Look for the Native American longhouse in adjacent Thunderbird Park you might be able to watch carvers at work on a totem pole. Victoria s reputation as a city of gardens is not limited to soil-based flora and fauna. Across the front lawn of the Parliament Buildings is the Pacific Undersea Gardens . You can descend a series of ramps and stairs to viewing windows surrounding a marine garden below the surface of the Inner Harbour. Filtered water from the harbor is used to sustain the live displays of brightly colored fish, urchins, starfish and sea anemone native to the region s cold waters.
Scuba divers equipped with underwater microphones assist with the narration.
If you ve got kids in tow who are bored by Victoria s genteel attractions, take them to the Royal London Wax Museum on the south side of the Inner Harbour. Modeled after its namesake in England, the museum houses more than 200 lifelike wax models of historic and contemporary figures. The chamber of horrors is appropriately gory. To the north on Wharf Street around Bastion Square you ll find evidence of Old Town , a part of Victoria that grew up around the fur trade. The town s original jail and courthouse are both there.