High Tea at the Empress

We've headed up to Canada for the weekend, taking the clipper from Seattle to Victoria with some friends.  The clipper itself was pretty smooth, considering its small size.  It boarded at 7:15am, so we had a minimal breakfast before embarking and ordered breakfast food baskets while on board.  Once we arrived, we had to wait in a good sized line to pick up our luggage and clear customs/immigration.  We were free to go around 11:30 or so and we went directly to our hotel, within walking distance, checked in, and dropped of our luggage.  Then we took our cameras and went to the Fairmont Empress to take photos and await our scheduled time for afternoon tea.

For those who have never experienced high tea at the Empress or something similar, it's quite the arrangement.  Small sandwiches, scones, and all manner of desserts are brought on small cakestands and endless tea is poured by an ever vigilant waiter.  A really cool and fun experience, but also very expensive.

Misty recognized the waiter from the first time she had tea at the Empress.  We mention this to him, Sam, and he told us he'd been there since 1976!

We spent the rest of the afternoon just walking around Victoria and then ate dinner at an Irish pub.  Wow, we ate a lot of food in one day!  At tea, we all had our favorite pieces and kept asking for more and more of them, and more and more came!

Tomorrow, Butchart Gardens!