Global Arts, Northwest Territories (cont.)
Part III: L.A. Travels Abroad, 2015
L.A. moved to Norman Wells in 1989 and that did not mean an end to journeys elsewhere in the World. To the contrary, L.A. and family has travelled extensively abroad, especially when vacation time permits. Undoubtedly, the extensive foreign travels of the family has reinforced their cosmopolitan outlook and L.A.'s own quest for knowledge.
Northern Ireland, Co. Derry
3:45PM July 29, 2015 19°C
It rains approximately 200 days of every year in Ireland. This was one of the few days that it wasn’t raining and we were able to see how lush and green the country side is. The rainbow indicates that it just finished raining and true to form, it started raining again later in the day.
A common saying in Northern Ireland is ‘If you can’t see that mountain, it is raining, and if you can see the mountain, it is about to rain.’ I have traveled to Ireland ten times and I only remember two occasions of almost two weeks of sunny weather.
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A ditch by any other name is still a ditch. Or is it?
3:35PM July 29, 2015 15°C
The first time my husband took me to Ireland, he pointed to the beautiful ditches along the side of the roads. I did not see any ditches and wondered how in the world could a ditch be beautiful. Growing up in Southern Alberta, I know ditches as a narrow channel dug out of the ground. He finally explained that the rock walls beside the roads are called ditches. These rock wall ditches in Ireland have existed for thousands of years and there is a move by the government to maintain and resurrect the ditches in the countryside.
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Sphere Within a Sphere, Trinity College, Dublin
12:44PM August 24, 2015 18°C
We spent time at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. We viewed one of the many ‘Sphere Within Sphere’ sculptures created by Italian Sculptor Arnaldo Pomododro. We also viewed the Book of Kells in the amazing library. There are many interpretation of the Sphere Within Sphere. The outer sphere represents the earth and there are cracks in this sphere. Exposed through those cracks is an inner sphere. Each sphere is unique, with their individual patterns of cracks.
Trinity College was founded in 1592. We viewed some of the most beautiful historical architecture on the campus. The library is an example of traditional architecture and this is where the famous Book of Kells is kept. The library has busts of some of the most celebrated authors in the world such as Shakespeare, Milton, Cicero, Locke and many others. This library had those wonderful ladders that allow you to reach books at the next level that you only see in movies.
Tourists from around the world come to get a glimpse of the Book of Kells. The Book of Kells is an amazing book of the four Gospels of the New Testament written in Latin and elaborately illustrated. Even though when we arrived there was a long line up to enter the library to view the Book of Kells, the line moved very quickly and we were able to view the two pages, one page of text and one page of illustrations, that they had on display for that day. It is amazing that the Book of Kells has survived intact all these year.
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Bull Fights, Algarve
9:51PM August 13, 2015 19°C
We were going to buy tickets to a Portuguese bull fight and were not quite sure of what to expect therefore we asked the ticket seller what happens. We were unsure if we wanted to attend a Spanish type of bull fight where the bull is killed by the Madador with a sword in the arena. The ticket seller assured us that the bull is not killed in the arena. After a Portuguese bull fight, the bull is taken out of the arena and may be butchered behind the scenes or taken back to the farm to breed another generation of bull fighting bulls. This is not the only way that Portuguese bull fights differ from the Spanish bull fights. The main attraction of the Portuguese bull fights is the cavaleiro, a man or women riding a horse. He/she rides a very well trained horse and the cavaleriro entices the bull to charge and then the cavaleriro places a dart in the bull’s back muscle. This angers the bulls and they will charge with more ferocity. Another manner in which the Portuguese bull fights differ is the forcados. This consist of group of eight men, the pega is the first man of the group and he entices the bull to charge and the other seven helps the first man to stop the bull from advancing. During the first round, we watch the first man of the forcados miss catching the bull and he got trampled. He was taken out of the arena, unconscious, on a stretcher. That didn’t stop any of the other participants wanting to replace him. The forcados is known in California as the ‘suicide squad’. The title is very appropriate. We left the bull fight admiring the skills of the cavaleiros and their horses and the guts of the forcados.
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Globalization
3:23PM August 16, 2015 24°C
We spent three weeks in Southern Portugal and one of the places that we visited on a regular basis was the Algarve Shopping Center. There is a large grocery store, which we frequented several times, several retail stores and an extremely busy food court. Some of the stores that are located in the shopping center that we recognized are Aldo, Century 21, Claire’s, Guess, H&M, Levi’s, Samsonite, Sephora, Sketchers, Swarovski, The Body Shop, and Timberland. The food court, which looks like many of the food courts in North America consisted of a few traditional Portuguese kiosks yet many North American fast food kiosks were also in the food court. We could dine at Burger King, Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken or even the most famous McDonald’s. We were in Portugal therefore we tried several traditional Portuguese meals.
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Pastel de Nata
4:03PM August 5, 2015 28°C
Fábrica de Pastéis de Belém, a bakery in Lisbon, has been opened since 1837. The pastry, Pastel de nata or egg tarts, is what has made the bakery famous. It is a favourite pastry of Portugal. There was a long line up for take out but a shorter line for sit down service. Since we were on holidays and not on a schedule, we opted for the sit down option. In addition to the lovely pastries, we had snack. We saw these pastries in many of places that we visited in Portugal and we enjoyed many of these tarts. These pastries became popular in Macau, a Portuguese port, and then mainland China adopted these tarts.
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Put your best foot forward!
1:33PM August 5, 2015 25°C
We were staying at a hotel one block off of Avenida da Liberdade in Lisbon, which is know as the 35th most expensive avenue in the world. Many luxury brand name stores are along this avenue. We just window shopped, examining what were offered in stores such as Christian Dior, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Armani and other stores of the same caliber. We spent a couple of days walking up and down this luxurious avenue. It is a wide boulevard of ten lanes with a wide pedestrian lane right down the middle of the driving lanes. We strolled over mosaic like lanes of beautiful small flat pieces of various different stones, arranged in amazing patterns. These wonderful walkways were originally created in the late 1800s.
At one end of the avenue is a wonderful garden and at the other end is a busy and fascinating courtyard. We spent several hours enjoying some sweet treats in the garden and at the courtyard, we took advantage of our favourite mode of transportation, getting on the Hop On Hop Off tourist bus.
Oh! Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree
8:18AM October 1, 2015 8°C
Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree
Thy leaves are so unchanging
Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree
We’re spending Christmas in Palm Spring
Palm Springs has no snow right here
There’s lots of sunny days clear
Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree
Thy leaves are so unchanging
Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas Tree
You remind me that I miss the snow
Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas Tree
And all the things to do in the cold
This year we had no Christmas Tree
We enjoyed the cactus leaves
Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree
Thy leaves are so unchanging
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Found Art, Palm Springs
1:11PM December 31, 2015 15.6°C
We were walking through the neighbourhood of the house we rented in Palm Spring and we passed by this amazing art exhibit. Being an artist myself, I appreciate this vision that this artist has by taking found items and create colossal robot like structures. This artist has inspired me to view found items in a different light.
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Mount Jacinto State Park
2:03PM December 29, 2015 -5.0°C
We took the day to travel on the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, the world’s largest rotating tram cars, to spend time at the snow covered mountain peak of Mount San Jacinto. We didn’t plan to go up the mountain when we left Canada therefore we didn’t have the appropriate winter gear. A quick visit to the local department store remedied that situation and we were set to visit the snow covered park.
Growing up with snow, it was wonderful to see tourist who have never seen snow let alone play with snow be so excited when sliding down the snow covered hills or building a snow man. We walked along the park trails and enjoyed the scenery. Later we enjoyed some hot chocolate and a snack, an appropriate drink to warm up with after spending time in the cold.
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Palm Canyon
2:30PM January 1, 2016 16.1°C
A couple of days earlier we were in the mountains and today, just 10 minutes from Palm Springs, we went to visit Indian Canyons. The weather in the Indian Canyons are the total opposite from the weather in the mountains. The Indian Canyons are home to the Agua Caliente Indians. We spent some time hiking through Palm Canyon which is the closest of the three canyons to Palm Springs. And yes, it is called Palm Canyon because there are Palm Trees there. We followed a couple of trails to an awesome panoramic view of Palm Springs.
On our way out of Palm Canyon, we had to visit the Trading Post. We purchased a few souvenirs; a couple of books, maps, and a mug; as mementos of our time in Palm Canyon. We were very impressed by this oasis in the desert.
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Inuksuit Everywhere!
2:50PM 1 January, 2016 16.1°C
Inuksuit (plural of Inukshuk), monuments made of stones, were used by the people throughout the circumpolar world to indicate that someone was there or that travelers are on the right path. The Inukshuk was used as the logo for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. This is a symbol of friendship and of welcoming the world to Vancouver. Seeing the Inuksuit in Palm Canyon reminded me that humans are connected to each other no matter where in the world we are. Yorkino Fish Boat And Habenero Sail felt quite comfortable with the Inuksuit.
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