Due to the magic of the Jones Act, it would be illegal for a German-built ship such as the magnificent Norwegian Joy to do an Alaska cruise from Seattle and stop only at U.S. ports, even if operated by a U.S.-based cruise line and staffed with an American crew. One perverse consequence of the Act is, therefore, that U.S. law requires all of the passengers to be unloaded at a Canadian port and spend their money in Canada rather than in the U.S. for at least one day. This turns the trip into an international one, which can legally be run in a foreign-made ship.
Victoria, British Columbia, is getting enormously rich as a conseqeunce of this 1920 law. We stopped there at the end of May 2026.
Walking toward town, Fishermen’s Wharf:
We summoned an Uber for the 30-minute drive to Butchart Gardens, created circa 1906 by the wife of a cement baron in his former limestone quarry and run today by the family.
There’s something for everyone here, including fountains, totem poles, restaurants, a carousel, etc.
The shocking price of $44/adult ($31 in USD; 10 years of supercharged immigration, more carefully selected for skills and education than immigrants to the U.S., has made the Canadian economy so strong that the exchange rate vs. the USD has collapsed) doesn’t keep the place from being crowded on a sunny Sunday. They sell a membership to locals and the gardens are dog-friendly so maybe that’s part of it, but most of the visitors seemed to be tourists. It was challenging at times to get through the rose garden.
It all started with a Japanese garden in 1906:
Why is it virtually impossible to buy stone lanterns in the U.S.? Here are some beautiful ones, including an unusual one that is made, perhaps, from concrete logs?
I asked ChatGPT “Why aren’t Japanese-style stone lanterns made in China and shipped to U.S. garden stores by container/truck and then sold at a reasonable cost?” Our AI overlord says that the wholesale cost in China might be around $100, but…(1) containers are weight-limited, (2) “Breakage and missing parts are a killer”, (3) the port-to-store or port-to-house shipping is going to be expensive for a heavy object, 4) #tariffs #blameTrump, (5) stone lanterns don’t sell fast enough for a garden center, (6) Americans are tasteless and will accept a cast concrete or “cast stone” substitute.
Japanese Style in North Carolina seems to bring in the real deal for $1,000-$2,500, but they weigh 300-650 lbs. and then shipping is ruinous on top of that.
Maybe Optimus can learn to make stone lanterns?
I don’t dream of the winter that makes these rhododendrons and Japanese maples possible, but they are beautiful in spring!
Inspiration:
What do you get when you mix some of the New Canadians’ food traditions with Legacy Canada? Butter chicken poutine ($26 in fake money):
Artur, an immigrant from Turkey, had taken us out to the gardens. Wasim, an immigrant from northern India, brought us back to downtown Victoria.
The fountain across from the British Columbia Parliament Buildings celebrates the provinces and territories of Canada, which won its independence without a traitorous rebellion, unlike some countries…
We didn’t invest in the guided tour of the provincial parliament since, among other things, the idea of the capital not being in Vancouver seems ridiculous.
The Empress, a railroad-built hotel, is reached by walking past a statute of Emily Carr, a Canadian artist and writer unknown to Americans. She is the perfect inspiration for today’s immigration enthusiasts since she never got married or had children (though she had a dog Billie and a pet monkey Woo). Certainly she’s been replaced many times over!
At the opposite edge of the hotel’s block:
A passion for history required that we visit Rogers’ Chocolates, founded in 1885 by a man born in Massachusetts. This particular store dates to 1903.
Next stop: Munro’s Books.
Readers can perhaps guess that I headed straight for the children’s section.
Back in the adult area:
Of course, the staff was masked as well as allergic to cinnamon (see above):
The historic Chinatown surely has some great food, but we’d already stocked up on poutine at the garden.
Puzzle Lab was our favorite store. Laser cutting the “jigsaw” wooden puzzles enables them to cost a fraction of what a Stave costs (What would I do if Elizabeth Warren would follow through on her promise to steal Elon Musk’s $1 trillion and then give it to me (the second part isn’t included in her promise, but it seems only fair)? Order a bunch of Stave puzzles, which are perhaps $3,500 each.).
As part of an outdoor visitor orientation map, the government-run museum acknowledges that it is on stolen land:
Thanks to the miracle of spectacular immigration-fueled population growth, the city will be approving the replacement of an unsightly light-hogging single-family home with a beautiful 6-story apartment building:
At the extreme western end of the Trans-Canada Highway, there is a Mile 0 sign and a poignant statue of Terry Fox who tried to push through his cancer and run the entire distance. He died at 22. “Dreams are made possible if you try.” Well, I guess that’s true when you consider what happens to those who don’t try.
Then a walk back to the ship with views of the Olympic Mountains across the water, most famously traversed by enricher Ahmed Ressam in 1999.
Was ChatGPT helpful in planning this stop?
With 8 AM–6 PM, don’t burn the day on Butchart Gardens unless you particularly want gardens; it is farther from the cruise port. For your family, I’d walk from Ogden Point along the breakwater/Dallas Road waterfront to Beacon Hill Park, then continue to the Inner Harbour, Parliament buildings, and back. Victoria Trails describes Ogden Point Breakwater as a walk near the cruise terminal with harbor and Strait views. Independent cruise guides estimate the Empress/Inner Harbour area at about 1.5 miles from the cruise dock, so this is very doable as a half-day walk.
No. Butchart Gardens is a work of genius. Downtown Victoria is reasonably nice, but crowded with tourists and not filled with important architecture. Buying 3 lbs. of chocolate at Rogers’ and then reading through a stack of 2SLGBTQQIA+ books at Munro’s would be delightful, but doesn’t fill an entire day. ChatGPT frightened us further in a follow-up by saying that we wouldn’t be able to get an Uber back from Butchart. We got one within about 3 minutes (Wasim was dropping someone else off).
Related:
Wonder if they stop long enough for a paid intimate encounter.
It’s my understanding that outside of a gay pride, male lions get paid for the intimate encounter. Like in the currency of gnu steaks. Maybe lion is trying to fund a trip, IDK. And I don’t want to know. 🦁🦬
Looks like when BC needed a capital, Vancouver wasn’t a thing + geography + politics:
https://www.leg.bc.ca/learn/discover-your-legislature/1868-victoria-named-capital-city
Following the union of the colonies of British Columbia and Vancouver Island in 1866, New Westminster served as the home of the newly formed Legislative Council. Not wishing to anger the residents of Vancouver Island, the first Governor of the united colony, Frederick Seymour, decided that the council would be given the task of choosing where to locate the capital.
At the time, Victoria was B.C.’s largest city, the centre of commerce and easily defended by the nearby naval base in Esquimalt. Seymour, a mainland resident who favoured New Westminster, stalled after a vote that chose Victoria. Under pressure from London, he held a second vote, with the same result. Residents of Vancouver Island celebrated the vote, but some New Westminster residents remained opposed to the relocation of the capital.
Does every national cuisine contain a dish extolled to outsiders that’s a fiasco on the plate? In Portugal it is an execrable concoction known as the ‘Little Frenchy’, which should be casus belli between the countries.
Poutine is the normally polite Canadians having us on.
And who puts mayo on french fries? Half-baked Dutch and Belgians.