A Royal museum

Today we went to the Royal BC museum (a natural history museum) which also had an amazing exhibit of the award winning National Geographic photos.  This is Emily and Carolyn, who were our fantastic guides (along with Mike who's not in the picture).  Emily is a student studying anthropology and was a handy person to have around in the museum!

Julie, Emily, and Carolyn (sorry your eyes are closed!)

A mammoth.  I wish these were still around, though global warming would probably just kill them off again. 

From the museum there was a good view of the Parliament house.  At night it's all lit up in lights - so cool!

After the museum we had lunch as a great restaurant then they took us for a drive around Victoria, Beacon Hill Park, Oak Bay and finally Chinatown.  We stopped at a marina in Oak Bay where there are some seals that hang out, hoping for scraps from fishermen, or for a couple of bucks you can buy some herring and feed them. 

They were really fun to watch, and have apparently learned to do tricks to increase their odds of getting fed.  They would spin in circles, flap their flippers on the water, etc.  One was just chilling on his/her back, paddling around.  There were a couple of boys there feeding them:

What a fun day, and many thanks to Carolyn, Mike, and Emily for showing us around! My favorite part of the day - a toss up between the photography exhibit and watching the seals.  :)