A-Life BC Travel Blog

By Jessica Woollard

Tea is trendy right now. Somehow in the last few years, the stuffy English staple has been wholly made-over into a hip libation, attracting a cult following of connoisseurs who can distinguish rooibos from oolong as quickly as a wine dilettante knows gris from grisio.

No doubt, walking around downtown Victoria, you’ve noticed there are more tea shops here than in most cities. All within a few blocks of each other, you’ll find smaller enterprises like century-old Murchie’s and Victoria’s own Silk Road and Special Teas, as well as one of three Victoria locations of the über trendy David’s Tea.

By Jessica Woollard

Ah, January... the month of fresh starts and fitness regiments. Like several million people around the world, I’m committed to staying in shape through to the end of 2012—after all, it might be the last chance I’ve got!

I’ve made this promise to myself in past years, along with eating more broccoli and buying fewer flavoured coffees; but while I still cringe at the sight of green flowers on my plate and give in, at least once a month, to the sweet aroma of a Caramel Brûlée Latté, I have found the key to sticking to a fitness plan: signing up for races.

Photo/Tony Austin

By Jessica Woollard

Humans have long been fascinated with observing our civilization in microcosm. As far back as ancient Egypt, populations constructed tall structures to climb and look out at the expanse before them, drawn to experiencing the world at a small scale and enjoying the sense of perspective such an experience brings. The tradition has continued in the modern world, with tourists ever drawn to climbing tall structures around the world, whether ascending to the top of the duomo of St. Peter’s Basilica or the top of the planet at Mount Everest’s summit.

Even children through the ages have shown an interest in the world in miniature, playing with dolls and toy soldiers, recreating life on a small scale, a life they can more easily understand.

By Jessica Woollard

With the Christmas season right around the corner, holiday-themed plays, exhibits, concerts, and activities are popping up all over Greater Victoria and drawing you in with promises of sugar plums, roasted chestnuts, and figgy pudding.

To help you narrow your list of must-do merriment, here are a few not-to-miss events (including some freebies!) to put you and your loved ones in the holiday spirit.

Stuart McLean and the Vinyl Café Christmas

Nothing puts me more in the Christmas spirit than listening to Stuart McLean’s stories of Dave, Morley, and the crew from the Vinyl Café stumbling through another Canadian Christmas. At this unforgettable show, you’ll enjoy heartwarming and hysterical family-friendly stories about the life of a typical (or is it a-typical?) Canadian family, and hear heartfelt renditions of Christmas carols performed by Canadians musicians. The Vinyl Café Christmas looks beyond the commercial to the true meaning of the season.

Royal Theatre
November 28, 2:30pm & 7:30pm
*Tickets starting at $55; discount available for students

By Jessica Woollard

When November’s rain clouds roll in and block the view of the Olympic Mountains, it’s time to set your sights on a few indoor activities, and preferably those that combat dampness while lifting spirits. In other words, it's best they involve chocolate.

This year, Silk Road Tea Company presents the ultimate champion of dreary weather: the Tea & Chocolate Pairing. This workshop mates organic, locally-made loose teas with decadent, homemade truffles that have a melt-in-your-mouth filling made from Silk Road teas. The maturity of the tea matched with the magnificence of chocolate is staggeringly satisfying. I can honestly say I will never forget my first bite.

Since 1992, Silk Road has attracted Victoria tea drinkers to its bar, which is North America's first established tea bar. Customers can peruse the selection of 100 locally-made, 100 percent organic teas on their self-proclaimed "Great Wall of Tea." Silk Road’s trained tea masters will help you choose the perfect tea to suit your taste buds, or they can provide a deeper exploration of taste, smell, and state of mind and help you reach a desired level of energy from a tea selection.

By Jessica Woollard

In preparation for Remembrance Day this year – the once-in-a-century 11/11/11 – it occurred to me that I have not visited many of Victoria’s cenotaphs. When I travel, however, especially in Europe, visiting war memorials is a must on my itinerary. In fact, the course of my European holiday earlier this fall was directed by my and my husband’s desire to honour our Canadian soldiers at Juno Beach – Canada’s D-Day invasion point – on France’s Normandy coast.

I’ve discovered that I’m not alone; visiting war memorials in other countries seems to be a more common experience than taking that time in our own cities.

By Jessica Woollard

Get ready to rumble, Victoria! The WHL is back in town with the Victoria Royals, the capital city’s new major junior hockey team. Whether you are a hockey fan or not (and by that, I mean whether you are Canadian or not), take part in the action and join thousands of fans at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre to cheer on our new team all the way to the Memorial Cup!

Victoria hockey teams—and fans—have had their ups and downs in recent years. Many of us still cling to the 1925 Victoria Cougars’ Stanley Cup win as a great moment in the city’s history. But we’ve also had some hockey heartbreaks in recent years. First, our beloved WHL team, the Victoria Cougars (unconnected to the Stanley Cup-winning Cougars), were relocated to Prince George in 1994; then last year, we learned with great sadness that our ECHL Salmon Kings were dissolving. While watching the Salmon Kings lose their franchise-closing game to long-time rivals, the Alaska Aces, fans hoped against hope that the end of the Salmon Kings might not be the end of high level hockey in Victoria. Both pucks and rumours flew around the arena that night, with suggestions Victoria just might be acquiring another WHL team…

By Jessica Woollard

It is perhaps the most-taken photograph in British Columbia: a person trying their darnedest to wrap their arms around an ancient Douglas Fir, the colossal trunk towering beyond the photo’s edge, reaching for uncertain heights.

Suspended boughs covered with sweeping moss swing in and out of the scene; in the foreground, nurse logs nestle on the forest floor, providing a sanctuary for countless unseen beetles, spiders, and worms.

If you’re sticking around the Victoria area, the first place that comes to mind to fulfill this tree-hugging photo fantasy is the 477-hectare Goldstream Provincial Park, just 25 minutes from downtown.

I get chills as soon as I enter the park’s vicinity, and not just from the cool, forest air. It seems out of nowhere, the trees have shot up an extra 20 feet and widened by an extra 10. The light changes. The sun’s rays bounce off thousands of branches and leaves, labouring to get past the foliage to illuminate the ferns growing at knee-level and leave glimmering speckles of yellow on the floor.

By Jessica Woollard

Victoria is home to Canada’s oldest Chinatown, so it’s only fitting that the Canada Dry Victoria Dragon Boat Festival would be one of the summer’s biggest attractions.

From August 12 to 14, join thousands of fans around the Inner Harbour and watch 70 teams and hundreds of rowers, both amateur and professional, compete in the 17th Victoria Dragon Boat Festival.

According to an old Chinese legend, dragon boat festivals commemorate the exemplary life and tragic death of Qu Yuan, a 4th century BCE poet and statesman, who was exiled from his home province for promoting ethics and equality.

Banished, he devoted his time to his poetry until one day, he heard that his home province was under attack. Utterly devastated by the news, he threw himself into the Mi Lo River and took his life.

By Jessica Woollard

From Thailand’s world famous night bazaars to Germany’s holiday Christkindlmarkts, food and artisan markets have become a popular attraction in communities around the world, including Sidney, BC, just 35 minutes from downtown Victoria.

Now in its 11th year, the Sidney Summer Market boasts more than 200 vendors, displaying everything from hand-crafted jewellery, clothing, pottery, and soaps, to home-made pasta, granola, and teas.