Victoria

INTRODUCTION

Victoria is a Canadian city, and the provincial capital of British Columbia. It has a population of 74,125 (according to the 2001 census) and an area of 19.68 square kilometres. It is also the seat of the Capital Regional District. The greater metropolitan area has more than 300,000 people. Victoria is located on Vancouver Island, and is a major tourist destination for many people visiting the province of British Columbia.

The oldest (and most intact) Chinatown in Canada is located within Victoria. In the heart of downtown is the Legislative Buildings, the Fairmont Empress Hotel and the acclaimed Royal British Columbia Museum, with large exhibits on local Aboriginal peoples, Natural History and Modern History. In addition, the heart of downtown also has the Royal London Wax Museum, The BC Experience at the Crystal Garden and the Pacific Undersea Gardens, which showcases the Giant Pacific Octopus, the Wolf Eel and other marine life of British Columbia. North of the city on the Saanich Peninsula are the Butchart Gardens, one of the biggest tourist attractions on the island, as well as the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, Victoria Butterfly Gardens and Centre of the Universe planetarium. There are also numerous National Historic Sites, like Fisgard Lighthouse, Craigflower Manor and Schoolhouse, Hatley Castle and Hatley Park and Fort Rodd Hill, a coastal artillery fort built in the late 1890s, located west of the city in Colwood.

Beacon Hill Park is the city's main urban green space. It comprises more than 620,000 square metres along Victoria's southern shore, and includes numerous playing fields, manicured gardens, exotic species of plants and animals such as wild peacocks, and a petting zoo. The park also includes a few areas of natural Garry oak meadow habitat, an increasingly scarce ecosystem that once dominated the region. Each summer, Beacon Hill Park plays host to several outdoor concerts, and the popular Luminara Community Lantern Festival.

The Victoria Symphony, led by Tania Miller, the first woman to hold such a position with a major Canadian orchestra, performs at the Royal Theatre and the Farquhar Auditorium of the University of Victoria from September to May. Every BC Day weekend, the Symphony mounts "Symphony Splash", a popular outdoor event, including a performance by the orchestra while on a barge on Victoria's Inner Harbour. Streets in the local area are closed, as each year approximately 40,000 people attend a variety of concerts and events throughout the day. The event culminates with the Symphony's evening concert, with Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture as the grand finale, replete with cannon-fire, a pealing carillon and a fireworks display to honour BC Day.

The oldest (and most intact) Chinatown in Canada is located within Victoria.

GETTING THERE
Continental Airlines
Tel: 1-800-231-0856
Air Canada
Tel: 1-888-247-2262

Victoria is served by Victoria International Airport and ferry terminals to Vancouver, the Gulf Islands, and Washington state. Victoria serves as the western terminus (Mile Zero) for Canada's Trans Canada Highway, the longest national highway in the world.

Victoria's has four Twin Cities, or Sister Cities:

* Napier, New Zealand
* Suzhou, China
* Morioka, Japan
* Khabarovsk, Russia

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