Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia in Canada. It is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. The city can be accessed via boat ferry or flight. Unlike Vancouver, it is not a metropolitan city. It is a beautiful city with a lot of Victorian cultural influence and also has a parliament hill located.
This time we took the ferry from Port Angeles at Washington state to Victoria and arrived at inner Victoria harbor. We stayed at Days Inn and the rate is around $120 per night and parking is complimentary. However, I am extremely disappointed with Days Inn. It is probably my worst experience with staying at a hotel. The AC does not work in the room. Although AC is most likely not needed at Victoria, it could still get hot during the day. The edge of the window of the room is very dirty as well. Also, there is only 1 elevator for all the hotel guests. Although it is a small hotel, I think there should be at least 2 elevators to share with hotel employees. In addition, the staircase is very dirty. The carpet on the stair looks like it has not been cleaned for years! I would not recommend this hotel if you go to Victoria. There are other hotels to stay at in the region.
When we are at Victoria, we only spent 1 night here. On the first day, we walked around the inner harbor of Victoria and there is a lot of interesting street performers. You can also pay a visit to the parliament building. There is usually a guided tour at every hour. If you want to have a perfect view of Victoria Inner harbor, you walk to Laurel Point. It is only about 10 minutes walk distance from Victoria Inner harbor. Laurel Point is on the South side of the harbor. If you want to have the view from North side, you can go to Marriott Hotel on the North side.
For dinner, you can pick a restaurant around the Downtown area. There is a lot of choice and many of them offer Patio seating. Some restaurants even have life performers playing music. However, I recommend you to go a bit further and dine at Sen Sushi. Sen Sushi is a very authentic Japanese restaurant. The sushi at Sen Sushi is extremely fresh and juicy. The color of the salmon makes me think that it was just freshly got! If you go to Sen Sushi, don't forget to try their Udon as well! The soup base is so clear and yet so tasty!
On the next day, you can visit Buchart Garden. Buchart Garden is a world class well known garden. It is one of the largest garden in the world! You must pay a visit to Buchart Garden when you go to Victoria. When you walk into the garden gate, you can feel that something magical is going to happen. It feels like you are about to enter one of those castles that you read about in fairy tales.
The landscape of the garden is amazing. it has variety of gardens from different cultures such as French, Italian, Japanese, and Chinese. The largest section at Buchart Garden is Sunken Garden. It is also the one that you see on their advertisement. It is definitely by far the best garden in my opinion. There is also a little look out in the middle of the garden that offers you a panoramic view of the garden!
If you go to Buchart garden, I recommend you to go there early to avoid the crowd. You don't want to take pictures while there are many people walking around you! The whole experience at Buchart Garden takes around 2-3 hours. I would recommend you to take your time and walk slowly and take lot of photos! Also, please don't step on the grass and stay on the path. Although there are many signs telling visitors not to step on grass, there are still people walking on the grass and ruin the garden landscape.
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