Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Aug. 18th, Butchart Gardens and back to Vancouver

In the morning we had breakfast again at Tomi's Home Style Cooking.

Very good breakfast at Tomi's Home Cooking. The place felt good.

Afterwards we drove to Victoria and split there. Hansi, Barbara and the kids went to see Victoria. Uta, Margaret and I went to see the Butchart Gardens.

My first impression on the Butchart Gardens was: So many people. It became better letter in the afternoon. I guess we just arrived together with several bus loads of tourists. Also it was a very hot day.

My next impressions: The "Sunken Garden" and the "Italian Gardens and the Butchart Residence" are jewels. But I am less convinced about their remaining gardens. Maybe this was because we had already seen superb gardens in Vancouver on our trip.

Butchart Gardens: Sunken Garden from above. It is an explosion of colours.


Butchart Garden: Sunken Garden

Butchart Garden: Section of "Sunken Garden"

Sunken Garden detail

Butchart Garden: Sunken Garden


"Sunken Garden" detail

Butchart Garden: Entrance into the Japanese Garden

Butchart Garden: Section of the Japanese Garden

Butchart Garden: Section of the "Italian Garden"

Butchart Garden: Butchart Residence

Butchart Garden: Margaret and Uta with Butchart Residence and Italian Gardens in the background.
In the afternoon we took the BC Ferry from Swartzbay to Tsawassen and checked into our Hotel in Vancouver. Somehow nobody took pictures from the ferry with one of our better cameras. So no pictures. I do recall a cool ferry ride. We had a good view of Mt. Baker (near Seattle) and the mountains to the north-west of Vancouver (I guess this would be the Whistler area). Also the ferry navigated between some very picturesque islands on the way to Vancouver.




Posted by at

2 comments:

  1. SteveSeptember 30, 2015 at 7:48 PM

    Somehow Butchart Gardens is not my thing except for maybe the sunken garden in the old quarry. They put so much effort into making it colourful it seems over the top contrived.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. wollensakmOctober 1, 2015 at 2:00 AM

      Your comment has a point. Maybe I arrive there as well after a 2nd visit. I came back from my first visit with the impression that it wasn't balanced in the sense that there is explosion of colours in the sunken garden while a good chunk of the remaining sections felt more "bland" / smallish. There is also this incredible hype around this garden which possibly raised my expectations too far. With regards to the colour explosion: I think that is full intent and it fits the "Sunken Garden". It is not my preferred garden style but it does belong to such a garden I think. I came out of 10 days hiking on the WCT. So I may revise my opinion on the colour next time I visit the garden. The Nitobe and VanDusen gardens in Vancouver were definitely down my aisle. The UBC garden is also worthwhile a visit.

      Delete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)