Christmas Holidays in Victoria

It's been a very long time since I came to Victoria, almost 20 years! And back then, my friend and I were on very tight budgets that we didn't really enjoy as much as we could and would have liked. We lived on granola bars and walked everywhere! My parent's were shocked how thin were were after a week and fed us immediately after picking us up from the airport.

But that was then, and this is now. More mature and more importantly, am not a poor student anymore so I can actually enjoy this wonderful Canadian city. Mind you, my stay was taken care of so that alone saved me lots of money as I was staying at my boyfriend's parent's place that is located very, very close to the ferry terminal and only about a 5 minute drive from the town of Sidney and about a 30 minute drive into the heart of Victoria.

The town of Sidney is small with a population of about 11,000 people. It's located right by the ocean so if you get a chance to just stop by, you can walk on the ocean walkway that also has a few docks here and there. With the beautiful weather we were having (hovering about 5C every day and only one day of rain when we were there for 2 weeks), you can see everyone out and about including those who are by the docks daily catching crab. There is a bylaw that those who catch the crabs can only keep those of a certain size and we were lucky to observe a father and son catching crabs using their own home built traps on a Monday holiday (statutory boxing day). Unfortunately, because it was a holiday, most of the main places like the Fresh Fish Market didn't have the usual hustle and bustle we would have been able to see. We did see a seal hanging around the fish market though. Sadly, one of his eyes was damaged; what from, we don't know. But he hung around for quite a long time. There are lots of little cute shops around and sadly, I really wanted to check out the Sidney Bakery as I love bakeries and reviews were very positive about it but they were off on vacation until we left so we would not be able to taste the yumminess they may have for us. We were lucky enough to try the "Taste of Toyko" as we were all craving Japanese. While here on the west coast, it's a sin not to with all the fresh seafood here they get compared to land-locked Edmonton. I've heard such great things about this restaurant from my boyfriend, Craig, that I was happy to finally try it and we were lucky that it was a Monday as they had a special where you get to pick 3 types of rolls with miso and a drink for just $15! Now that was a deal and we were stuffed!

As for Victoria, there are many things to see and do. We drove to the Butchart Gardens early evening for during the Christmas season, they annual have "The Magic of Christmas" where they displayed festive decorations and lights all over the gardens. We decided to get there early to beat the crowds and we had kids with us. Even at that time, the car line to the entrance was very long. When we left around 2 hours later, the line was worse. It was nice to see the transition from dusk until night where the lights and display shone brightest. They had the 12 Days of Christmas all over the gardens and it was a treat for the kids finding them like "Where is Waldo." There was a stage with carolers singing, an ice skating rink where you can rent skates to skate in, a carousel kids can ride on and a coffee shop with all the goodies to warm you up. The lights were amazing. My favourite hands down was the one we left for last, the quary (Sunken Garden) was just magical. You would enter a forest like area and above you were green lights above that made you feel like you were in an enchanted forest full of stars, fireflies or fairies. I wanted to just sit and stay there forever. I tried to take a photo of it but in the end, the image in my mind will be my photograph. There are some things you can't capture with the camera.

In Victoria itself, there are so many things you can do including having high tea at the Empress Hotel which the family just loved especially the girls as they went with a princess theme. While they were having high tea, Craig and I would walk about the harbour, shop and take in some of the bakeries I wanted to check out like the Dutch Bakery and Crust Bakery which were both delicious in their own ways. I loved the former for the desserts and the latter for their savory goods as well as their sourdough bread. We had bubble tea by the bubble tea shop La Tea Ah and I had the nice hot bubble tea. We went to the Foo Ramen Bar for a bowl of delicious hot ramen. It's a small little place and it got full pretty quick so sharing a table with complete strangers will be normal. We also had a cupcake for dessert at Oh La La Cupcakes. It was sweet but not that sweet. I bought the vegan chocolate cupcake and it was good!

Chinatown is another place to go check out. Craig kept talking about the honey buns were to die for in Victoria. I can see why. They are similar to the cocktail coconut buns in Edmonton but the honey inside adds that extra sweet kick. You can only get them at the Wah Lai Yuen Restaurant. And also go for dim sum if you get the chance. It was slightly different in terms of items on the cart compared to Edmonton which was nice. We ended up going to the Don Mee Restaurant. Try to get there before 11AM to beat the crowd. It fills up extremely quick especially on holidays or weekends. I did a lot of shopping and was glad. I bought icewine cream cookies at one of the souvenir shops to give to my parents and once we were back and had some, my family and I wish we bought more! Those cookies don't exist in Edmonton and they were sweet but a nice sweet, almost berry like sweetness. I will have to return and get more the next time but highly recommend that one as gifts. All in all, Victoria is more than a retiree city as I've seen more young families on the plane saying they are going home and not we are visiting family.


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