Category Archives: Sister Weekend

Craigdarroch Castle or…

…heigh-ho, heigh-ho, It’s off to walk we go. On Saturday morning after a lovely breakfast we set out for our day of walking. First stop would be Craigdarroch Castle.

 

We saw things along the way that we felt were worth of some space on our memory cards.

 

 

 

 

Craigdarroch Castle was built between 1887-1890 for Robert Dunsmuir, a Scottish immigrant who made his fortune from Vancouver Island coal. This Victorian mansion, built on a hill overlooking the City of Victoria announced to the world that Robert Dunsmuir was the richest and most important man in Western Canada. Craigdarroch means “rocky, oak place” in Gaelic.

 

 

I took this photo looking up the stairwell to the 4th floor. The interior oak panelling was pre-fabricated including the stairs, doors, window frames, and 2182 panels. They were shipped from Chicago to Victoria in five railcars in the summer of 1890 and installed in the house.

 

 

 

The castle has one of North America’s finest collection of Victorian residential stained and leaded glass windows.

 

 

 

This was the breakfast room for the family. After touring all 4 floors we headed out on foot again.

Our 2nd destination was a bust so we headed for the Oak Bay area of Victoria and found the Penny Farthing to rest our feet and get some refreshment before our 3rd destination of the day.

 

We are finally getting some sunshine today. Woohoo!

Photobucket replaced all my photos with these blurred out versions and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Food Glorious Food!

Warning: This Post could make you hungry!

On our sister weekend we enjoyed lots of good food. Our first night in town we walked to Pescatores for dinner which was a little over a mile round trip. We enjoyed some wonderful fish dishes and steak. I had Pescatores King Halibut ~
Blackened queen charlotte halibut topped with king crab and citrus hollandaise. It’s the middle photo in the collage. It was mouth watering good to the last drop. I also decided to try a Beaufort Oyster just because. Vera had the Sooke Trout stuffed with Brie and crab, Kathy had the Cedar Plank Roasted Salmon and Lana had the Filet Mignon. Our dessert was Banana Foster ~
Fried with brown sugar, butter and rum over sweet crepes. Served a la mode. We shared it amongst the 4 of us.

Do you remember this song from the musical Oliver?

Food, glorious food!
Hot sausage and mustard!
While we’re in the mood —
Cold jelly and custard!
Pease pudding and saveloy!
What next is the question?
Rich gentlemen have it, boys —
In-di-gestion!

Food, glorious food!
We’re anxious to try it.
Three banquets a day —
Our favourite diet!

Just picture a great big steak —
Fried, roasted or stewed.
Oh, food,
Wonderful food,
Marvellous food,
Glorious food.

This is just part of the song sung while the boys had to put up with more Gruel. We on the other hand didn’t have any Gruel on this trip. Our breakfasts at the Inn were a gourmet delight.

Todd was an excellent chef.

On Saturday we walked many miles around town and ended up for an afternoon tea in the Oak Bay area of Victoria. It was a wonderful authentic English High Tea that was recommended to us by Pondside who lives on Vancouver Island. She graciously made our reservations for us including instructions not to be seated in the middle of the restaurant. We had a delightful experience at the White Heather Tea Room and would recommend it to you. Later I will post about meeting Pondside on Sunday and what a wonderful day we had together.

As if we hadn’t had enough food we stopped in a nice grocers and bought some salami, avocado and veggies to have later in the evening in our room with some fresh bread we bought at a bakery across from the grocers. If you’ve never had a picnic in a hotel room you should give it a try…

Hope your days are going well this week. I’m yearning a bit for some sunshine…

Photobucket replaced all my photos with these blurred out versions and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Home Away From Home…

The Beaconsfield Inn Victoria, B.C.

 

We were very happy with the Beaconsfield. It is a Registered Heritage Property — circa 1905. I loved the wonderful rich wood architecture.

Built at the turn of the century to be a gracious Edwardian home, The Beaconsfield Inn retains many of the historic elements that evoke all the character, warmth and hospitality associated with by-gone eras.

 

The Beaconsfield was commissioned in 1905 by R. P. Rithet, a local financial baron, MLA and Victoria Mayor (1885) for his daughter Gertrude, and designed by Samuel McClure, one of Victoria’s most notable architects.

 

Named after a luxurious London Hotel frequented by King Edward VII in pre-World War I England, the Beaconsfield Inn turns the clock back to a gentler time.

 

We reserved the Gatekeepers room because it would accommodate the 4 of us comfortably.

 

 

 

The common room where we could enjoy coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and sherry in the evening was a great room to relax. There were fresh baked cookies every night, too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This next photo is a peek into the breakfast room. I’ll share a food post on another day.

 

I would gladly return to this Inn if I get a chance to re-visit Victoria.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with these blurred out versions and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

April Fool’s Day in Victoria…

Was it foolish to head out on our Sister Weekend on April fools?

 

Who can predict the weather and seasons? Not us humans for sure. Whatever the weather the time was right. After we docked in Victoria and convinced the local authorities that they could trust us in their country we jumped on a tour bus that would give us a little background on the city on our way to Butchart Gardens.

 

The gardens provide these great see through Bumbershoots for rainy days.

 

The great thing about being at the gardens on a day like Friday was having the gardens to ourselves.

 

The phrase of the day was “everything is 2 weeks behind this year”.

 

We saw a lot of great pruning jobs and a lot of blossoms promising to show their glory soon.

 

 

Photo taking was a little difficult as you had to hold the brolly with one hand and focus your camera with the other.

 

There was lots of beautiful color to enjoy throughout the garden.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I learned some new names for umbrellas today. We are very familiar with Bumbershoot in Seattle because of our Bumbershoot Music festival on Labor Day weekend. Bumbershoot: Take the umbre from umbrella, and the chute from parachute. Combine them and give it a more phonetic spelling, and you’ve got the name Bumbershoot! Bumbershoot is an American slang word. Then there is Brolly, Brollies: used in the UK and Australia and New Zealand. Gamp: British slang for a large baggy umbrella.  A Hanway: An 18th century term used by English gentlemen. The name comes from Jonas Hanway, a Persian writer who carried an Umbrella and is said to have made the accessory acceptable for men to carry. Sadly we would not be needing a Parasol this weekend. This term comes from the Italian parasole, from parare, meaning “to shield” and sole meaning “sun.”

 

 

We ended our time at the garden with some nice hot cups of tea and coffee.

 

 

The tour bus took us back to our hotel in Victoria just in time for our check-in. I’ll show you the Beaconsfield Inn in my next post.

Happy Tuesday to you!

Acts 14:16-17

In times past, God let each nation go its own way. But he showed that he was there by the good things he did. God sends rain from heaven and makes your crops grow. He gives food to you and makes your hearts glad.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with these blurred out versions and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.