Because it is Tuesday, the Clipper does not sail back to Seattle until evening, so we have another whole day in Victoria.
We had another delicious breakfast at the hotel and Ed decided to relax for the morning. I took advantage of the time to walk around the harbor. The key features of the harbor are the Empress Hotel and Parliament. Both buildings were designed by Francis Rattenbury who won a design competition at the age of 24 to build the government building.
I also visited the Royal British Columbia Museum across the street. It was founded in 1886 and combines natural as well as human history. I have toured this site on previous occasions and have enjoyed the physical installations of early life in the northwest. I’m glad I took advantage of this visit, because I think it will not be the same in the future. I realize museums everywhere are changing their focus, to include narratives that were often left out in earlier renditions (usually with indigenous peoples) and to make them more interesting to a younger audience. A small change that the museum had already made (and I applaud) in its entrance to its historical component, is a display about the indigenous peoples who lived (and still live) there and the effort to bring back their native languages. You could press a button on about 20 different poles to hear each of these native languages spoken.
Beyond this were the exhibits I remembered — the old pioneer streets, hotels, mining operations, lumbar yards, etc. I love seeing these but I realize the interest is waning.
Back to the Empress — we checked out and headed for our “high tea” at a 1 pm reservation.
This seemed like a wonderful way to spend the afternoon before catching our return Clipper, and it was delightful as always.
We had a lovely seat by the window so we could watch all the activity in the harbor and took our time enjoying the raisin scones, the finger sandwiches of egg salad, cucumber, ham and gruyere, smoked salmon and an unusual carrot and ginger salad. The top tier was the piéce de rèsistance with shortbread, strawberry tart, dark chocolate and raspberry macaroon, an apricot streusel and something with maple pecan and blackberry sugar.
Then we headed to the terminal and up to some scenic seats on top of the ship — there is no outdoor viewing. We made it back to Seattle at 7:45 and saw the skyline, and, closer in, the yellow building that is the Edgewater.
We caught an Uber to the Embassy Suites next to the 2 stadiums and the railroad station, located on the edge of Pioneer Square. It was such a lovely night that we decided to walk around Pioneer Square to find a restaurant. We didn’t find any to our liking, but we did find something better. We happened upon Occidental Park near the Square, a large, mostly paved park surrounded by buildings. To our surprise, we saw a bandstand with a swing band and more than 100 people of different ages and ethnicities dancing to the vibes on a cool summer night. We learned that the Seattle Parks sponsors “Dancing Til Dusk” for 13 nights at various parks around the city. This one featured “Ranger and the Re-Arrangers” - considered gypsy swing/variety. We were impressed that people were not necessarily coupled — they were all dancing with different partners, but they all knew HOW to dance. Ed treated me to a slow one — I think more to lay claim to me than the dance (LOL). It was delightful.
We ended up back at the hotel, eating dinner at a little bar inside the hotel. Another wonderful day!
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