After nearly a week and a half of wilderness expedition travel, we arrived in style in the harbor of Victoria. As the capital of the province of British Columbia, Victoria boasts a rich history and a vibrant city center. To experience the city’s offerings firsthand, our guests broke off into groups, enjoying activities such as private garden tours, bicycle tours, historic walks through Victoria, and a visit to both the Legislative Assembly Building and the venerated Royal BC Museum.
Guests visiting the museums were accompanied and guided by a world-class docent and a fourth-generation employee of the museum. Leslie, our docent, was an indigenous historian whose family has been working for and collaborating with the museum. Leslie introduced us to pre and post-contact indigenous art, architecture, belief systems, and social hierarchy. One could take a week to explore the museum and its rich collections. After two rounds of activities, we visited the Robert Batemen Centre where we enjoyed local fare and beverages while perusing the gallery of all of its aesthetic splendor. It was a delight to experience the fusion of art and wilderness in the work of Robert Batemen, especially because we could bring our own experiences of beautiful British Columbia to bear on the works we saw.
