The hectic pace of daily touring is starting to slow down now. Today, as we had not chosen any tour options like whale watching or seaplane flights, we had the day to ourselves.
Walked to Thunderbird Park next to the Museum of British Columbia to view the impressive collection of totem poles.
Next we visited Miniature World. On paper it doesn't seem that interesting, but surprisingly it has turned out to be a highlight of our trip. Known as The Greatest Little Show on Earth, this intriguing world of smallness has exquisit detailed model displays of Battle of Caen (WWII), the Canadian Railway, various folk and fairy tales, dolls houses, circus and castles. We spent over an hour here.
We did a spot of shopping to fill in the time to our 12.15 appointment at the Empress Hotel, this included a visit to the Rogers Chocolates store. I've been buying their chocolates thru mail order and online for over 20 years. This store is the original shop where the founder lived upstairs and made chocolates during the night and sold them in the shop by day. Rogers Chocolate stores are now all over British Columbia.
Afternoon Tea (sometimes mistakenly referred to as High Tea) at the Empress Hotel is quite the piss-elegance experience when it comes to sipping a cuppa.
It started with a small serve of strawberries and cream, followed by a glass of champaign (Sumac Ridge Steller's Jay Brut) and I chose the Empress Blend tea from an impressive selection of high-brow teas. Next came the three-tiered platter of goodies. The idea is to eat with the bottom plate of sandwiches, pinwheels and croissants working upwards to the scones, jam and cream and finishing with the pastries and cakes on the top tier.
Well after six cups of tea, I definitely felt like pissing elegance.
What could possibly top this off? … Hmmm, how about doing a load of laundry to bring things back to earth.
Later we went souvenir hunting.
Tomorrow we go to Butchart Gardens then board the ferry to back to Vancouver.
