First, we have Dine Around and Stay In Town. Good way to try out some restaurants with taster menus, which means right up the balliwick of this blog. I've been disappointed in the past by places phoning it in (Reef, Cafe Brio), but both Zambri's and Pescatores came through for me this week. I'll follow with review later, but the sausage and kale pasta at Zambris is fantastic. I've never done the Stay part... I have a perfectly good roof over my head that I have to pay a mortgage on... the staycation hasn't appealed enough to me. Though, I have stayed at the Château Victoria before for a birthday night, and was most useful considering the amount of falling down juice I consumed. My friends will happily relate the shade of green I was the next morning.
This week also saw 'Tourist in your home town'. $12.50 plus taxes gives you a passport for a variety of deals and free entries into attractions in Victoria. Last year I considered seeing if I could cover the whole booklet in one weekend. I kind of forgot about it. Maybe next year I'll try it, in service to my readers. But half the fun of visiting your local tourist attractions for me is seeing your city through the eyes of your visiting friends and family. Plus, it's always a zoo on these days, and shuffling through a crowded Miniature World, free or otherwise, is not much fun.
So, to add to the piles of things in town, we have the start of Victoria Beer week. 9 days promoting craft beer in Victoria and the brewing industry in British Columbia. Lots of beer specials, tastings and talks around town. I am a little over beer specials and one off casks, and over priced beer festivals (the Great Canadian Beer Fest gets a free pass from me). Not because I don't like beer, but getting into the pub on a week night, early enough to get that hallowed nectar is just too hard when you work out of down town. I'll get the more regular good stuff when I can. On the flip side, there friends of mine will say craft beer people are the -best- people. And there is undoubtedly good stuff being served.
Also this weekend we had the Ageless Living Expo... but I didn't visit that. I'm not in the market for rejuvenation products and anti-ageing technology. We get old, and no creams and mineral-algae concentrates are going to stop that.
Finally, that I know off, was Gottacon. Victoria's premier gaming convention was in past years out at Pearkes arena and a cut-price bargain basement sort of affair, run on hubris and volunteer sweat. I never enjoyed it, despite being a large scale board game nerd, and interested in gaming of all sorts. This year, I went to help out a friend, and the new venue has raised this event upwards to average. Lots of gamers, lots of interaction, lots of space and at least some outward organization. With the realization that casual computer gaming is part of the Victoria tech business, promotion of these companies to a wider (but ultimately friendly) audience seems to be something to cheer about. We'll see if it lasts, but -real- social gaming with real interactions between people to create and explore ideas are a good thing. These connections can grow into something more... even if just fulfilling and useful for the people involved.
....
Looking at Tourism Victoria, I missed:
- Vancouver Island Bead & Jewellery Show
- Hellebore Sunday
- The Young Photographer Contest
- IdeaFest (starting tomorrow)
- Victoria Spoken Word Festival (starts Tuesday)
Coming up, the big events on my radar are:
- Victoria Fringe (22nd August - 1st September)
- Beer Fest (5-6th September)
- Rifflandia (11-14th September)
Just proving, they all seem to come in clumps...
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