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Showing posts with label Toronto. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Toronto. Show all posts
Thursday 20 September 2018
Something Smells At The Zoo
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address: 2000 Meadowvale Road
Date: Sept 2018
Website: www.torontozoo.com
Many people head to the Toronto Zoo for the sights and sounds of the animals. What is often unexpected is the smell.
The former gaur exhibit wins top prize for the stinkiest exhibit. Nothing like a small, closed house filled with the largest bovines in the world. Many a visitor would open the door just to recoil from the wall of stench. "Eeeewwww!!" cried the children.
By the way it is pronounced "gow-er". We always used to call them "gar" like in cigar.
Other contenders for worst smell are the marmosets. In the Americas Pavilion you can find a group of these tiny primates. While you might share your exhibit with sloth, saki, and double-striped thicknee, when it comes to smell we are looking at you common marmosets. What gives these little guys such a big smell anyway?
We visited the zoo recently for a special olfactory reason. A titan arum or corpse flower was in bloom. This flower may bloom for anywhere from 8 to 36 hours. We had seen these plants before in Niagara Falls.
When a titan arum is in bloom it smells much like a rotting corpse. This helps attract the bugs that help it pollinate. The zoo had some of these beetles out on display. We were also attracted to seeing the corpse flower in bloom. Finally, Thursday evening the bloom was on. We were not able to visit until Friday night. Good thing we did as by Saturday the show was over. The zoo extended its hours for those wishing to see and of course smell the plant.
We lined up and moved slowly forward until we entered the greenhouse where the plant was on display. Suddenly there it was. We didn't even smell it coming.
The titan arum plant usually looks like the tall green plant on the left. Once every 4 or 5 years it produces a flower. The flower at the Toronto Zoo grew to be almost 43 inches tall. It was named Pablo “Pe-ew” Caso.
When it was our turn the staff was letting us get right up close to really get the scent. We leaned in and took a long breath in through our noses. Not much. Just a faint unpleasantness. A staff member we chatted with told us that first thing in the morning it had been downright offensive. With the greenhouse door open to visitors all day and the bloom fading, the smell had dwindled.
In the African Pavilion the gorillas sometimes have a strong scent coming from their exhibit. It is probably just Charles letting us know that this is his domain. After over 40 years at the zoo Charles, we know you are large and in charge. The zoo had grains of paradise growing in the greenhouse. The plant acts as an antibiotic and anti-inflammatory for the gorillas.
A hockey bag mid season? A dead mouse under your porch in the summer? The gaur pavillion? Maybe if we had been there when it first bloomed the titan arum may have been the strongest smell at the zoo. We still give our vote to the gaur, but we have got our noses on you too little marmosets.
Map of Our World
Toronto Zoo (Indo-Malaya Pavilion) , Toronto Zoo (Americas Pavilion) , Toronto Zoo (African Rainforest Pavilion) , Toronto Zoo (Gaur Pavilion)
Toronto Zoo Greenhouse
Post # 227
Thursday 30 August 2018
Legends Of The Silk Road
Address: 100 Princes' Blvd.
Date: Aug 2018
Website: theex.com
This year the Canadian National Exhibition features an indoor lantern festival. The displays are based on an ancient trade route between Europe and China known as The Silk Road. According to our CNE guidebook it took 55 metres of steel and 4000 metres of synthetic silk to make the lanterns. It took over 40 days to make the lanterns and 60 days to travel from China to Toronto. The lanterns bring to life the stories and adventures associated with the Silk Road. Join us as we walk the Silk Road and see these stories come to light.
The tour starts with a silk lantern version of the CNE's Princes' Gates that welcome us. A map shows the routes taken both by land and sea as this trade route was used. The Silk Road spanned more than 6,500 kilometres.
The Adventures of Marco Polo
Marco Polo was an Italian explorer. He travelled the Silk Road on an epic 24 year journey from Italy to Asia. He travelled with a caravan of people and animals he encountered on the way.
The Four Dragons
Four dragons were placed underneath mountains. They transformed into rivers to bring water to the people.
Washrooms
After the dragons, we encountered the only washrooms on the Silk Road. Yikes! We had better use the facilities as we still have to walk all the way from China to Europe.
The Fairies of Lake Saif-ul-Malook
This is a tale of a prince who fell in love with a fairy. The lake is located in northern Pakistan and on the full moon it is said the lake shimmers as the prince and fairy dance along the water.
Voyages Of Sinbad the Sailor
Sinbad had many adventures. This time he fights a group of cyclops on the island of Krakatoa.
Odysseus and the Sirens
It is said that the beautiful song of the sirens causes sailors to shipwreck or plunge into the sea. Odysseus tied himself to the mast and plugged his crews ears with beeswax so that he could safely listen to the siren song.
Aladin and the Magic Lamp
Aladin polishes a golden lamp and a genie appears to grant him three wishes. If only we were that lucky.
Sancai The Tang Horse
Beautiful pottery replicas were made of war horses during the Tang Dynasty and displayed in tombs.
The Minotaur and the Maze
In Greek mythology, every nine years Minos sent seven boys and seven girls into a labyrinth where they were eaten by the Minotaur. We did encounter the half man, half bull, Minotaur but survived as the maze itself was not very difficult. After all the CNE wouldn't want families getting lost and missing the next performance of the President's Choice Super Dogs.
Atlas Holding The World
Atlas tried to conquer Zeus and was punished by being forced to hold the weight of the world on his shoulders. The two photos above are of the same display from two different angles but they look quite different. You can see how the lanterns transform what you are seeing as you wak around them.
Portraits of Power
This display features lanterns portraying Mulan, an Amazon woman, an enchantress, a wizard and a magician. All powerful and wise.
Animals of the World
This display featured some legends of how animals came to look the way they do. Here is a quick summary.
How the zebra got its stripes? A rabbit painted a donkey.
How the giraffe got its long neck? Got stuck in a tree and the other animals pulled and pulled.
How the tiger got its stripes? A farmer tied it to a tree causing rope burn when it escaped.
How the lion got its mane? Got some sticky olive oil on its head and ran into long dry grass..
Mythical Creatures
This display features a unicorn as well as Carberus, the three headed dog.
It also has hippogriffs and centaurs which both have the body of a horse. The other half of a hippogriff is eagle and a centaur is half human.
Phoenix Rising
Every 500 years the phoenix builds a nest and sets herself on fire. She then bursts from the flames empowered and strong.
Jack & Beanstalk
Jack trades his cow for some magic beans and climbs a beanstalk into the clouds. Here he encounters a giant.
Legends Of The Sky
Icarus's father made him some wings but warned him not to fly too close to the sun or the wax that held his wings together would melt. He didn't listen to his Dad's warnings.
Also flying high above us was the winged stallion, Pegasus and a half eagle, half lion called a griffin.
The Goose that Laid the Golden Egg
Each day the goose laid a golden egg. The greedy farmer killed the goose thinking it was full of gold. Inside was just a regular goose that laid regular eggs.
Hansel & Gretel
Hansel and Gretel were walking in the woods where a witch had built a gingerbread house filled with candy. The witch was hoping to catch and eat the children but they escaped.
We had finally reached the end of the Silk Road. We hope this becomes a regular exhibit at the CNE. Even though the road is filled with dangerous creatures, it is great to see the beautifully constructed lanterns that bring those creatures to life.
Map of Our World
Legends of The Silk Road
Post # 225
Monday 20 August 2018
Lower Bay Station Filming Location
Address: 1013 Critchley Lane
Date: May 2018
Website: transit.toronto.on.ca
The Toronto Transit Commission runs the subway system in Toronto. Bay Station is one of the stations along Bloor Street. Bay Station also has a hidden lower station beneath it which was only used briefly in 1966. It has become known as Lower Bay and has not seen much action as far as commuters since it was closed. What it has seen is an increase in movie stars.
We finally visited Lower Bay during Doors Open Toronto 2018 when the public was allowed inside. You enter the station from the platform of Bay Station.
Then you head down a long stairwell to this hidden filming location. Over a series of posts we will describe some of the movie scenes filmed on the TTC. We hunted down these movies and actually watched them. The TTC had posters from some of the movies displayed on the platform. Also thanks goes out to Transmania Ontario for this video, Transit Toronto for this list, and Reel Toronto for these posts. We have chosen not to get too detailed on the plot or to express our opinion of the movies. A lot of them despite featuring well known actors are not well known movies for a reason. You will just have to decide if you want to watch them for yourselves.
Okay, let's see what Hollywood has been doing in Toronto's sub-subway.
SUICIDE SQUAD
Suicide Squad is the highest grossing movie ever filmed in Lower Bay Station. The movie is part of the DC comics universe and is about a woman who becomes possesed by a witch known as Enchantress. Enchantress frees her brother who possesses a man. He goes out onto the Lower Bay platform and takes over several other people. They all fall onto the tracks and using the third rail for strength he crashes through a subway train. We couldn't get onto the tracks during Doors Open as two subway trains were parked there for safety reasons.
The Suicide Squad is assembled from a group of imprisoned criminals to defeat the Enchantress. Later in the movie, the Suicide Squad wait outside Toronto's Bay Station. They replaced the exisiting BAY sign with a different Bay St. sign for the movie.
Deadshot (Will Smith) leans against the tiled wall on the right while Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) sits on the escalator rail on the left. Special forces colonel Rick Flag, Killer Croc, El Diablo, Captain Boomerang and Katana are all there as well.
Killer Croc swims into a flooded lower portion of the station and the rest of the crew walk the Lower Bay platform which is covered in remains and black residue from the Enchantress's brother's attack. It seems they used Lower Bay to pretend it was Upper Bay for the movie.
MAX PAYNE
Max Payne is a movie based on a video game. Mark Wahlberg is a cop with a dark past obsessed with finding out who killed his wife and child.
He walks along the platform and three twitchy junkies sit on a wooden bench. They notice his nice shiny watch. When he enters the men's room they confront him for his watch. He tells them to come and get it. The washroom gets destroyed. One junkie runs into the tunnel where he is attacked by flying shadows. Mark keeps his watch.
RESIDENT EVIL : RETRIBUTION
Since Lower Bay is an unused station it also much safer to film there than at a live station. You can cut all the power when your franchise star (from six Resident Evil movies) gets near the third rail. Not to mention the film crew. The photo above shows a list of required equipment for all the crew.
DARKMAN II
Another movie that filmed somewhere on the TTC was Darkman II. We started to realize that the posters on display were not all movies filmed at Lower Bay, but somewhere on the TTC system. We also realized that the Darkman poster they had on display was for the original movie and not the sequel. The first movie was directed by Sam Rami, filmed in Los Angeles and starred Liam Neeson as Darkman. The sequel was directed by Bradford May, filmed in Toronto and starred Arnold Vosloo as Darkman. Liam Neeson has a very particular set of skills so you just can't go and replace him. Anyway, the only short scene from Darkman II that was filmed on the TTC is when Darkman drives his home-made train car through the tunnels.
During Doors Open we were able to go into the front subway car and take some photos of the subway tunnels. Many actors have run into one of the four tunnels at Lower Bay and maybe even the non Liam Neeson Darkman rode his special train car through here too.
UNDERCOVER BROTHER
There was a poster of Undercover Brother in Lower Bay. We could not determine where or if this movie ever filmed on the TTC. Maybe some deleted scenes? This seems like a good spot to end this blog post as we are going to go and watch Undercover Brother one more time. We will revisit Lower Bay Station again in another post.
This location is near Bay subway. Visit other Toronto TTC stations.
Map of Our World
Lower Bay Station
Post # 224
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