we took an Uber across Victoria from our hotel to Royal Rhodes University… it also is the location of Hatley Castle…
we weren’t interested in the castle, and had a bit of trouble finding the gardens we were looking for, lol… eventually we found a gardener and they set us on the correct path…
we were headed toward the Japanese Garden and did find it… there was an upper part and a lower part, with big trees, a few buildings, and peaceful vistas…
it had a lovely pond as well as some creeks…
we had fun getting some lovely shots in the garden next to the castle where it looked like you were in a beautiful meadow 🙂…
we decided to take the hop on, hop off bus and to do the whole loop to see what we might want to do the next time we took it…
the tour started at the Empress, so while we waited to board we visited the gardens there… we stepped inside the lobby to admire the beautiful arrangements and then wandered the lawns and gardens…
we found lovely flower beds and a few giant old trees…
we decided that the next day we would visit Chinatown and Beacon Hill Park…
after we’d been around once we walked to the Parkside Hotel where we saw the koi and had a snack beside the pond…
we went back to one of the stops and hopped on, and hopped off, just a few blocks from our hotel… very handy…
the next day, after I’d put on just about all the clothes I’d brought because I’d been cold the day before, lol, we caught the bus by our hotel and hopped off at Beacon Hill Park… it is very large…
we hopped on and hopped off again at the Empress and walked up a street to check out the shops… after lunch we walked to see Trounce Alley and Fan Tan Alley, which is only 3 feet wide!!! after buying a few treats, we caught the bus and hopped off at the stop which was close to our hotel;-)…
the hop on, hop off bus was worth every penny as we used it from around 1 pm the first day until around 5 pm on the second day…
when we first arrived at the Butchart Gardens we went to book our High Tea at the restaurant… unfortunately they weren’t open yet, but my daughter convinced them to add us to the reservation list…
when we arrived at the designated time, we were seated outdoors, overlooking the large green open area…
they had blankets at each table, which was great as it was a little cool…
because of allergies we ended up with a tower each…
one of the little cakes on my tower had jelly on the top… it became the favourite for a wasp that really enjoyed the jelly…
everything was delicious… I needed my fork to hold up many of the sandwiches, lol…
but I didn’t eat the jelly part, lol… and it was sweet that they included a happy birthday chocolate on my cupcake 😊…
the staff were excellent and we had such a fun time… first High Tea of the trip…
what an amazing place it is… the first day, we spent six and a half hours wandering the many gardens and had a delightful high tea with a wasp guest…
I was absolutely stunned (in a good way) when I stood at the top of the sunken garden… it is so beautiful it brought me to tears, and what a way to start the tour…
we saw giant trees, beautiful beds, topiaries, and rows of stunning dahlias…
we also saw beautiful Japanese Gardens where I took maybe one picture and then just absorbed the quiet beauty around us…
many water features, a carousel, and so many flowers;-)… awed by the wonderful combinations of plants that made every corner more interesting than the last…
day two, we arrived later in the day with plans to see the gardens lit up at night… we visited some of our favourite areas, especially the Japanese Gardens and took an electric boat tour… sadly, I ran out of steam and we headed back to our AirBnb just as dusk was taking over the gardens…
