On the Road...Butchart Gardens, Vancouver Island, BC Canada

After taking the ferry from the City of Vancouver, we stopped at the north end of Vancouver Island in order to most easily travel to world-famous Butchart Gardens.  I had heard about the gardens first from my dear friend in NJ at least 20 years ago.  I remember it well because she was quite taken by them when she visited and I knew if they had that effect on her...well then, they must be spectacular.  And they are!

The admission tickets were arranged for in advance and box lunches were prepared so all that was necessary was to go and pick them up. Then wander through the gardens at a relaxing pace and eat whenever the mood struck.

What is pretty interesting is that the gardens were really an after-thought.  Originally, the land was used for mining limestone for the production of cement...not a very good start for world-famous gardens.  The wife of Robert Pim Buchart was mortified at the devastation caused by the mining technique used and decided that she would truck in some soil and start a garden to make the place pretty again.  Fifty-five acres is a lot of soil and I have to say she did a heck of a job turning an eyesore into spectacular gardens.  OK that is really the story, I will let the pictures speak for themselves... if you double click  you can see enlarged photos.

This is an overview of the actual pit left from the mining operation

Then I wanted to get up close and personal with a few of the flowers that really got my attention

 if you closely at this pretty yellow flower you will see a very attractive bee near the center, that was a bonus for my patience!

 Don't ask me what these are, I only thought they were picture worthy.

 Off in a little nook they built a carousel for the childern.  Not using standard horses though.  Here I caught a shot of a reindeer, a cat with a mouse and a frog...ah the fantasy of it all!

These flowers were just so pretty, I kept saying  (out loud -- to anyone who would listen) they are so pretty they don't look real!

 We then boarded the bus to travel to the southern end of Vancouver Island where we stayed for two nights to the Royal Scots Inn and Suites.  They had a real, live Bag-piper to "pipe" us in.  You don't find that everyday!

This was one of the most enjoyable days of the entire trip.

On the Road...Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

We left Seattle early in the morning on another Amtrak excursion to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.  This was not the exclusive train that was the Amtrak Cascades, but the ride was pleasant enough and I got to see a lot of the coast on the four hour trip.

Vancouver is a very special City and it seemed everything about it beckons to the senses.  They are proud that there are no major highways into the city, and it doesn't seem like any are needed.  It is a city that is made up of neighborhoods where the folks live in the city and have at their disposal all the comforts they could want within easy distance.  So there is no crazy rush hours or heavy throngs of people at rush hour. It was very refreshing to see.  We stayed in the city for several days and it never felt crushed, tense or overly busy.

We used our first afternoon visiting the waterfront and Stanley Park.  Here they had a large collection of Totem poles.

 Then it was on to Gastown or the older section of Vancouver.  Some of the buildings begged to be photographed.

 The following day we toured Granville Island which is a high-end crafters community with a large Public Market of produce, meats, fish, cheese, baked goods and all sorts of goodies to eat.
This was a broom craft shop, they construct the brooms from the hand-hewn wooden handles and the brush materials and cord to hold it all together.  Very high quality and sturdy.

 I was most impressed by the public market.  Below is a cheese stand.  If you look closely, you will see they have six different varieties of Feta Cheese.  Six different varieties...well, it was just amazing to me!

 Three kinds of fresh figs and lots of other fresh fruits.  Sweet!

 You can really see how they care about presentation...look at how they stacked the cherries!

 The meat markets were simply incredible, this shot below is only lamb, and I wasn't able to get everything that they had to offer in the way of lamb in this shot.  It just went on and on.

 In Morton Park, nearby our hotel, we got to walk among some wonderful sculpture called "A-Maze-Ing Laughter" by Yue Minjun, a Chinese artist. He used his own iconic face in a state of hysterical laughter as a signature trademark for each of the pieces shown below.

You just cannot help but feel fabulous among these laughing statues!