Empressed

In his best ode to Foreigner, Mr. Monkey has been singing to me the past few days, "They've been waiting...for a post from you...to come into their lives."

Wait no more, my pretties!

Early on Saturday, we boarded the Victoria Clipper IV from Seattle to Victoria.

Oh, Canada!

We disembarked, walked a few steps to our hotel, left our bags there, and started exploring.

Mr. Monkey had made reservations for an early afternoon tea at The Fairmont Empress Hotel. It was a dainty little lunch for us.

According to the hotel, the Empress Blend is a selection of seasonal quality teas, created exclusively for The Fairmont Empress by the Metropolitan Tea Company. With components from Assam (thick malty and full bodied), Kenya (floral-like flavor and a golden coppery infusion), South India (superb fruity and sprightly flavor), Ceylon (airy, almost piquant flavor), and China (burgundy depth with light oaky notes), it is truly one of the finest blends in the world.

Yeah, it really was some great tea.

We also tried the Berry Berry, a caffeine-free tart herb and fruit tea with the essence of orange and pineapple, hibiscus petals, rosehip chips, elderberries, dried currants, strawberries, currants, and cream.

Loved this tea, too. Mr. Monkey thought it tasted like juice.

Our three tiers of happiness.

Tea sandwiches! Smoked salmon pinwheels, mango and curried chicken, carrot and ginger cream cheese, mushroom pate drizzled with truffle oil on multigrain crostini, cucumber with light horseradish mayonnaise.

Scones with strawberry preserves and Devonshire cream!

Pastries! Lemon tart with lemon curd and strawberry garnish, chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream and topped with ganache, Battenberg vanilla and chocolate sponge checkerboard cake wrapped in marzipan, marble chocolate tulip with cherry inside, Earl Grey tea shortbread.


I adored the Battenberg, perhaps more for its cuteness than its actual taste.

We are a silly pair.

All done!

But wait! There's more! Each guest gets a box of the Empress Blend to take home!

A parting shot before we left The Empress.

We walked around downtown and the inner harbor some more.

Black oyster catchers! How awesome are those orange beaks?



On our way back to our hotel, we stopped by the Parliament Building.

We took a peek inside, and it just happened to be time for a free guided tour.

Next: Friday night and the best hotel room we've ever had in our lives.