Victoria

Victoria,BC, is elegant and civilized and charming.  Even the clerks in the souvenir shops are courteous and cheerful.  We bought t-shirts of course.  But we also stopped at Munro's Books and bought British editions of PG Wodehouse and Terry Pratchet books.  I got "Nanny Ogg's Cookbook" for those of you familiar with the disc world.

And then we went next door to Murchie's and blew a wad on teas.  I got "Radio Blend"and "Library Blend" and "Empress Blend"  and Russian Caravan"  and some with black tea and lavender, and 1/4 lb of Rose Congu (!) and bags of decaf Earl Grey, and green tea with ginger and - well, I just went nuts.  Over the next few months I can pee with Chinese, Indian, and Ceylon accents. And thus will I warm and beguile the tedium of the winter.

Our last stop of the day was the Empress Hotel where we met Jim and Margie and had High Tea.  It was squeefully wonderful!  The china was exquisite.  The service was impeccable.  And the little three-tiered cake plates were chock full of yumminess.  Smoked salmon pinwheels.  Cucumber and butter on rye bread.  Egg salad on tiny flakey croissants, and pork pate on crostini.  Next plate - current scones with unsalted butter and strawberry jam in tiny eensy teensy jars.  Top plate - Battenberg cakes with pink fondant coverings, shortbread cookies, bite-sized lemon tarts, chocolate mousse in thumb-sized chocolate cups, and cheesecake in two inch squares.  And Empress Blend tea, of course.  The waiter invisibly kept the pot hot and full.  I never saw him replace of refill it, but I know we drained it twice.  It was hella expensive, but you know, the way the stock market is going, we may as well spend the money while it's worth something, because in another month, it'll buy 20% less. And, by God, it was worth every penny.  WE laughed and feasted and made plans to maybe go cruising together next spring.

Now we are wending our way down the Strait of Juan De Fucca (and no doubt hundreds of thousands of puerile lads have sniggered over that name.) and making our way to the Pacific.  Last report was that out at sea we are expecting eight to ten foot swells, but as big as this ship is, it will be like taking a gravel road in a Cadillac.  You know the bumps are there, but you don't mind them.  Happy trails, my friends.  We will be at sea until Saturday.  Sometimes the internet fails while we're out to sea, so If you don't hear from me, fret not.