Clover Hill Park

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address: 50 St. Joseph Street,
Date: June 2021

    Primrose the donkey was born prematurely in England in 2012.  She needed to wear casts on her front legs until they grew stronger.  A nice pair of pink casts were made for her.  Now Toronto, Canada has a statue of Primrose in its Clover Hill Park.

   When we saw some photos of the Primrose sculpture, we couldn't resist to go down and say hello for ourselves.

    Primrose is not alone.  There is a group of wooden sculptures sitting on the other side of the park.  There is a small colony of rabbits and a couple of snails.

  Not that Toronto needs more of them, but there is also a wooden raccoon sculpture.  We were happy to visit all of Primrose's little friends.

  To add even a little more magic to the park, there is also a cluster of mushroom seats.  You could even perch up on top of one like the caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland if you wanted.

  The real Primrose is all grown up now and no longer needs her casts.  If you want to see her at her cutest you can visit Clover Hill Park on Bay Street where she will forever remain that little preemie donkey.

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Map of Our World
Primrose , Clover Hill Park

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Post # 302

Absolute Condos

Location: Mississauga, Ontario
Address:  50 Absolute Avenue
Date:  August 2018
Website:  www.50absoluteworld.ca

  As you drive along Highway 403 in Ontario, you can't miss the Absolute World condos twisting up into the sky.  The curvy design stands out and has earned them the nickname of the Marilyn Monroe towers.  There are five towers in Absolute World, but the two that stand out are 50 and 56 storeys tall.

 

   The towers are located just across the road from the popular Square One mall.  The Mississauga skyline is getting more crowded each year but when the towers were completed in 2012 they really stood out.  At the time of writing this they were still the tallest buildings in the city.

 

   When you get right up close to the condos you can really admire the curves.

  By the time you reach the 56th floor, the twist has rotated about 198 degrees.

  Outside the front entrance are a group of horses made of curved metal.  The sculptures are called Buen Amigo which means good friend.

  Hazel Mcallion who turned 100 years old in 2021 was mayor of Mississauga from 1978 to 2014.  She has said she was glad that the artwork in front of the condos included horses as she used to be able to see cows and horses grazing from city hall many years ago.

  On the opposite side of Mississauga City Hall sits a large metal sculpture.  This 3,500 pound sculpture is called Contemplating Child and looks like a stick figure child holding its head in its hands.

  Could the child be trying to figure out how the designers and engineers built the Absolute Towers?  In the photo above, the towers can be seen through the sculpture and in the distance.

 

 

  As the sun starts to set we head on our way.  The Absolute Condos give us something to enjoy and think about as building designs become more and more complex.  Will we be back again to check out the towers and more artwork around Mississauga? Absolutely!

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Map of Our World
Absolute Condos
Contemplating Child , Buen Amigo

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Post # 301

Assiniboine Park

Location: Assiniboine Park, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Address: 55 Pavilion Crescent
Date: Oct 2014
Website: www.assiniboinepark.ca

 Assiniboine Park in Winnipeg, Manitoba is more than just a park.  We were in Winnpeg as part of a trip to Churchill, Manitoba to see polar bears. We were in Assiniboine Park to see more polar bears and the other annimals of the Assiniboine Zoo.  Before we even reached the zoo, we soon realized that there were lots of animals to see throughout the park.

 

    The Pavilion is a beautiful building that operates as an art gallery. Admission was free and we went inside to take a look.  We knew already that the building contained one of the world's most famous bears.

 

    The second floor has a gallery dedicated to Winnie the Pooh.  Winnie the Pooh was a black bear cub from Ontario who was rescued by a Canadian Lieutenant called Harry Colebourn.  The bear was named Winnie after Harry's hometown of Winnipeg.

    Just outside of The Pavilion is a statue dedicated to Winnie and Harry.  Winnie was eventually taken to England and lived in the London Zoo.

  A.A. Milne wrote the famous books about Winnie the Pooh. The stories included his own son, Christopher Robin and his dolls.  The bear doll was named Winnie after visiting the real Winnie at her home in the London Zoo.  Above are some early Winnie the Pooh dolls.

 

    The other floors of the gallery contained art from other artists from Manitoba and highlighted the culture and history of the province.

 

    There were more bears of course, such as this polar bear that was part of a collection of nature paintings.  This painting reminded us that we were still headed to the zoo to see some real bears.
 

  Next to The Pavilion is a Nature Playground.  We found more creatures here all made of wood and plants.  There was a serpent.   

    There was also a yak bush and a sheep with big googly eyes.

    Just in case you had not yet had your fill of bears or Winnie the Pooh, there was a bear shaped bush.  We had not yet had enough so we headed over to spend the day at the zoo.

   After a long but enjoyable day at the zoo we headed back to our hotel.  As we left the park we saw one last animal.  A giant ox sculpture sits at the entrance to the park.  This ox is pulling a Red River cart which was used for early trade, travel and work in Winnipeg.  One last history lesson that didn't involve bears before we ended our day.

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Map of Our World
Nature Playground , Red River Ox Cart 
The Pavilion At Assiniboine Park 

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Post # 298

Immersive Van Gogh

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address:  1 Yonge Street
Date:  August 2020
Website:  vangoghexhibit.ca

  Vincent van Gogh is one of the world's most famous painters.  His work is world renowned.  Now his paintings are part of an interesting exhibit where his work is dissected, animated and projected onto walls.  The artwork is accompanied by music which brings it all together.  We visited Immersive Van Gogh when it arrived in Toronto.  There is both a drive through and a walk through experience.  We took part in both experiences.

   For the drive through experience we waited on the street outside.  When it was our turn we were directed up to a receiving ramp.  We drove into a white walled room and followed the staff diections to park our car.  It wasn't long until the lights dimmed and the show began.

The music began and the works of Van Gogh started to come to life.  A bright yellow sun moved across the sky.

The sky changed colour in front of us as the day passed by. 

  Van Gogh painted many windmills that he saw in Monmartre, Paris.  During our immersive experience we could see the blades of the windmills turning in the wind.  This is very different from a regular art gallery where you interpret one frozen moment captured in the art.

  During the drive through experience our car was surrounded by the art.  There was Van Gogh on the passenger side.

    There was Van Gogh to be viewed through the front windshield.

    There was Van Gogh out the driver side window too.  We could see it between the parked cars.

    The exhibit features some of Van Gogh's most famous paintings.  Vincent Van Gogh only painted for a period of about 10 years before committing suicide at the age of 37.  In that time he painted over 850 oil paintings.  Some of the best known are The Bedroom (above) and The Sunflowers (top of blog).

    Van Gogh's most famous painting of all is The Starry Night.

 

    We were lucky to see the priceless original hanging in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

 

    Eventually the music and animation stopped and credits rolled up the walls.  The lights turned on and we were guided out into the streets.  We really enjoyed seeing the works of Van Gogh come to life around us.  We would be back again soon as our tickets also included a walk through experience. 

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Map of Our World
Immersive Van Gogh
Museum of Modern Art

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Post # 290

Easter Island Dreaming

Location: New York City, New York, USA
Address: 200 Central Park West
Date: Sept 2007
Website: https://www.amnh.org

  Easter Island remains on our bucket list.  It is a small island located about 3220 km west of Chile and received its name from a Dutch explorer who found it on Easter Sunday 1722.  The island is famous for its large stone sculptures called moai.  Just because we have yet to make it to the island, does not mean that some of the island has not made its way to us.

  At the American Museum of Natural History in New York City there is a plaster cast of a moai statue on display.  The mold was made from one of the real moai during a museum expedition to Easter Island in 1935.  A copy of this cast statue comes to life and was featured in the movie Night At The Museum.  Brad Garrett voices the character that spends most of its time asking for some gum.  Sorry, gum gum.

  Las Vegas always tries to copy everything so it makes sense that it has a replica of an Easter Island statue.  The Vegas strip has its own Eiffel Tower, Venice, New York City and even an active volcano among the copied structures.  The strip used to have two Easter Island statues outside the Aku Aku restaurant which was part of the Stardust casino.  The restaurant and casino are no longer around.

  One of the statues was moved off of the strip and placed in Sunset Park. It sits on an island in the pond at the center of the park.  Not quite Easter Island but it is still an island none the less.

  London, England  has a few replica Easter Island statues as well as the real deal.  There are replica statues sunken in the shark tank at Sea Life London Aquarium.

  Sand Tiger Sharks spend their days swimming around while these giant heads keep a close eye on them.  Unlike these replica statues the real Easter Island statues all reside on land although many have sunk deeper into the soil through the centuries.

  The closest we have ever come to Easter Island is at the British Museum where they have an actual statue that was transported from the island back in 1868.  This statue is called Hoa Hakananai'a.  Easter Island has requested that it be allowed to return home again.  If they let us know, we will gladly accompany it on the ride home and then we can cross another item off of our bucket list.

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Map of Our World

Sea Life London Aquarium
Sunset Park
American Museum of Natural History , British Museum

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Post # 283