Antiques Row

On the opposite side of Fort Street from the challenging building pictured yesterday are some of the antique shops that gave this area its former name of "Antique Row." These are wonderful places to browse around in if you like beautiful things. I'm hooked on Chinese porcelain myself and I have a special fondness for imitation Satsuma such as in the illustration above (from my personal collection). You're more likely to find the real thing in shops such as those pictured to the left. Fellow Victoria blogger Mike Laplante yesterday posted an interesting link to a news article on changing trends in the antique business in this area.

The Mosaic

This very 60's looking building was in fact built during that decade and served for many years as an office building. More recently it was converted to condominiums in order to preserve the ambitious tile mosaic that gives the building its name. The part of Fort Street where it is located used to be known as "Antiques Row" because of the numerous antique shops and auctioneers on that stretch of the street. It is also home to some trendy restaurants and home decor shops and local merchants now describe the area around the intersection of Cook and Fort Streets as "Mosaic Village."

Coal in THEIR Stockings For Sure

Above, busy with a cell phone and an i-Pod, passersby fail to notice Mr. and Mrs. Santa strolling by on Victoria's Government Street.

Below, what looks like a normally busy day in downtown Victoria is a bit unusual because this was taken on a Sunday. Usually on a Sunday here there is very little traffic and few pedestrians. It's because of Christmas shopping, of course. How's yours coming?

New Maltby Trompe l'Oeil

I must first thank regular visitor and commenter here, Dean Lewis, for alerting me to a new work by local muralist, Jeff Maltby. I have featured some of his remarkable trompe l'oeil in the past where it is located in Chinatown. Above is one panel of a new Maltby triptych that graces the wall of the Siam Restaurant near the corner of Fort and Langley Streets in downtown Victoria. Below is a wider shot showing all three panels. Victoria is lucky to have an artist so talented and to have patrons intelligent and generous enough to sponsor such works and share them with the public. They are a delight to the eye and I can only hope that ever more of Victoria's walls will be so beautifully and interestingly decorated in future.