Victoria and life on the ship

After leaving Skagway we had almost two full days at sea.  After our first sea day when the ship rocked and rolled all day we weren't sure what to expect on our return trip.  Our fears were unfounded, the sea was calm and the weather was very nice.  We spend our time visiting and drinking coffee and hot chocolate in the atrium bar, eating, sitting on our balcony watching for whales, (we even saw one breaching) eating again, ejoying the activities on the ship and eating.

 They make beautiful ice carving for the buffet lines and they always have a demonstration on deck.  They finish their sculptures in less than 20 minutes time.

 Ken, Johnny, me and Hannah at one of our many visits to the coffee bar.

 Delicious hot chocolate.  They serve fresh baked cookies in the afternoon and we seemed to time our visits at the right time each day.   This is a nice touch that you find on all Princess ships.



 Sue and I were wearing jackets but I think we shed them later in the day.

 Duane is catching some rays and enen got a touch of sunburn.  There were a few people in bathing suits and using the pool the last day.  It didn't feel quite that warm to me.

 I suffer from "cankles" when I travel so I try to keep my feet elevated when possible.

 You can also get soft ice cream whenever you want.

 One of our dinners.

 Ken was in "Conservative Heaven" - first being in the home state of Sarah Palin and then meeting Mike Huckabee.  Governor Huckabee was on board our ship as part of a Freedom Tour.  He was very approachable and friendly.   

Our final port of call was Victoria, British Columbia, one of my favorite cities.   We arrived in Victoria at 7 pm and left at 11:30 p.m. so that didn't give us much time to explore.  We concentrated on the harbour area and didn't make it to the city center or the famous Butchart Gardens.  Ken and I have been here before and would have liked the others to see the gardens, but I guess that will have to be another trip.  :)

It doesn't take long to see why Victoria is called Canada's "garden city".  There are flower gardens everywhere you look.  They have a mild climate which enables them to grow almost anything.

 A beautiful topiary on the street corner.

 The Empress Hotel has been rated one of the top 500 hotels in the world by Conde' Nast.  We didn't go inside and I doubt I will ever spend a night there, but their grounds are beautiful.

 These interesting trees flank the entrance to the hotel.

 You can take a tour of the city on one of these beautiful horse-drawn carriages.

 This huge sequoia tree was planted in the late 1800's and is over 100 feet tall.  It is the official Christmas tree of the province and is decorated with thousands of lights.

 I have never seen this flower before.  Does anyone know what it is.  It almost looked like paper.



The harbour at sunset.

Parliament building

 

The Parliament building at night. (Johnny took this photo).