Page Text: A lifestyle, travel, and fashion blog by Elaine DeBock.
Menu
/ edebock / 2 Comments
On Tuesday’s walk from our Victoria hotel to Chinatown and back, we passed many little souvenir shops that sell pretty much the same things that we might find in Banff, Jasper, or one of several other Canadian tourist destinations. Those stores didn’t particularly appeal to me, but then I spotted Roberta’s Hats ! I rarely pass a hat shop without stopping in “just to look”!
Roberta’s Hats is an eclectic little shop that features a wide selection of styles for men, women, and children, many at very affordable prices. There were berets in almost every colour imaginable, but I still have the one I bought in Paris three years ago and didn’t feel the need to buy another one. As much as I loved the section of hats that looked like they came right off Downton Abbey, I knew that I didn’t have anywhere to wear one of those. Then I spotted the corduroy newsboy caps. The moss green one would go perfectly with the spring/fall anorak that I was wearing. Of course, I had to try it on! And then I had to buy it! I simply had to!
It was a chilly morning, so I had the lady behind the counter remove the tag and I wore it out of the store. I’ve been wearing it almost constantly ever since! I have a fairly large collection of hats, but most of them don’t get worn very often. I don’t foresee that happening with this one though! Until the weather gets too warm, I expect that I’ll be wearing it a lot. It just feels like me.
There are many good reasons to wear a hat. Sometimes it provides protection against the elements… shading your eyes from the sun or adding warmth in extreme cold. Often, however, a hat is an accessory that adds panache to an outfit and gives a woman a look of confidence. It’s also a quick and easy solution to a bad hair day!
If you’re a hat lover like me and you’re ever in Victoria, make sure to take a short walk up Government Street from the harbour and visit Roberta’s Hats.
Share this:
/ edebock / 9 Comments
On our first day in Victoria , we walked approximately 10 km. Today, our last day before heading toward home, we walked at least 7 more!
We woke to a chilly, wet morning. In fact, there was even a bit of snow in the air. Thankfully, however, the forecast promised better things to come. After a leisurely breakfast in our hotel and a little while spent relaxing back in our room, the rain stopped and we headed out. Our first destination this time was the oldest Chinatown in Canada and the second oldest in North America after San Francisco.
I’m thinking that it must also be one of the smallest. Barely more than two blocks in size, there are a number of authentic Chinese restaurants and businesses, but I was also surprised to see a sushi shop, a schnitzel restaurant, and a taco place!
Victoria’s Chinatown is perhaps best known for Fan Tan Alley, the narrowest street in Canada. Only 0.9m wide (about 4 feet) at the narrowest point, the alley is filled with boutiques and shops selling clothing, jewelry, music, and other items to both tourists and locals. In its early days, however, it was home to a variety of less savoury places including gambling and opium dens.
On Sunday, we walked the beach at Cordova Bay and yesterday we did a harbour tour on one of Victoria’s little green “pickle” boats, so-called because of their colour and shape, but I’m a coastal girl at heart and I wanted a bit more of the sea before heading back to the prairie.
After returning from Chinatown, we drove about 20 minutes to Fort Rodd Hill and Fisgard Lighthouse National Historic Sites. Consisting entirely of original structures, Fort Rodd Hill, a west coast artillery fortress on active duty from 1895 to 1956, is one of the world’s best preserved and most complete examples of its kind. The buildings are closed during the week, but the grounds are open and many interpretive signs make it an interesting place to explore. Until our visit, I had never really thought about how vulnerable the Victoria area must have felt after the attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941. By 1944, 17 powerful searchlights clearly lit up the Victoria-Esquimalt harbour area. One of them was housed in this building, camouflaged to look like a fisherman’s hut, complete with a ramp and boat!
In the background, you can see the Fisgard Lighthouse which was built in 1860 as the first permanent light on the west coast of Canada. Although administered together with Fort Rodd Hill, it is a separate national historic site and there is no historical connection between the two.
I absolutely love lighthouses, but I won’t subject you to all 24 pictures that I took of this one! I’ll try to restrict myself to just a few favourites.
Though the light has been automatic since 1928, prior to that time it was manned.
The lighthouse is now connected to land via a manmade causeway, but in those days it stood offshore on a tiny island. The only means of transportation that the lighthouse keeper had was a rowboat like this one. Every item he needed had to be rowed across the bay from Esquimalt. Unfortunately, in 1898, the unoccupied boat was found floating in the bay with just one oar still in it. Joseph Dare, the keeper at that time, had fallen overboard and drowned while trying to retrieve the other oar. Had he been wearing a life jacket, he likely would have survived.
On the rocky point beyond the lighthouse, we found a pair of the red Adirondack chairs that have been placed in National Parks and Historic Sites across Canada. Of course, we had to sit in them and enjoy the view.
After visiting the lighthouse, we walked the long beach in front of Fort Rodd Hill and then returned to the vehicle via a well-kept nature trail.
Now that I’ve enjoyed a fix of salt water and sea air, I’m ready to return to the prairie feeling refreshed!