An Exhilarating Journey Through Victoria’s Past : Royal British Columbia Museum offers a stunning trip through human and natural history.

The old-fashioned sign said “Grand Hotel.” I climbed wide wooden stairs to the second-floor lobby and rang the bell on the desk.

While waiting, I scanned the scene: mellow wallpaper in a tasteful print, curtains tied with tassels, velvet chairs, framed sepia photographs, lamps with silk shades, gilded mirrors, marble-topped tables, leather-bound books.

The Grand Hotel, a two-story replica of an 1890s lodging from the coastal town of Nanaimo, is at the heart of a reconstructed, yesteryear neighborhood that pounds at the senses.

A pair of wire-frame eyeglasses rested near a ledger. A mantle clock chimed.

Then I heard voices and turned to find a man and a woman, both dressed in dark blue.

Back to the 20th Century. The man and woman were guards at the Royal British Columbia Museum, a remarkable institution that offers a stunning, sensual journey through the human and natural history of this far western province of Canada. The replica of the Grand Hotel is upstairs in the museum.

The Royal B.C. Museum is adjacent to Victoria’s Inner Harbour, between the elegant Parliament Buildings and the 1908 Empress Hotel. Native totem poles rise in Thunderbird Park, just behind the museum, where artisans continue the tradition of carving.

Museum-goers can peek into a 19th-Century saloon or barbershop or milliner’s, or stare at an ample kitchen where pie dough is rolled on a table and the scent of baked cinnamon wafts on the breeze. A window is open, the curtain flutters and, in the distance, you can hear the clatter of carriages.

Around a cobblestone corner, I came upon an old-time railroad station and heard the whistle of a train. The station floor began to tremble as the locomotive neared. The chugs grew louder and slower as golden lights flashed by the windows. Then a mighty whoooosh and the train ground to a halt. Voices spilled from the platform. It seemed so real.

In another part of the museum, the same magic is applied to dioramas of British Columbia’s coastal forests--you can feel the cooling mist, you can hear a distant eagle, you can watch a majestic deer watching you.

Later, I wandered along the city’s waterfront, admiring the globular lampposts that were hung with baskets of flowers. In Old Town I came upon Swans Hotel and pub, a handsome, cream-colored restoration where sidewalk tables are popular in the long, late hours of summer.

Talk in the pub was about the pageantry planned for the XV Commonwealth Games, set for Victoria in August 1994. Sixty-six Commonwealth countries will compete in traditional sports, from mannerly lawn bowls and badminton to more rigorous events: swimming, diving, cycling, track and field. Of course, members of the Royal Family are expected. No one was guessing which ones.

For tour and hotel reservations in Victoria, call (800) 663-3883. For information on the XV Commonwealth Games in 1994, call (604) 380-1994. The Royal British Columbia Museum is open 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m., Oct. 1 to April 30; 9:30 a.m.-7 p.m., May 1-Sept. 30. Admission is $5 Canadian, adults; $3 seniors; $2 ages 6-18, and 5 and under free.