"Grace and Beauty" a Victoria Travel Page by tvor

Victoria, the capital city of British Columbia, is usually thought of as a very "British" city and a city of gardens. It certainly is that. Victoria is filled with parks and many of the residents are keen gardeners as well. Victoria gets a lot of rain over the course of the year but that also means things grow in lush proportions.

It's origins were as a British colony and still retains a lot of evidence of that heritage but it's grown into a more contemporary representative of the north Pacific. I don't know if i'd say Victoria as a "British" feel to it as i've heard but there certainly is evidence of the British roots. One nice thing i noticed is that Victoria's downtown is vital, thriving with lots of shops that people actually use. Halifax's downtown is nearly deserted outside of working hours where most of the shoppers head to the outskirts to the malls and big box super stores. Victoria has malls and some big shopping centers but the downtown is also popular.

Victoria is a friendly city and it's 2 or 300,000 population is far more manageable than Vancouver's millions. There are galleries and museums and great restaurants and some very pretty Victorian buildings and neighbourhoods.

I later found that Vancouver's downtown is more hip and trendy and businesslike though not as impersonal as, say Toronto seems to be. I've spent about the same amount of time in all three cities, only a few days each but that's the impressions i am getting. Victoria is a slower paced city and probably more my speed if i were to choose where to live, here or Vancouver.

November 2003, just returned from a vacation in Victoria, Vancouver Island and Vancouver. I got to see a bit more of Victoria and the nearby Sidney by the Sea and did some shopping on Government Street and Chinatown. Tips and photos to follow.

http://www.victoriabc.com/

http://www.city.victoria.bc.ca/common/index.shtml

http://www.victoria-bc.com/