Craigdarroch Castle
Craigdarroch Castle in Victoria is an imposing Victorian mansion completed in 1890 for Robert and Joan Dunsmuir, Scottish immigrants who made their fortune from Vancouver Island coal.
Robert Dunsmuir died in 1889, just months before his majestic Craigdarroch Castle was completed. Although he arrived on Vancouver Island a poor coal miner, he built an empire and became the wealthiest and most influential man in British Columbia.
The fortune Dunsmuir amassed is reflected in every piece of the finest wood, stone and glass meticulously tooled to create Craigdarroch Castle, now a national historic museum featuring an extensive collection of stained and lead glass windows, magnificent woodwork, Victorian furnishings and decorative arts.
To tour the Castle, you can park on the Castle lot or on the street where indicated. You enter through the old coach entrance, pay your admission fee, clean your shoes and are then provided with a floor map, family history and introduction as to how to proceed. Tours are self-guided, so you can stop where you want. It should take you 45 minutes to an hour to tour through the Castle.
It is an easy climb up the 87 stairs, stopping on all of the four floors to tour the various rooms and then to the Tower for a panoramic view of Victoria, the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the snow capped Olympic Mountains. There are volunteer docents (information providers) available throughout the Castle.
A family business from its inception, the 50 acre gardens are elegant, with paved paths, winding meadows and gardens of blossoming flowers.
The trails lead to ponds and fountains, wooden bridges and rumbling creeks lined with graceful trees both local and exotic. Many paths loop in intriguing circles and spirals, leading to viewing benches, shelters and grassy nooks. Butchart Gardens' most famous highlights include the Red Gardens and the fabulous Chinese Gardens.
The Gardens has established an international reputation for its year round display of flowering plants.
The Royal British Columbia Museumis a visual look into the regression, depression and progressive times of the west coast wildlife and the trials of man's survival in BC's rugged wilderness environments.
BC pioneers, towns and forests come alive in each Royal BC Museum diorama because the sounds, smells and sights come alive when walking through many of the museum's three-dimensional permanent display reproductions like the First Nations People Gallery, the Natural History Gallery and the Modern Era Gallery. Also the Royal BC Museum tells time-line sensitive stories including the cleansing and extinction of many species during the Ice Age, up to and including, the development of the human race in British Columbia.
The Royal British Columbia Museum First Nations Gallery is a world class exhibit with interactive displays, artifacts and a long house. A favourite is the First Nations ceremonial masks on display. The masks are mostly from the Kwakwaka'wakw era. The Crooked Peak of Heaven and Supernatural Raven masks were said to be the helpers of the Great Cannibal Spirit. Jonathan Hunt House, on the other hand, is sacred and was constructed in honor of the late Chief Kwakwabalasami of Fort Rupert.
The Royal British Columbia Museum is a great educational tour indoors discovering and understanding the past of our people, forests, oceans, wildlife and of our west coast communities in BC, Canada. The exhibits are world class and the location is central. A great place for families and children to spend some quality time together learning, looking and listening.
Dominion Astrophysical Observatory
The three telescopes that are located up here on Observatory Hill are the 1.8-metre optical/near-infrared Plaskett Telescope, named after Observatory founder John Stanley Plaskett, the 1.2-metre telescope with its McKellar spectrograph (named for the Canadian astronomer who identified hydrocarbons in interstellar space in the 1930s), and a 40-cm telescope.
The Plaskett and the 1.2 Metre telescopes are used every clear night for research which amounts to about 200 times a year. Of those 2, the most interesting is the Plaskett. The Plaskett was built for $250,000 dollars (About $4 Million in todays dollars) and was huge undertaking for a country that was just over 50 years old. It initially put Canada on the map in the Astrophysical sciences and has continually contributed to the understanding of Space over its 90 years of use.
During the summer, tours of the Plaskett are available through the nearby 'Centre of the Universe' museum for a fee. On Saturday nights, a program is presented (again, for a fee) that will introduce you to the stars and on occasion, will have the public view objects with the Plaskett.
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