From A-Z with Kelsey Lee: T is for Tea?

ANDREW IS BACKKKK! He surprised me at work last Thursday with flowers and everything :) After a relaxing dinner and day of shopping we began our journey into Ooooo Canadaaaaa. The trip began with a drive downtown, and a ferry ride to Bainbridge Island, which is across the Sound. So here we are, in a car, on a boat, in the bay, goin to Bainbridge!

We then drove about an hour and a half northerly to Port Angeles, where we caught our 2nd ferry, sans car, and arrived in Victoria.

If you're not familiar with Puget Sound geography, here's a general idea of our path. The drive was just gorgeous, as I have found with most things in this part of Washington, and it was nice to enjoy simple things like being in the car with Andrew.

After a full day of traveling, we finally arrived in beautiful Victoria! And then Andrew told me a surprise he had been keeping from me, and pointed out where we were staying! The Fairmont Empress......

Which was right across the street from their Parliament building.....

Amazing right? Our hotel room had it's own little fireplace and the staff were willing to do anything to make your stay a nice one. As you can see, the outside of the building was covered with ivy, and apparently, it too, changes color in the fall. Obsessed. I was obsessed with it. So.BEAUTIFUL! Here are just a couple of the many, many, pictures I took, solely of the ivy.

Obsessed I tell you. I loved staying at The Fairmont, not just for the ivy, or the service, but the atmosphere! Don't you always wonder what it would be like to live in a castle? Well, I do. And I figure this is about as close as I'll get. Though I don't know what I would do with alllllll of those rooms, while walking down the long, curvy hallways it was fun to think about. Until Andrew brought up The Shining and made me nervous to turn corners in fear that there would be two girls on tricycles at the end of the next corridor. Nice Andrew. Real nice.

Besides exploring the hotel, with it's own restaurants and shops inside the place, we mostly just walked around the town. The hotel was within walking distance of the ferry dock, and tons of shopping and great eating opportunities! We got takeout one night and sat in our room to watch American football, found a brewery (Sorry Canada, your beer sucks)....

Ate some salmon nachos, and waffles. Fancy waffles are quite popular there....

Found a Christmas store with an anal retentive owner who allowed no photos and minimal handling in his 6,000 square feet of PURE CHRISTMAS. (Yea I took one anyways HA!)

and finally, on our last day there, our favorite part of the trip, we had afternoon tea :)

We dressed up nicely, and had the opportunity to head to The Fairmont's very own, Tea Room. The tradition has been around for over a century and it was an amazing experience to be apart of. This link tells you a little more about the "quintessential Victorian experience," and what is involved in afternoon tea. Even though the tea was caffeinated, both Andrew and I found it to be super relaxing and felt like we could have sat there all day chatting and calling each other things like "dahling" and "my sweet." As a gift, we received some tea of our own, and I'll have to say, I look forward to drinking it again. Andrew now wants his own tea set.