6/24/02 PM Victoria

After breakfast there was a history lecture. In the 1930s, Caterpillar sold millions of dollars of earthmoving equipment to Stalin's Gulag (forced camps) in Siberia. Soviet people didn't trust radio broadcasts so they would go to the post office to look at portraits to see who was in power. One time when Yeltzen was sick, he said "Don't be in such a hurry to change the portraits."

In World War II, there were internment camps for some Alaskan people who were viewed as possibly sympathetic towards the Axis powers.

Japan occupied some of the Aleutian Islands. There were battles between Japan and the United States in the Aleutian Islands.

The ship is docked at Ogden Point. We walked to downtown Victoria (over one mile). The Crystal Gardens has (hundreds?) butterflies in a room with double doors so we could be in the room with them. Great photo op. Across the street is the Grey Line bus terminal so we took a bus to Butterfly Gardens. The Butterfly Gardens were a disappointment after seeing Crystal Gardens, because there weren't nearly as many butterflies. We took another Grey Line bus to Buchart Gardens, then back to Victoria.

We walked around the grounds of the majestic Empress Hotel (it's difficult to get into the interior of the hotel) and the inner harbor before walking back to the ship. We arrived at the ship at exactly 6:00pm, in time for dinner. The casual atmosphere of the ship permitted us to go immediately to the dining room (wearing shorts).

We had to pack our luggage and leave it outside the door by midnight. We had only our carry-on with us in the ship's cabin. When we arrive in Vancouver tomorrow, Longshoremen will take all luggage to the pier's custom's area where we will pick up the luggage and go through customs to Canada.

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