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Super, Neighbours in British Columbia: The Fairmont Empress in Victoria - Part 1 of 2

A couple of years back we took home the Georgia Straight's BEST OF award for " Best Navel Gazing Web Site ", and while our non-profit organization that supports our web site ( Vancouver Is Awesome, Inc ) is focused on celebrating all of the awesome t

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We were recently invited to stay at The Fairmont Empress in Victoria, the city that I have no shame admitting is my second favourite in our province. Yesterday we shared a couple of FERRY SECRETS to help make your next trip to the island a better one and today we're giving you a look at the accommodations.

A couple of years back we took home the Georgia Straight's BEST OF award for "Best Navel Gazing Web Site", and while our non-profit organization that supports our web site (Vancouver Is Awesome, Inc) is focused on celebrating all of the awesome things that make up our city one of those things is it's proximity to other awesome places. In Super, Neighbours in British Columbia we take you on adventures to other B.C. locales that we think you should check out.

The Empress is located at what, as an absolute tourist, I have always viewed is the pinpoint centre of the city of Victoria. Founded in 1908, the hotel sits at the foot of the harbour flanked on it's left by the Royal BC Museum (which we'll visit in an upcoming post) as well as the parliament buildings and on it's right the downtown shopping/tourist district. Victoria is often named as one of Canada's most walkable cities for good reason; whenever my wife and I visit we either leave our car in Vancouver or park it for the duration of our trip because we simply don't need it. Everything is close.

Here's the view that you're likely used to seeing of The Empress and it's ultimate grandness. Those like me who view it as the epicentre of the capital city of British Columbia shoot photos like this one because they're also fond of the craftsmanship, the signage and the ivy that climbs up most parts of the outer walls...

Inside the rooms are charming, elegant and classic while obviously providing modern amenities like flat screen TVs and non-rotary telephones that you don't have to dial an operator to help you make a call on. The stroller isn't included though. It belongs to V.I.A.'s youngest blogger, Arlo.

This is what the window of our room looked like from the street. Like our own little window in a castle.

And here's the view from inside that castle-like window, of the hustle-bustle of the harbour.

And the reason we were in Victoria in the first place! As an experienced fireworks judge I was sent over by the folks at the Celebration of Light on a recon mission to see if their Canada Day fireworks show held a candle to our celebrations here in Vancouver. Of course I'm kidding! But I did enjoy the fireworks and the view of them that our room afforded us.

Learn more about The Fairmont Empress on their web site, follow them on Twitter and like them on Facebook. And stay tuned for my next post about the hotel and a little bit of history.