I drove around the city some Friday morning, especially along the shoreline (Dallas Road). I stopped at one of the parks for some birding, and saw some birds I’d not seen before, including a harlequin duck. I stopped to see the “totem pole forest” at Thunderbird Park.
The last thing I did, before I turned in my rent car, was to stop at Fisherman’s Wharf, where I promptly lost my debit card!! I put it in my jeans pocket; a few minutes later, after taking some pictures around the wharf, it wasn’t there. I retraced my steps, and looked everywhere. It’s like it disappeared into thin air. They had no “Lost and Found” for the wharf, and I hadn’t stopped at any of the shops. So I had no choice but to call my bank and report it lost. I wasn’t able to get through on my first tries, and didn’t get through to them till mid-afternoon, at which time they told me that the card had been found at the wharf, and reported to my bank, and already canceled! Whew! What a relief! I’m so glad it was found, and not used. But now I’m going through the hassles of replacing my card. The bank agreed to express-mail me a replacement, so I will be staying in Sequim a few more days, waiting for the card to arrive. And the PIN will arrive separately, later, so I won’t have that for awhile and won’t be able to use it to make withdrawals. Ugh!
After turning in my rent car, I walked to the harbor and took the full harbor tour, in the cute little “pickle boats”.
I learned a lot of things on the harbor tours. 
We went by West Bay, the “floating village”, where the houses are tied to the docks and float! (They looked like houses, not houseboats.) I saw the purple martin houses that have been built on the pilings out in the harbor, since the starlings have taken over all their nests on land (and the starlings won’t nest over water). There is a crew of volunteers who clean out the nests each year, as purple martins will not make a new home in a used nest. 
I learned that the floatplane airport In the harbor is the second-busiest in the world (flights to Alaska or Vancouver City mostly), and that it is the only airport that is closed a couple times each year because of whales on the runway!! :-) One of the harbor captains told me that he had retired to Victoria from Toronto because Victoria has the best weather in Canada. It only gets below freezing a few times each winter, and they’ve only had two snowstorms in 120 years! (So much better and warmer than North Dakota, even though one would expect Canada to be colder.) 
I learned about the young English architect with no experience who created all this made-up experience on his resume, and built the Parliament building! (And then several others.) I ate lunch in the Bengal Lounge of the Empress hotel. A harbor boat captain had told me that they serve an authentic Curry Buffet at noon on Fridays and Saturdays, and they do, but they stop serving at 2, so I missed it. I ordered the Seafood Mulligatawny Chowder from the menu, however. It was served with rolls and Indian papadum (by an authentic East Indian server!), and it was good. If you want an authentic British colonial experience, this is for you, though it’s on the pricey side. I enjoyed the view from the big windows while I was eating, and the walk through the historic Empress on my way in, and out.
The last thing I did in Victoria was walk through the Royal British Columbia Museum. I learned a lot about British Columbia.
The gigantic wooly mammoth roared at me as I entered his section of the museum and was impressive. But my favorite part was the extensive First People’s exhibit, including an excellent miniature native village and a large room filled with totem poles. They keep the lighting really low, so as not to damage the exhibits, but some areas were too dark and you really couldn’t see the exhibits hardly at all. Although it had been cloudy and overcast all day, as we were boarding the ferry, the setting sun shown on the Inner Harbor and set it aglow - an elegant goodbye to us all.
Julie had recommended that I try not to see everything in Victoria in one day, they had tried that once and regretted it. And that was good advice. Two days was perfect for seeing the highlights and getting a good feel for the city. I had a good, full two days. Victoria is a beautiful, vibrant, delightful city. It is full of young people; it reminded me of Amsterdam that way. It seems prosperous. And it has an excellent climate. If you get the opportunity to visit Victoria, take it. You will enjoy this delightful city. It’s my favorite Canadian city. So far. :-)
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