Unfortunately I never made it to Halifax a couple years back when I visited New Brunswick and PEI, next time. One thing that makes Victoria feel vibrant (at least compared to larger cities in western Canada) is the the relatively compact downtown and even more so the very small scale of most of the buildings. There are few dead zones (think of giant office buildings or infrastructure buildings in bigger cities, with their parking garages, blank walls). Retail, services and restaurants are spread evenly throughout, and buildings are packed closely together, especially the old town.
In some of the Google Earth photos below you can really see the gold rush/frontier/boomtown roots, with such a jumble of hodgepodge buildings. It makes for a great, vibrant pedestrian experience though, with interesting alleys and courtyards. The inner harbour is always active with the mini harbour ferries, Coho Ferry to Port Angeles WA, several catamaran ferries to Seattle and one of the busiest seaplane ports in the world never mind all the private boats and luxury yachts.
Back in the 80's 90's Victoria had the tag 'home of the newly wed and nearly dead'.. those days are long gone, although that brings with it the challenges or being a bigger city..
Anyways thanks for posting the Great pictures Great Scaper
Victoria Google Earth by
JohnnyJayEh, on Flickr
Victoria Google Earth 2 by
JohnnyJayEh, on Flickr
Victoria Yates and Johnson Streets by
JohnnyJayEh, on Flickr
Victoria Overhead by
JohnnyJayEh, on Flickr
and to finish it off with some real pics I took recently:
B & W Strathcona and Falls by
JohnnyJayEh, on Flickr
A Museum by
JohnnyJayEh, on Flickr
Downtown Sunset by
JohnnyJayEh, on Flickr
St. by
JohnnyJayEh, on Flickr
St. Ann’s - Victoria Canada by
JohnnyJayEh, on Flickr
Janion by
JohnnyJayEh, on Flickr
BC Ferries by
JohnnyJayEh, on Flickr
Finally does wildlife (not the human type) count as vibrancy? There is a crazy amount of wild animals from cougars, to deer, racoons, peacocks wandering around, the Great Scaper has a few of those on camera, lol.
Downtown Deer by
JohnnyJayEh, on Flickr
A few Victoria stereotypes here at the Dover House apartments on the edge of downtown, lol.
Dover House Deer by
JohnnyJayEh, on Flickr