Victoria - a royal feast for the senses

VICTORIA, British Columbia - There's an intensity about everything here: the color of the flowers, the flavor of the oysters, the whirlwind of activity in the port, the love of things British.

Everything is done with great relish, whether it's sipping tea or watching whales. Even panhandlers go about their work with enthusiasm. One followed my husband and me a block to our car, hollering and thumping gamely on our car (to no avail).

So it makes total sense that late last month, the Olympic torch started its journey across Canada in Victoria. The torch will be relayed all the way east to Newfoundland, then head north across the Arctic ice floes, back west through the Yukon Territory and down to Vancouver for opening ceremonies of the 2010 Olympics on Feb. 12.

We got to Victoria ahead of the torch by a few months, arriving by ferry from mainland Vancouver. We installed ourselves in the Swans Suite Hotel. Built in 1913, it has 30 very comfy suites of various sizes, all with full kitchens (though we never used ours).

It also has an award-winning brew pub that packs in the locals with live music on weekends. The room rates, which start at $137 in fall, include a filling breakfast. Parking a block away is a highly acceptable $9.

Oysters and tea

Victoria is known for its Old World charm -- Europeans arrived in the 1700s -- and its plethora of things to do. There's fishing, kayaking, hiking, cycling and golf. There are wineries. Museums showcase historic treasures, art and maritime history. But we had only two days, so we decided to focus on four things we knew we'd love: gardens, whales, oysters and a proper British tea.

Arriving hungry, we started with the oysters, walking a few blocks from our hotel into the Lower Johnson shopping district, where we found Ferris' Grill & Oyster Bar. I downed a dozen on the half shell with four sauces (cocktail, mignonette, habanero and Japanese ponzu) in what had to be 15 seconds before digging into a plate of oysters skillet-fried with butter, garlic and lemon.

If I'd left Victoria at that moment, I'd have left happy. But there was more on our plate.

We drove about 20 minutes from town to the world-class Butchart Gardens. Industrial pioneer Robert Butchart's wife, Jennie, launched these gardens on their estate in 1908, and they drew inspiration from gardens all over the globe: Japanese gardens, rose gardens, sunken gardens, Italian gardens. There's even a little boar bronze statue à la Florence. (Rub its nose for good luck.)

We shared a picnic dinner on the lawn next to the Butcharts' former home, which now houses a restaurant. Our huge picnic basket was stuffed with salad, shrimp, chicken, fruit, cheese and chocolate dessert.

We were thinking of leaving after our tour of the gardens, but we were assured that if we waited a couple of hours, we'd see the fireworks of our lives. We were glad we stayed. What's unusual about the gardens' summertime fireworks show is that it includes not only aerial displays but also ground fireworks and light displays. They're paired with music that's nothing like what you normally hear at fireworks shows. The show started with Jerome Kern's "The Folks Who Live on the Hill." Strange, but in a good way.

The next morning was Sunday, and instead of brunching we did a far more traditionally Victorian thing: We went at high noon for tea at the Fairmont Empress Hotel.

Even though suit and tie is no longer required of men for tea at the Empress, it's still a very formal British affair with silver tea service and round after round of goodies. Queen Elizabeth has taken tea here (with milk and two lumps).

At a table overlooking the Inner Harbor, our tea service began with a Mumms champagne toast and proceeded to a selection of teas. The sandwich platter was -- and this is a word I never use but must use here -- scrumptious. There was Dungeness crab, duck confit with a bit of pear, curried chicken, lobster, tomato and mozzarella, and smoked salmon with a shaving of truffle.

We'd been warned not to fill up on the first course, but we couldn't help ourselves. We demolished every crumb. Next came flaky scones (plain and cheese -- delicious), followed by an assortment of little desserts, then a glass of port.

What needed to happen next was a nap, but we were booked on a whale-watching excursion, so whale-watching we went. After changing our clothes, we dashed back to the frenetic hum of the harbor, where boats ranged from little tourist crafts and whale excursion boats to kayaks, schooners and huge ferries.

We located the Prince of Whales office and secured our tickets for a three-hour tour aboard the Ocean Magic, a lovely boat that allowed us to see plenty of whales without getting wet.

We sped out to sea, quickly passing a Black Ball Ferry (on which we'd ride the next day back to the United States) as we headed toward the San Juan Islands. Whales like these islands and can be counted on to be there. In fact, our crew knew their names. Many of the whales were in "Free Willy," which was partly filmed here. So don't worry about spending $95 -- the cost on our particular boat -- and not seeing whales; it won't happen.

The whales showed up right on cue, though for most of the trip they were a few hundred yards from our boat. We oooohed and aaaahed as they surfaced and whacked the Pacific Ocean with their tails.

There's a law against whale-watching boats driving too close to the whales, but that doesn't mean the boats can't stop and wait for the whales to come to them. And that's what we did.

I saw the grin of a whale approaching our boat. Suddenly, there were two of them, not 50 yards off the boat. A crew member hollered that they would probably dive under the boat and emerge on the other side, so most of the camera-toting folks headed to the other side of the boat.

"I'm staying put," I informed my husband, and luck was with me. As I hit my camera's video button, the whales emerged and swam right up to the boat. I had to keep myself from jumping up and down with glee so I could keep the camera focused.

The experience left me almost -- but not quite -- too excited to eat more oysters. The little darlings were followed by beautifully cooked wild salmon at our final Victoria meal at the Marina Restaurant, a good spot for supping and sunset-watching on Oak Bay in the western part of the city.

Whenever you visit, even if you miss out on the Olympic festivities, you're likely to leave carrying a torch for Victoria.