Page 4 of 15
Victoria, British Columbia
With fifteen cans of spray paint in a chemical swirl
Other than the city itself, the thing to see in that part of BC is the world famous Butchart Gardens (for anyone reading aloud, Butchart pronounced butt-chart and not the spookier sounding boo-chart like I always thought), a bit out of the city but still worth the trip. Far and away the highlight of the property is the sunken garden (pictured below) where every surface (including the walls) of a once desolate open, industrial quarry were slowly replaced with just about every type of flowering (or at least green) plant you can imagine. The effect couldn't be more dramatic- starting with a layered approach and descent into the pit and ending at its base, with lush vegetation surrounding you from every angle.
The grounds include more than just the signature sunken garden, various other themed gardens compete for your attention with varying success. Best among them is the spotty Japanese Garden, occasionally authentic but peppered with a few glaring out of character missteps. Other gardens like the Italian and Rose Gardens are really popular with people really into flowers but not really all that popular with me.
Strangely enough my favorite Butchart Gardens picture has nothing to do with any of those often photographed colo(u)rful flowers you hear so much about but instead focuses on a scaleless fountain (or water feature as I'm prone to calling it) going all out to distract you from all those know-it-all flowers.
A rare garden action shot.
Butchart Garden called this device a "boar chaser" but I always refer to it as that way cool water thing I saw at the Shoren-in Temple, my very, very favorite of all the temples in Kyoto. The way it works is that water (diverted from a nearby stream) fills a piece of bamboo until it reaches a tipping point, then afterwards it empties and creates a surprisingly loud rhythmic sound as its end bangs against a rock. In Kyoto you could hear it throughout the garden but only see it from one carefully chosen location, at Butchart gardens it was still fun though unfortunately not quite as sublime as Shoren-in.
Before we leave Butchart Gardens and head back to Victoria for a short flight to Sea-Tac and a longer flight north to Alaska, here are a few last random shots of the gardens.
A last look from my last night in Victoria, where extraordinarily unusual circular ferries (or just small ferries directly headed toward the camera- you decide) shuttle around the harbo(u)r dodging sea planes as they desperately attempt to flee another range of distant mountains that (sometimes) seem to be visible on every available horizon.
While the airport in Seattle certainly looks better than it did a few years ago, it is not a singular architectural marvel (although my compliments go out to anyone on the slideshow who may have been involved in any of the retail spaces- you know who you are). Still the Central Terminal Market area does have fun enough reflections to make you want to rifle through your bag and pull out your camera one last time before boarding yet another plane.
It's not that Seattle and Victoria aren't beautiful and/or fascinating, it's just that they're not Alaska. The slideshow's first glimpse of Alaska was also my first glimpse of Alaska. Nothing special, just what you'd expect to see from a window seat on a Seattle-Anchorage Alaska Airlines flight, sometime around 10PM as the plane first starts to spot the mountains near the coast.
Alaska slides start on the next page. Really.
