Spendor Sine Occasu

....or if you dont speak Latin, "Beautiful British Columbia"
I could tell you all about the coat of arms, what the flowers are, why the sun was moved from above to below the union jack and even what the lion on top is wearing but maybe I'll save it for another day.

Yesterday I went on a trip to Victoria on Vancouver Island with the "Language Buddies" - did I mention them before? Its a group of Native English speaking and non-native-English students who get together to talk and practice the languages. Anyway, they do trips every couple weeks - regular readers may remember the Chinese new Year a few weeks back.

We met early and piled on the bus - a genuine North American School bus - like being on TV!















Ferry ride was about 90mins but there was plenty to look at if you didn't mind freezing your ass off - the temp was around zero!















Awww, pretty...















They regularly get whales swimming through this channel on their way to, err, well somewhere I guess! Hmm, maybe I should do more research before writing these??!!















Actually, I cheated here. These two were on a poster in the ferry terminal! hahahaha















I'll have to come back in summer, the islands are gorgeous















although the public transport is quite backward!!!

Once in Victoria we went to the wax museum.....did you know Madame Tussaude started off moulding the dead faces of execution victims from the comfort of her prison cell?















Jesus......















....it was Super!




















and just a little bit morbid! (one of these heads moved to scare the tourists - well it scared me anyway!)















Next was the proper museum across the street. Quite interesting to learn a bit about BC history - did you know even now more than half the BC income is from the lumbar industry?
Their "guest" exibit was all about the Sixties with most of it about The Beatles but not suprising really as its by Linda McCartney. They even had John Lennon's yellow submarine - although I could swear it was a Rolls Royce?




















Last stop was a tour of the Legaslative building (parliment to you and me) which again was interesting but personally I could have done without the constant comparisons to the American congress etc.















Some of the buddies waiting for the tour - smile!















This is where all the magic happens..... well they argue a lot and make laws anyway!
















And that was it. Back on the bus and head home. It was a great day so thanks to Lisa, Leanne and Andy for organising it and looking after us.

.....and no. I dont think Victoria seemed British - aside from the London Bus!
But it was beautiful, so I guess we'll let them keep the coat of arms :-)