Exploring Beautiful Buildings on Foot in Downtown Vancouver!

Week of February 22, 2016

Vancouver is the most beautiful city in Canada!

Not only has Vancouver blessed with spectacular natural beauty, it also has awesome architecture!

Its downtown was quite walkable for us as there were plenty of benches, and chairs installed on public streets for pedestrians to sit and catch their breath.













As we stayed at one of the downtown hotels, we could walk everywhere and to a lot of the attractions in the city.















Suffering from some joint pain from time to time, I was
concerned if I could enjoy walking around and taking in the scenery of this beautiful city.

The former Bank of Toronto building, now a Vancouver historic building

To my amazement, the more I walked during our vacation, the better I felt and the less pain I experienced!

A glass domed building at West Hastings & Seymour St.

So we just headed out of our hotel and kept walking every day while we were in Vancouver.

A beautiful old building at Cambie St & W. Hastings - Vancouver

Vancouver is an absolutely beautiful  city with its old and modern eclectic mix of buildings.

         An eclectic mix of old and modern buildings  

Putting on our running shoes, we set aside a day out of our western Canada holiday and took a walking tour and wandered the street of Vancouver on our own.

We started from West Georgia and headed towards Stanley Park along West Hastings.


Walking past by spacious green parks, we could not believe that we were in the middle of a Canadian winter in late February!

Was this really February, in the middle of a Canadian winter? Only in Vancouver!

The tulips were out in full bloom; sidewalk cafe lounge chairs were set out for pedestrians to pause and take a break.

People were out and about relaxing and sitting on park benches enjoying the warm winter sun!

Cobbled stone street around W. Hastings St.

This could only happen in Vancouver; nowhere else in Canada could we experience this kind of mild weather in late February!

Mosaic tiled art work at the street corner of downtown Vancouver

We came across well maintained cobbled street and sidewalk mosaic tiled art on street corners.

Exterior elevators operating on a downtown building

There have been many reports about the incredible high prices which home buyers are willing to pay for houses in Vancouver.













We learned while we were in Vancouver that the house prices of homes were not always this crazy.
















In fact they were quite reasonable until the late 1980's.

In 1986 Vancouver hosted Expo' 86. and the event was very successful. The world came to visit and discovered the beauty of the city.

House prices started to go up
and the demand for homes has not slowed down for the past decade despite of numerous predictions about the pending house price bubble being burst.















As a result, there has been a building boom in the condominium market to meet the consumers' insatiable demand.









It is evident in the number of new condo buildings everywhere in Vancouver.

Downtown Vancouver is beautiful place to visit! With many interesting old and modern day buildings to explore, it can easily keep you busy for an entire day.

We were certainly glad that we took time to explore this great city on our visit this time!

R.T.
Downtown Vancouver

Butchant Garden, Victoria, B.C. - Magnificent Landscape Created by Generations

Week of Feb. 22, 2016

Beautiful gardens!  A retirement community with a slow and relaxing pace! These are the images that come to our mind when we think of the city of Victoria.

When it comes to beautiful gardens, we were not disappointed as we toured Butchant Garden - a famous privately owned and run garden in Victoria.

Sunken Garden - one of the themed gardens in Butchant Garden, Victoria

The Butchant Garden is a huge property made up of a number of themed gardens. The tour guide informed us that one of the Gardens - Sunken Garden, was so well hidden that a lot of the visitors missed it entirely on their visit. Therefore he took us there first to make sure we would see it.

The scenery was breathtaking!

Ross Fountain, Butchant Garden

The Ross Fountain was created by the grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Butchant to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Butchant Garden.

After the Sunken Garden, we followed the winding path, passed by fountains, statues, sand garden with benches for resting.

Breathtaking scenery at the Butchant Garden!

Japanese Garden - One of the themed gardens in Butchant Garden

We loved the Japanese Garden, an informal garden with many natural   elements incorporated in its design.

It was a tranquil and quiet place to sit and reflect.

Trellises in the Rose Garden

Since it was in the middle of winter, there was not much to see in the Rose Garden.


 I could see the trellises and easily pictured how gorgeous the Rose Garden must be in summer when the roses are in full bloom!

The Star Pond leading into the Italian Garden 

Butchant Garden is a huge place!

Italian Garden - The most formal garden in Butchant Garden

It was clearly a labour of love by Mr. & Mrs. Butchant who were determined to transform an abandoned limestone quarry into a garden of paradise.

Its magnificent gardens rendered us speechless!

We enjoyed the walk and tour of the different themed gardens making numerous stops to capture the indescribable spectacular scenery on camera.

The Indoor Garden

One of the theme garden was the indoor garden where tropical plants are flowers were in full bloom.

A great place for wedding pictures in the middle  of winter!

Indoor Garden at the Butchant Garden where brilliant colour flowers are in full bloom

I have two regrets about this garden tour - first I wished we were there in the spring or summer months to see all the flowers in full bloom in their brilliant colour.

Cafeteria where visitors can rest their tired feet after their garden tour

Second regret, I wish we could have been there for a whole day so that we could have more time to linger over coffee and enjoy the spectacular scenery of the varaious gardens!

A carousal for kids and the young at heart!

Butchant Garden is a place for everyone, young and old, as there were various activities catering to different ages.

There was even an indoor carousal where the little ones can get on for a ride rain or shine!

Rub or kiss the nose of the Little Pig for good luck!

We were turned into kids for a little while as we strolled along windy paths lined with carefully manicured flowers and shrubs.

We truly enjoyed our tour at the Butchant Garden and would definitely revisit it in the summer time if we are in the area again!

R.T.
Butchant Garden
Victoria, British Columbia

A One Day Tour of Victoria, British Columbia

A pretty garbage container in Victoria

Beautiful gardens with colorful flowers in bloom; retired people leisurely strolling the streets; old fashioned historic buildings stand proudly in the city....
These are the images I have whenever the city of Victoria is mentioned
 We visited Vancouver thirty years ago but did not have time for Victoria. This time we made time for this beautiful city!

We took a day tour with a travel company and were picked up at around 7 a.m. at a downtown location.

Our tour bus went on Highway 99 - nicknamed the Highway to Heaven

The tour bus drove along Highway 99 - nicknamed Highway to Heaven because of all the different churches, temples and worship places sprung up in the area serving worshipers of various faiths and getting along peacefully with one another.

No matter what one's faith is, one can come here to worship and choose the church/ temple/ mosque one wishes, with the goal of getting to heaven after one passes away from this earth.

We enjoyed the spectacular scenery on board the ferry to Victoria

The ferry ride was about an hour and half from Vancouver to Victoria

B.C. Provincial Legislature Building

One of the first stops was the B.C. Provincial Legislature where politicians table and debates their policies and eventually pass them into laws. 

The B.C. Legislature Building is a magnificent building with arches, stained glass windows and much detail and fine decorative work throughout.

People who are interested in architecture like me would appreciate and enjoy touring this place.

The interior of the B.C. Provincial  Legislature Building

This is where the provincial government debates take place 

Victoria - home to the oldest Chinatown settled in 1858

Victoria is also where the oldest Chinatown is located.

Settled in 1858, it is the oldest and the most intact of its counterpart in Canada representing an important chapter of the heritage of Chinese Canadians in Canada.

Interesting shops in the alley way in Chinatown

It is a distinct self contained district with its commercial, residential and banking institutions.

As we  were there only for a few minutes, we did not have time to visit the shops in the alley way.













I loved the trees in the Victoria Chinatown as each tree lining the street in the area was trimmed in the shape of a Bonsai tree. It was beautiful and unique!

Terry Fox - started the Marathon of Hope 

After lunch, we went to the Beacon Hill Park where a statue was erected in honour of the most famous British Colombian.

Terry Fox was a young man when he was diagnosed with bone cancer and had his right leg amputated. Instead of feeling sorry for himself, Terry started his Marathon of Hope - running across Canada raise money for cancer research.

He dipped his leg in the water of east coast and started running each day on his one good leg and an artificial limb.  Unfortunately, his cancer reoccurred after his ran half way of Canada.  Outside of Thunder Bay, he had to call off the run and shortly afterwards he succumbed to the illness.   Since his death, the Marathon of Hope has continued every year across Canada and his spirit of hope passed on to generations to come!

The beach below Beacon Hill Park, Victoria

Some of the tourists took the time to descend the stairs and went to the beach close by.










It was a nice sunny afternoon, with mild temperature and mild breezes caressing our faces gently.

I could not believe that we were enjoying such mild weather in February in Canada!

Only in Vancouver and Victoria can Canadians enjoy such fine warm weather in the middle of winter!

Milo 0  Monument - the official starting point of Trans Canada Highway 

Another monument we saw in Beacon Hill Park was the Mile 0 Monument - this monument marks the official starting point of the Trans Canada Highway which links Canada from west to east.

It is the longest highway in the world!

Butchant Garden, Victoria

We arrived at the garden at around 2:00p.m. and toured the different themed gardens till 3:45p.m.













The Butchant Garden is a huge park made out of an abandoned limestone quarry by the Butchant family. There were a lot to see!

( I will write about the garden in a separate entry.)

We enjoyed the 1 day tour in Victoria !

We took the 5:00p.m. ferry and got back to Vancouver at around 6:30p.m

Annie, a lady from Vancouver took us to Robson Street and introduced us to this lively vibrant street. We did more walking in this great neighbourhood.

By the time we got back to the hotel, it was well past 9:00p.m.  A long, exhausting day, but we saw a great and learned a lot about Victoria, B.C. .



R.T.
One Day Tour of Victoria
British Columbia