

There was just time for a quick stroll through Chinatown....

Entrance to Chinatown

And to watch some seaplanes taking off from the harbour....