Canadian Rockies -- Victoria & Vancouver

We are home from our big Rocky Mountain excursion -- here are a few highlights from the Victoria - Vancouver leg.

Here are Victoria's signature hanging baskets.Victoria is on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, the capital of British Columbia, and a retirement and tourist haven. I had no idea the climate was so temperate here. I thought you had to be a polar bear to live this close to Alaska. But it doesn't get too cold in the winter or too hot in the summer. Flowers thrive! 

We're in one of the water taxis that scoot all over the harbor, and we're going down a "street" of houseboats. One of these floating houses was in the movie, Sleepless in Seattle.

Here is British Columbia's Parliament Building -- it is outlined in lights in the evenings, giving it a definite Disney glow.

Duncan, just being himself, as we visited a Victoria city garden. Butchart's Garden, one of the stops we (well, Mom and I) looked forward to the most, comes next.

  Rose Arbor

  Fuchsias -- my favorites. They make me think of tiny dancers in tutus.

  Tuberous begonias. This is definitely one of the things that does well in these cooler temperatures. We saw them everywhere, huge, and in every color.

 
And here we have the tuberous begonias, a profusion of fuchsias and hydrangeas to boot.. Butchart Garden did not disappoint. We loved every minute we spent there.

 
Another day, another ferry ride to Vancouver. This was a bigger, more sophisticated city than we were expecting. Lots of modern architecture -- skyscrapers of glass and steel dominated the downtown. But it is on the water, with a marina, and a paved boardwalk stretches the length of waterfront.

 
I was quite taken with this fairly new public library building. It is a square glass and steel structure within a concrete structure that has curved walls and lots of arches -- reminiscent of Roman ruins.

 
Here it is from outside -- you can see the building within a building. We were told the design and scale of this as a public facility is controversial in Vancouver.

The roof peaks are fabric sails. This venue was built for the World Expo in 1986 and now serves as the cruise ship terminal.

This is the Olympic torch for the most recent winter games. It is only lit, we were told, for very special occasions. Apparently, they weren't told we were in town.

Tai Chi in the park on the waterfront. The red, squatting figures are an installation of public art. They made great photo props.

Here, as well as in Victoria, the harbors are busy helioports. There is steady traffic of float planes taking off and landing and for some reason, I found it relaxing to sit and watch.

Stanley Park is to Vancouver as Central Park is to New York -- a vast, multipurpose green space within the city. Here is a display of old and new totem poles carved by First Nations artists. Some of these poles tell a family's history and stories. We discussed what our family's totem pole would look like. We thought we'd have some wise owls in ours, because we have some pretty smart people in our family!