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Yes! Well we actually managed a lay in of sorts this morning and were not out pounding the streets until just after 10:00. This morning was going to be one of those moments where we had to give in to practical needs and head off to the launderette (or laundromat for those in Canada).

After a quick search online we headed about six blocks from the hotel with four carrier bags full of washing. To be fare waiting for the washing and drying was not that bad. The laundrette had free wifi and with a skinny latte in hand the two hours passed relatively quickly and we headed back to the hotel.

By now it was mid day and breakfast had only consisted of yogurt with granola seed so we were both hungry.

We headed off on the short walk to the harbour and found a great place called The Local right on the harbour edge and Bastion Square. There was a great atmosphere here as a lot of market stalls had set up along the length of the road and buskers were playing out with P.A systems, it really felt like a great bank holiday event or something like that. The food was great at The local, coconut curried prawns, prawn and crabmeat Toast and spicy chilli chicken wings. To be honest it was far to much food but it tasted good.

The sun was shining once again in Victoria and with not enough time to spread our wings to further afield places we headed off for a real mooch up and down all the lanes and avenues.

Walking up Fort street felt like a really cool neighbourhood. We stopped to walk around an old vinyl record store stocking all the latest releases along with a substantial back catalogue, flipping through the vinyl in their plastic sheaves bought back many happy memories of studying album artwork and sleeve notes. It was great rediscovering old records that had long been lost....happy memories.

Fort Street was made up of eclectic second hand stores selling vintage clothing and bric and brac and had a very similar feel to Brighton's North Laine. Cool independent cafe bars broke up the retail row with young couples with their small designer dogs walking the pavements. What was great about this area was that it did not feel like it was trying to hard or taking itself to seriously. It felt organic and not thrown together to meet the needs of the trendy urbanites of todays social media age.

Once you leave the trendy bars and boutiques of Fort Street behind the area radically changes and it becomes purely residential and the architecture goes back to the wooden victorian mansion houses with big verandahs and porches. Imagine the famous house from Alfred Hitchcocks "Psycho" and you bang on the button. Our walk up Fort Street was taking us to a local landmark The Craigdarroch Castle. Now to be honest, us english folk would never call this place a castle, we would say that it was a mansion built of granite stone but to the Canadians this was a castle. Built by a Scottish immigrant who had moved here and made significant wealth from mining ventures on Vancouver Island the 'castle' was built as his intended private residence. Unfortunately he did not get to see it ever finished as he died before its completion. It may not be a castle but it is an amazing example of the architecture of the time all gothic looking and foreboding but definitely without the castle turrets and drawbridge or moat.....this castle is a house!

We walked back into the downtown area milling all the shops as we passed them slowly making our way back towards the government building that we had seen on the first day. On closer inspection this building is remarkable with its french palace stature and impressive niches filled with stone sculptures of the men that had shaped Canada such as Capt. Cook and James Vancouver.

As we read more about the islands history it was interesting to hear that Vancouver Island was not originally under Canadas greater control. It was originally established as a naval stronghold for the British under separate government and law. This changed when Vancouver Island was united as part of the mainland which had also laid in both Spanish and French control. There are monuments dedicated to the Spanish navy here in Victoria and the architecture as we have said before really does borrow from the French so it's history is a mix of those three cultures.

Leaving Government Street behind (this is the main high street here and many of the historic buildings run along its length) we headed back to the hotel for some downtime.

Victoria is one of those places that has really left an impression on us both. It feels like a lovely place to be and as we have walked around the city we have slowly fallen even deeper under its spell. Its both cosmopolitan and independent, touristy but with a strong sense of neighbourhood and friendship. Its definitely a place that you could live all year round despite it being a relatively small island.with a population of just under 750,000. There is more to explore here if we had the time but tomorrow we will move on safe in the knowledge that we have absorbed another place.

As we walked back from tonights meal (Thai, and very very tasty and spicy it was) we both said that we would not need to come back here but that had no negativity attached to it. The world is a very big place and we still have lots of it to see so we are pleased that we have been able to cross Victoria off the list......its been a complete pleasure.

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