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.

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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

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Post # 227

Old Town San Diego

Location: San Diego, California, USA
Address:  Old Town
Date: February 2014
Website:  www.parks.ca.gov

  Old Town San Diego is said to be the birthplace of California.  Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo discovered the area in 1542.  In 1602 Sebastian Vizcaino named it San Deigo de Alcala.  The area became a bustling hub, military post and religious mission.

  In 1846 the first American flag was raised in Old Town's plaza.  In 1968 Old Town became a State Historic Park.  In 2014 we made a visit to take in the history, sights and food that Old Town had to offer.  We entered the Old Town area through the market.  We would come back here later for some souvenirs.

  The first order of business was to get something to eat.  We had some churros from one of the food vendors.  After enjoying our deep fried treat we headed further into the town for some history.

  San Diego's first courthouse was built in 1847.  It is also the first brick building built by the Mormons after the war with Mexico.  At one point it served as the mayor's office.

  La Casa de Estudillo is an adobe mansion and was built in 1829.  Adobe means it was made from earth and other organic materials.   This building is located in the center of town and was the social and religious center during the Mexican Era.  The Mexican Era ended in 1846 when the United States declared war on Mexico.

  In the center of La Casa de Estudillo is a garden with many interesting plants and flowers growing.

  Around Old Town there are also many plants, especially cactus.  There are also some resident cats.

  La Casa de Machado y Silvas was built in 1843 and used to be a restaurant.  This building is also said to be where the Silvas family hid the Mexican flag during the war in 1846.

  A covered wagon sits in the middle of the street.  This was the primary means of transportation for anyone who came to Old Town.

  Across from the covered wagon was the Cosmopolitan Hotel.  Back in 1827 it used to be the home of Juan Bandini and later in 1869 a second floor was added and it opened as a hotel.  The hotel has undergone some renovations but still maintains some original features such as the floorboards.  We sat at a table over these floorboards as we enjoyed a meal in the hotel dining room.  A highlight was the deep fried brussel sprouts.

  After lunch we enjoyed a walk and some shade down by Fiesta de Reyes which housed some other vendors.  It had a nice pineapple topped fountain out front.

  In the garden was a metal mariachi band.  Old Town plaza was a popular place for music, bullfights and other forms of entertainment.

  The Colorado Hotel is much smaller than the Cosmopolitan.  This is a reconstruction as we belive the original from 1851 was destroyed in a fire.

  As we headed out of Old Town we passed a theatre.  It wanted to be like The Swan theatre in England so it was named after a young swan.  The Cygnet Theatre runs performances throughout the year.

  We headed back to our car and passed the Immaculate Conception Church.  This church was built in 1865 and was the first church in California built outside of the mission system.  Just outside of Old Town we purchased some souvenirs from one of the many shops.  There was so much on offer but we took a small vase as a memento.  The mixture of food, fun and history had made for a great day.

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Map of Our World 
The Cosmopolitan Hotel (Old Town)
Old Town San Diego State Historic Park

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Post # 226

Legends Of The Silk Road

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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.

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Map of Our World
Legends of The Silk Road

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Post # 225