Brisbane & The Machine

Location: Brisbane, Australia
Address:  Brisbane City Botanic Gardens
Date: May 2012
Website:  www.brisbane.qld.gov.au

  We found ourselves walking around Brisbane in the evening while we were in Australia.  The first night we were looking for somewhere good to eat.  We headed south and ended up at the Queen Street Mall.  It is a pedestrian only road with many stores and restaurants.  It also has a pixel light display above one portion of the street.  We were looking for somewhere nice to sit and relax and enjoy a meal after a long day.

  One restaurant caught our eye.  It had a familiar logo.  This is Hungry Jack's and is the Australian franchise of Burger King.  Another hamburger chain was already operating as Burger King when the American company decided to expand down under so a different name was chosen.  We didn't really feel like a Whopper so we continued our search.

  We turned around and there were people enjoying dinner on a balcony.  A little rainbow lead the way upstairs.  This is Jo-Jo's and we decided to check it out.

  We were given a number card on a stand.  We were told to put it on our table and then we could go to the stations to choose what we wanted to eat.  You had to pay at the stations and then someone would bring your food to you back at your table.  This was the first time we encountered this service, but it was common in many places around Australia.  We enjoyed our dinner and then took a stroll around Brisbane.

  The next night we didn't try too hard to find a new place to eat.  It was back to Jo-Jo's.  This time we ended up on the balcony and held card number 11.  We now knew how the routine worked.  After dinner we went for a little walk again.

  We walked out of the restaurant and noticed a lot of people headed south along Albert Street. We decided to head south as well.  We were curious where everyone was going.  As we walked we noticed more and more people.  Soon we reached the gates of the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens.

We decided to follow the crowds into the park and see where they would lead us.  It was very dark in the gardens and we could barely see the strange trees around us.  Maybe they were doing fireworks in the river? 

  We went deeper into the gardens.  Some people rushed past us.  On the edge of the garden was an old building.  This is Old Government House.  It was built in 1862 and was Queensland's first public building.  We went a little further and could hear music.  Then we were at the gates of the Riverstage.  This was the end of the line for us and we would wonder no more.  The tables selling merchandise told us that British act Florence & the Machine were playing a concert that night.  Mystery solved.  We do enjoy the band's music and would have loved to stay for a show, but we had another busy day planned tomorrow and no tickets.  Instead we fought our way back against the flow of Florence fans and past Jo-Jo's one last time

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Map of Our World
Wintergarden
Hungry Jack's (Brisbane) , Jo-Jo's
Brisbane City Botanic Gardens
Old Government House

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Post # 221

Holy Matrimony Murdoch

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address:  56 Queen Street East
Date: May 2018
Website:  www.metunited.org

  When William Murdoch and Dr. Julia Ogden finally got married, we were there. Well not really, since they are from the fictional television show Murdoch Mysteries that takes place in the early 1900s. What we did do was visit the place where the wedding episode (season 8 episode 4) was filmed. That's about as good as we can get.

 Murdoch and Julia were married at the Metropolitan United Church in Toronto.  We visited the church during Doors Open Toronto 2018.  It is located at the corner of Queen Street East and Church Street.

  According to a plaque outside the church it is designed in a High Victorian Gothic style.  The cornerstone was laid in 1870 and the church was dedicated in 1872. The plaque also lists other important dates for the church including a fire in 1928 which required the church to be rebuilt. Most of the walls, tower, stained glass and narthex are original. A narthex is a long narrow enclosed porch usually along the west entrance of a church, but you already knew that.

   According to one fan's calculations, Murdoch and Dr Ogden married in May of 1902.  That was well before the fire.  Let's take a look at some of the scenes from the episode.

  There is a reception tent set up just beside this thin pathway on the east side of the church (photo above).  Mrs. Brackenreid is trying to get everything to run smoothly.

  When Dr. Ogden arrives in her horse drawn carriage, she comes around this little curved brick path.   Murdoch is quickly ushered in through the front doors of the church so he does not get an early glimpse of his bride on their wedding day.

  When Julia does finally enter the church she proceeds down the aisle. Inspector Brackenreid is the one who gives her away.

  She heads down the aisle towards Murdoch who is waiting up at the altar.

  The church is filled with their guests. 

The Brackenreids are up front on the right.

  Despite wanting to leave to try and solve a case, William and Julia do finally get married and head through these glass doors.  The couple above obviously is not from the early 1900s.  William and Julia were also dressed at their best.

  During Doors Open we also got a glimpse of the actual gown that Julia wore at her wedding.

  Shaftesbury is the company that produces Murdoch Mysteries.  At their offices they had Julia's gown on display along with other costumes and props from the show.

  Shaftesbury's offices are located on Logan Avenue.  We found it amusing that another show they produced, The Listener, has a main character called Toby Logan.  "Hmm, I like the name Toby, but he needs a good last name."  "I'm going to go outside for a smoke."  "I've got it!  Logan!  It just came to me."

   During the Murdoch Experience 2014 we even signed a guest book for the happy couple and were given some special Murdoch Mysteries cookies.  This was before the episode aired. Now we have also been inside the church.  Congratulations again to Julia and William on your marriage.  We wish you many more seasons together. Thank you for sharing your wedding day with us.

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Map of Our World
Metropolitan United Church
Shaftesbury

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Post # 217

Sam The Record Man

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address:  347 Yonge Street
Date:  Oct 2008

  The Yonge Street Sam the Record Man store opened in Toronto in 1959.  It was always a great place to go to sift through a huge selection of records.  Through the years Sam Sniderman had seen technology change as he sold 8-tracks, audio cassettes, videos and eventually CDs and DVDs.  Sadly, the rise of downloadable music from the internet ended the reign of the record store.  It also didn't help that customers grew up and had real bills to pay so they could no longer afford to spend every weekend hunting for music to add to their collection.
  One of the highlights of shopping at Sam's was their Boxing Day sales.   We would line up on the street waiting for our chance to save 25% or more on our purchases.  This meant walking away with more albums.  Sometimes the album was from a favourite artist.  Sometimes it just contained a song we had heard on the radio and we hoped that the rest of the tracks would be as good.  Sam competed for our dollar along with other rivals near the corner of Yonge and Dundas.  There was A&A Records, Sunrise Records and later HMV.  It was always Sam's that had that personal touch with home made signs and records spread across multiple floors and levels.  You would find things tucked into nooks and crannies as you explored the store.

  When Sam's finally closed in 2007 Ryerson University took over the site and eventually built their Student Learning Centre at the corner of Yonge and Gould streets.  This changed the look of the corner forever.

  Before the building came down, the Sam's sign took one last spin.  It was lit up during the all night art festival of Nuit Blanche 2008.  The Sam the Record Man sign featured two large records that would appear to rotate as the neon lights flashed in the night.  After its appearance at Nuit Blanche the sign disappeared into storage.

  Years later the sign was resurrected in Dundas Square.  It is now just a block south of where it used to shine from the storefront.  It has moved several stories up from street level and for some reason the words "Yes this is Sam The Record Man" are no longer flush and centered under each record (see photo at top of this post).  The best time to stop and view the sign in all its spinning neon glory is after sunset.   Sam The Record Man's son Jason played keyboards on local artist Blue Peter's song "Don't Walk Past".  So don't walk past without taking a moment to reflect on Sam's place in Toronto music history.

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This location is near Dundas subway. Visit other Toronto TTC stations.

Map of Our World:
Sam The Record Man Sign
Sam The Record Man

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Post # 215

Flinders Street Station

Location: Melbourne, Australia
Address:  Flinders Street
Date: May 2012
Website:  whatson.melbourne.vic.gov.au

  On Flinders Street in Melbourne, Australia stands a beautiful gold, orange and green building.  This is the oldest and busiest railway station in all of Australia.  The current building was completed in 1910 but a train station has exisited on this spot since 1854.  We admired the building as we drove by on one of Melbourne's trolleys and while we waited for a tour bus in Federation Square.

  The station boasts the fourth longest railway platform in the world.  The photo above was taken from across the street at Federation Square and only shows a portion of the width of the platforms.  The station portion is enclosed but where the trains arrive is mostly open to the air.

  One end is the main entrance and it has clocks just above the entrance which show the different train departing times.  We loved the colour of the facade and the copper dome roof which has turned green with age.

  The opposite end has a large clock tower showing the actual time.  We never did make it into the station, but we found this to be the most beautiful building in all of Melbourne.  We drove rental cars and flew as we travelled around Australia, but maybe next time we should take the train.

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Map of Our World
Flinders Street Station

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Post # 208

Canadian National Exhibition

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address:  210 Princes' Blvd.
Date: August 2013
Website: theex.com

 The Canadian National Exhibition (C.N.E.) is one of the largest fairs in North America.  It started in 1879 as the Toronto Industrial Exhibition and later the name was changed.  The C.N.E. only runs for 18 days each August until Labour Day weekend where it finishes off with the air show.  It is a great place for rides, food, music, shopping, farm animals and entertainment.  We almost never miss making a visit to the fair each year.  Below are some of our favourite things from The Ex.

The Princes' Gates

  If you enter the fair from the east side, these gates welcome you.  Princes' Blvd. starts at the gates and then cuts right through the center of the C.N.E. grounds. (Read More)

CNE Midway

  The Midway fills Princes' Blvd. with food stands and rides.  You can use the Sky Ride cable car to get a birds eye view of it all or you can choose to join the crowd eating gooey, drippy treats and then trying to hold them down while getting spun around on classic rides such as the Polar Express.

The Food Building

  If you have not had enough to eat after leaving the Midway, you can always make your way over to the Food Building.  Here you will find rows and rows of food vendors ready to please any taste buds.

The Farm

The Farm building has your usual farm animals such as sheep, cows, horses, pigs and more.  It also has a large refrigerated container full of a collection of butter sculptures.

  There are often more unusual animals such as ostrich or alpacas.  The alpaca above had been freshly sheared and was rocking his new hairstyle.

Rock Balancing

  Speaking of rocks.  Daryl Maddeaux has been defying gravity at the C.N.E. for almost two decades.  Somehow he manages to build towers from rocks of varying shapes and sizes. Read More

Sand Sculptures

  If sculptures of butter are not enough for you, there are usually giant sand sculptures as well.  Star Wars and Star Trek have been featured in recent years along with other creations such as this woman riding a tired rhinoceros.

Agriculture

  Who has the best tomatoes?  The Exhibition also features agricultural competitions.  In 2013 the best tomatoes were these pictured above.

Performances

 

  There are always daily shows happening all around the C.N.E.  The hard part is planning your day to fit them all in.  The SuperDogs show is always popular as various breeds compete in obstacle course races.  Other acts such as the Flying Wallendas risk it all to entertain the crowds.

Mardi Gras Parade

  Near the end of the day a Mardi Gras parade passes through the grounds with floats and music.  People scramble to collect the Mardi Gras beads tossed from the floats.

Canadian International Air Show

 
  The last weekend of The Ex sees the Air Show come to town.  CF-18 Hornets rip through the sky and a sonic wave follows behind them turning heads.  The whole thing wraps up with the acrobatic formations of the Snowbirds.

Let's go to The Ex.  Oh Baby!

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Map of Our World
Canadian National Exhibition , CNE Midway
Princes' Gates
CNE (Better Living Center)
CNE Food Building

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Post # 187