Cultural, Victoria

Favorite thing: At first sight is strange to see a statue with the name Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra.
What is the reason this Spanish gentleman is honoured at Victoris?

Well, it turns out he was Captain in the Spanish Royal Navy and explorered the West coast of North America. He became Governor of the spanish settlement of Nootka on Vancouver Island.

The statue can be found at Quadra Park on Belleville Street.

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Favorite thing: Next to the Empress hotel at the corner of Government Street and Belleville Street there is a 3 meter high statue of artist Emily Carr and her pet monkey Woo.

It's a work of sculptor Barbara Paterson of Edmonton.

Emily Carr was born in Victoria in 1871 and spent much of her life travelling and painting the native villages and the forests of the West Coast. As a contemporary of the Group of Seven, she was one of the first Canadian artists to adopt a post-impressionist style.

Later she started up writing and she won the Governor General's award for her book Klee Wyck.

She died in 1945 in Victoria.

Favorite thing: Almost all stores and shops will accept US dollars. One Canadian dollar equals about $0.65USD. When you pay with USD, they will give you CDN in change. Do your best to spend all your Canadian cash before you leave the country. No shops in the US will take it. I didn't try to take my Canadian cash to a bank because I didn't have enough to bother with that.

Favorite thing: Well, if you are Spanish (European, in general) probably you have seen enough monumental cities. What makes Canadá different? I think it is the countryside: visit the forests, the coast, mountains ...

Favorite thing: is said that Victoria is more England than London, in many ways. It is the seat of Government for the Province of British Columbia although the Province's largest city is Vancouver.

Our little town of Duncan is rated at 5000 people which is actually untrue. But they get to keep the various Provincial services otherwise unavailable to cities larger than 5000. Isn't it silly that we are defrauding our own Government? It is a loophole which others take advantage of as well. There are really close to 60,000 people in the general environs around here but that spreads out over a fairly large area.

Just North of us is Nanaimo, where there are ferries which go to both Tsawassen and Horseshoe Bay. They also go to many other in-between islands, there are many of these.

Almost dead center on the picture below is GLENORA which is the district we live in. Note how the River which starts at the Lake courses through our area on the way to the Pacific Ocean.


Fondest memory: Actually, my fondest memory of Victoria goes all the way back to 1949, when as a teenager, my Father, himself a Canadian, brought me for my first trip to the mainland. In those days, you could take an evening ferry, get a stateroom and sleep on the ferry overnight. Just like the Big Boys.

I was awestruck at all the trees and greenery and the fact that it is all still here, well, a few hundred thousand or more trees have been cut down and a highway runs all the way up the Island now, but it is still pristine compared to most places.

Just below are pictures taken in our backyard on November 7,2001 showing off the Fall.

FALL LEAVES ON THE POND

Favorite thing: At the side of Victoria's City Hall at Pandora Avenue is a memorial to commemmorate the local firefighters who lost their lives during duty.