From the "DOME"

So far, I have blogged about the first leg of our trip to B.C.

There was the Winnipeg Exchange District, The Marine Building, Granville Island, and The Fringe Festival.

To-day's blog will feature pictures taken from the dome car as we travel across the Prairies and through the Rockies.

Here we have the Potash Mines in Saskatchewan, which were recently in the news because of a hostile takeover bid by BHP of Australia.

This is our first glimpse of the Rockies as we approach Edmonton.

Here, the train takes us alongside the Fraser River, and the mountains.


Looking across the Fraser River at the beginnings of the Rockies.

It started to rain, so there are some droplets on the car window which I cannot remove, without some serious work in Photoshop.



Up ahead, we can see the mist hanging over the mountains.

This is the first snow-peaked mountain to appear on our trip through this province.

Culture

While in Vancouver, I took a lot of pictures and became the consummate tourist for a couple of weeks....however, I did breathe in some culture; thanks to my sister.
Leona and I attended a Vancouver Folk Song Society event, and we went to see two plays at the Vancouver Fringe Festival.

The first play was called "7X1 Samurai" by David Gaines.
The actor mimed and created his own sound effects as he performed an entertaining scenario of Akira Kurosawa's "The Seven Samurai".

You can read a review of his act that appeared in the Washington Post here.

The other play was titled "Dead Man's Cell Phone" - a comedy by Sarah Ruhl.

It tells the story of a woman who somehow feels responsible for the man's cell phone when he doesn't answer it.
The reason, of course, is because he has died in the cafe, and no one seems to have noticed, except her.

We both enjoyed these plays very much, and Leona met some friends while we waited in line at the Firehall Arts Centre on Cordova Street.
I will be posting more pictures of VanCity....soon.

Rouge Valley Park

Yesterday, Marcia and I took the transit to the far reaches of "Scarberia"....almost to the Metro Zoo.

Not only were we in another postal code, but, it seemed to us like a different world, as we traveled on the # 86 Bus to Sheppard and Meadowvale.
[It should be noted here that it took Marcia an additional bus and subway ride, in order to meet me at the station]
After that, we still had to transfer to another bus to arrive at 1749 Meadowvale Road (The Pearse House).
Our destination was the entrance to the Rouge Valley Park; where we would hike the Cedar Trail.
The hill you see in the distance (in the photo above) is a garbage dump.
Currently, there is a Ontario Power Generation facility, at the end of this road, extracting methane gas from the site and converting it into hydro.
The Nature Walks are all marked with directions, distance and information for any self-guided tours.There are nine such trails in the valley, and they extend from Highway 407 in the North to Lake Ontario in the South.


We joined a small group of folks with a leader, named Bob, who was a naturalist.
This is Little Rouge Creek, as it makes its way down to Lake Ontario.
Here we have some Black Ducks
According to Bob, there are very few of these ducks in Ontario, due to the increase in the number of Mallard Ducks.
This is a "Raptor Perch" for hawks and other such birds to sit on since there is very few old growth trees for these predators in this area.
All of the original trees were uprooted when the City dug up the area for fill, for the dump.

There is only new growth, that has been planted by the Rouge Valley Conservation Authority.

The Ontario Trails has a blog about the fall hikes in this valley.
For more information, click on this link:

http://www.ontariotrails.blogspot.com/

Winnipeg's Exchange District

As I blogged before...we arrived in Winnipeg around 8 am on Thursday, September 9, and we were met by Leona's friend, Gloria, who took us on a tour of the Exchange District.



Here we have a Romanesque Revival building at 212 McDermot Street. It was built in 1901 for the Lake of the Woods Milling Company, and features two red brick facades with round-head windows on the main floor. Notice the sandstone-faced entrance that is inscribed with the name of the company.

This is the back of the Porter Building, located at 165 McDermot. Originally constructed in 1906 as a warehouse for crockery, china, and glass...it closed its doors in 1943. As you can see, it was once occupied by a candy company, and unlike some cities, Winnipeg has encouraged owners to keep the old painted signs, whenever possible.

The IOOF Hall that you see below, sits at the corner of McDermot and Princess Streets.
It is a three story building with metal cornice bearing the letters "IOOF and ML No 1" -Independent Order of Odd Fellows Manitoba Lodge No. 1. Look closely and observe the cryptic symbols of the mystic order...a crescent moon with seven stars and a three link chain.

When the architects were designing the new Red River College on Princess Street, they decided to preserve the heritage facades of the five buildings in the block. They, along with the engineers, integrated them (the facades) into the new building, by temporarily supporting the facades with a unique steel buttress framework. As well, the brick, millwork, glass, ceramic tiles, heavy timbers, light fixtures, steel columns, and Tyndall stone cladding were all reclaimed.

Here we have a "Ghost Sign" for the Western Elevator and Motor Company.

This old door, with its iron gate is situated on Main Street at 460.

Another door....this one at 137 McDermot.

I caught some students sitting around the Exchange District...they were sketching some of the older brick buildings....could they be budding architects?

Well...we had a great time touring the area. I probably could have spent a couple of days just walking around. I did not get pictures of the old bank that Birk's had renovated (they kept the elevators, mail box and vault from the former occupants). We had a free ride back to the station on the transit, because it was after 11 am. There are three downtown busses that provide this service. Neat, eh?
Thanks, Gloria for a great day in Winnipeg.

Granville Island

Even though it was raining on Saturday, Leona and I wandered around Granville Island, under the Granville Bridge.



This is "Bubbles The Seal"...so named by the locals, because if she does not get any fish from the people on the wharf, she blows bubbles to show her frustration.



The Marina....

The Toy Market.....

The Farmer's (or Public) Market...here we bought a four pound sockeye salmon.

Some Japanese Lanterns.....

This was interesting...I am not sure what it is and I could not find a sign that gave any information...what does it do???

Here we have some totem poles in the making.....