VICTORIA AND VANCOUVER ISLAND - British Columbia: Including the Alaska Highway - page 155

MARITIME MUSEUM OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
At the top (east) end of Bastion Square, the Maritime Museum of British Columbia (28
Bastion Square, 250/385-4222, 9:30am-4:30pm daily, until 5pm in summer, adult $12, seni-
or $10, child under 13 free) is housed in the old provincial courthouse building. It traces
the history of seafaring exploration, adventure, commercial ventures, and passenger travel
through displays of dugout canoes, model ships, Royal Navy charts, figureheads, photo-
graphs, naval uniforms, and bells. One room is devoted to exhibits chronicling the circum-
navigation of the world, and another holds a theater. The museum also has a nautically ori-
ented gift shop.
CENTENNIAL SQUARE
Centennial Square, bounded by Government Street, Douglas Street, Pandora Avenue, and
Fisgard Street, is lined with many buildings dating from the 1880s and 1890s, refurbished in
recent times for all to appreciate. Don't miss the 1878 City Hall (fronting Douglas Street)
and the imposing Greek-style building of the Hudson's Bay Company.
Chinatown
Continue down Fisgard Street into colorful Chinatown, one of Canada's oldest Chinese en-
claves. It's a delicious place to breathe in the aroma of authentic Asian food wafting from
the many restaurants. Chinese prospectors and laborers first brought exotic spices, plants,
and a love of intricate architecture and bright colors to Victoria in the 19th century. Poke
through the dark little shops along Fisgard Street, where you can find everything from fra-
gile paper lanterns and embroidered silks to gingerroot and exotic canned fruits and veg-
gies, then cruise Fan Tan Alley, the center of the opium trade in the 1800s. Walk south along
Store Street and Wharf Street back to Bastion Square.
South of the Inner Harbour
EMILY CARR HOUSE
In 1871, artist Emily Carr was born in this typical upper-class 1864 Victorian-era home,
now called the Emily Carr House (207 Government St., 250/383-5843, 11am-4pm Tues.-
Sat. May-Sept., adult $7, senior and student $6, child $4.50). Carr moved to the mainland at
an early age, escaping the confines of the capital to draw and write about the First Nations
and the wilderness in which she lived. She is best remembered today for her painting, a me-
dium she took up in later years.