The Royal London Wax Museum is also overlooking Victoria Harbour, downtown.
The Museum documents major events and highlights historical figures from the modern
era, back to ancient times. This building was once Victoria's steamship terminal. The
characters include members of the British royal family, famous Canadians, Hollywood stars,
and some unfortunate souls in a Chamber of Horrors! Truly an educational experience!
We were fortunate enough to be given the tour free... courtesy of the entrance host,
Captain George Vancouver himself. This fine gentleman has performed this role
for many years... and is very good at it... very knowledgeable!
(The original Captain George Vancouver was the first to circumnavigate Vancouver Island - early 1790's.)
Photo/video credit: ve7bzc
An interesting factoid that we picked up on our Victoria trip...
The early English process by which felt hats were made involved treating the beaver fur (from Canada,Hudson Bay Co. and all that !)
with nitrate of mercury to make it easier to pound. Since the hatmakers couldn't help but inhale the mercury,they suffered from mercury poisoning,
which caused neurological damage resulting in slurred speech, a lurching gait, and uncontrolled muscle twitching. These were taken as signs of insanity,
and the phrase mad as a hatter came into being. All this, to introduce the Alice in Wonderland character below... ;-)
