A stitching holiday in Victoria, BC

Von and I spent five wonderful days in Victoria, BC, Canada at the Victoria Sampler Stitching Retreat. We got home last night, and there is much to talk about and many pictures to share, so I will probably spread this report out over a few posts. Von has started a series of posts with a chronological accounting of our time together, so I thought I would make my posts more subject oriented instead of repeating Von. I thought today I would share about the city of Victoria and some of the sights we saw.

One day we took a walk past the inner harbor and out towards the needlework shop. We stopped and enjoyed the Parliment Building and took some pictures. I had never really been up close to the Building, so we went right up close and snapped some good pictures of the intricate carvings on the facade...it was so beautiful. The gardens in front of the building are wonderfully landscaped and have some very pretty tulip and daffodil plantings.

We then crossed the street and went into the Empress hotel, which is celebrating it's 100th anniversary this year. I didn't get a good picture of the outside of the hotel, but the inside was fabulous with all the beautiful wood work and stained glass. Here is a picture of the interior dining room where they serve high tea in the afternoons, and another picture of the centerpart of the stained glass ceiling in the Palm Court. Such a gorgeous building!

One afternoon we went for a walk up to Chinatown as I had never really been in that part of the city. The area was pretty small, just a few city blocks, but it has this lovely gate at the end of the street to draw your attention. It is very impressive in person. There were a couple of vegetable vendors with boxes of fruits and vegetables on the sidewalk and some interesting shops and alleys and restaurants.

And I finish off this post with a picture of the Parliment Building lit up at night. Isn't it pretty? Von and I were having lots of fun taking night pictures of the building and the city lights on different camera settings the evening before we left for home.

Hope you've enjoyed this very small tour of Victoria. Tomorrow I will try and post about the Stitching Retreat itself, and then a post about the needlework shop and some of the treasures I found.