Bring your friends to work day

#18 QUEEN'S PARK AND UNIVERSITY AVENUE


DATE: WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1, 2012.
TIME: 5:23 - 8:47pm


Featuring beautiful Queen's Park and broad, monument-studded University Avenue, this walk through the heart of the city covers Toronto at its most grand.

It's a beautiful Toronto evening - a little hot in the sun, but quite pleasant in the shade. This walk may be an interesting one, we'll have to see how it unfolds. And Sean will be joining us soon so that's always a plus!

I wonder what the cards have in store for us today! I feel like my expectations for this walk are pretty low, since there isn't much in this area... But maybe we'll learn something! 
Yay, Sean! Yay, Monica! 

Mon has this devilish look to her... 
wonder if she has something planned under her sleeves...

Look! 
You can actually see our location for once in our opening picture!

2. Ontario Parliment Building

The provincial seat of government - and 13 monuments and statues.

Of course, to all Ontarioans (is that a word?) it's simply "Queen's Park" - which is also the name of the park the parliment building is situated in (named after Queen Victoria according to the cards). I think we'll cover the north part of the park in one of the UofT walks. (I was gonna question that... )

And nope - not a mistake! We're starting with the 2nd venue on the cards today, cause this is where Sean works and where we'll be meeting him.

Welcome to Sean's House!

"Queen's Park" - The Ontario Legislative Building
Our docent Taylor told us that the architech was a Brit, living in Buffalo and so the style is very reminiscent of the buildings in Buffalo and also in Maschechutes.


 A blurry, clumsy shot of University Avenue and the rest of the walk from the steps of Queen's Park. (Hmmm... remember our Yorkville walk from a couple of summer's ago? We titled it "This picture might be blurry" because Alma kept saying that - though her pictures were fine (pretty sure I didn't take any). Well anyway, that could easily have been the title of this one... do not adjust your computer screen - it's our lousy pictures.)



This is my first time inside parliment. Spent all those years studying in UofT buildings beside it, and walking by it but never thought about going in. FYI, the tours are free, every 15 minutes. And if you're lucky enough to know Sean, you can get a second private tour. Before we started the tour, the docent asked everyone where they were from....Switzerland, St. Thomas, Thunderbay...... then there's us from Toronto. Apparently, they don't get a lot of Toronto visitors, which I believe. Come on people, be tourists in your own city like us!
hehe... I loved how Monica said Toronto too... we seemed a bit shameful. But yes! There is much to be explored in this city! Hence our walks! 

Oh, and I believe it's time for my Harry Potter reference (seems too early for this...) : Remember when Harry visited the ministry??? (yes...)

When you think Parliament....
You obviously think Maple syrup!
Right?! Right?!

(Mon sneaking a call to Sean... shhh...)


Who doesn't love polar bears?!?!

Are you sure there are no other words for 'private' in french?!
Sean?!...

That will be us in 15 mins... 

We completely forgot to sign the book!
It's cool to see so many people from around the world come by... wonder if it's mostly due to a tour bus, or out of their own interest...
And there are a lot of ppl from the US on this page... 
probably trying to steal something... more on this later...

Is Sean's office above this?! 

That's Taylor - our docent. He was quite informative. Here he was explaining about the role of the Speaker of the House (who lives on the 3rd floor! - so bizzare) and the throne. Each speaker has their own custom throne made. They used to be able to take them home - but they often don't fit through the door. (I thought this was the only one that wasn't measured correctly when making, hence it being left here....) This throne acted as a royal throne as well. Queen Elizabeth II sat on it during a visit to Toronto.

There are a lot of portraits in the buildings. All the speakers and all the premiers have one. Now in HP, in the Muggle Ministry, wizards have a tradiitional wizarding portrait in place to communicate with the Prime Minister. Of course to keep in cognito, the occupant will not move or talk as it normally would. Anyway, we did not gain access to Premier McGuinty's office to check for wizarding portraits.

There are a lot of paintings that hang on the walls of Queen's Park...  and they're not just portraits. There are several landscapes and kinda old victorian style paintings... it'd be neat if there was an art tour given here, cause it seems like there'd be a lot of great stories behind them. 

A portait of former Ontario Premier Bob Rae. Taylor pointed out a few interesting things about this painting- all but 1 are not clearly visible in my cruddy photo. But nonetheless, here they are:
1. The loon - which is the provincial bird (or animal?) beside the lamp.
2. When Rae posed for the portrait he was in his slippers. So, the painter painted is own father's shoes into the portrait. (is anyone else curious what his slippers looked like??)
3. If you look out the window, you can see the CN tower - which is true, the premier's office does face University Ave and therefore the CN tower. (Actually, the Premier's office is literally behind me as I took this picture - meant to get a pic of the door but forgot. Oops). However, the view isn't true because Rae had the artist include a UofT building in the window because it is his alma mater. UofT buildings surround the building, but are not found directly south of the building.
4. The artist signed his name on the pencil. (Taylor made everyone guess where the artist's signature was since it's not your typical place. One guessed at the back of the chair.... where would you place your signature?! I can see Mon placing her name on a book in the upper right bookcase... )
Did I get them all Alma?

Perfect, Monica!

It's not as creepy as this may appear... 
Into the Legislative Chambers we go....

Where any spectator can watch....
box seating... not too shabby.

Let's get ready to rumble!

Pretty marble!
There's a story behind this... 
This west wing was originally made of wood, like the other half of the building, but workers working on the roof (?) left a wood stove burning and the whole half went up in flame! A lot of documents and books were lost since the library used to be here. 
They brought marble from Italy to rebuilt this half to make sure that something like this would never happen again. 
Wonder why they never put the library back here though... since it's now flame proof...


The Ontario Coat of Arms. That glass doesn't lead directly up to the sky. Nope it leads to Sean's office area.

(oops I was wrong)

Looks gorgeous!
Wonder if we can go in there one day.

The mace was never used as a weapon in Ontario. It's a ceremonial thing. The top one, the fancy one, it was given at confederation I believe. The bottom, is a little more interesting. It was stolen from us by invading American's during the War of 1812. And basically forgotten. It ended up in a museum somewhere in the States until the 1930's when President Roosevelt retrieved it and returned it. Just to set the record straight, the War of 1812 was the last war to be fought on Canadian soil. Canadian loyalists did successfully defend Toronto, pushing American invaders back and they burned down the White house in the process. (We're a peaceful nation so I like to think our main source of protecting us reminding other nations of this so they just don't bother. Otherwise we'd be forced to give invading armies a lot of beer to get 'em drunk and stupid or maple syrup in hopes they fall into a diabetic coma....)

At the end of the tour, Sean meets up with us. He's a very popular fellow - everyone loves him. And he manages to keep us in the building even though security is shooing everyone else out. Now I told Alma on our walk over that Sean would get us guest passes and give us the behind the scenes tour. She didn't seem to believe me that there would be real passes. I had faith in Sean that they would be.

Tada! They were.

The lunch room... kinda reminds me of E.J. Pratt library... they totally have the same chairs.
Taylor recounts a story that he didn't notice the earthquake in the lunch room, since the subway runs directly underneath Queen's Park.
I wonder how there are no structural problems with the constant vibrations....

Sean! 
Looking all professional...

Behind Sean are pictures of the 5 hawks that apparently live in the park area infront of the building. Didn't get to actually see them.

Here lies the stainglass windows.
All protected! 
10 elephants can stand on this... actually don't remember the number...
but ppl aren't allowed on.

I swear, I'm paying attention to what Sean's saying...
It's actually a gorgeous room to be in. I was taking it all in.

How official!
Just like our passes...

The fresh face of french translation!

He he he. Oh Sean! Looks like a fun place to work.

Haha!
Also the face of french translation!

 It was Monica! :0

I do want to try this cake tho...

Foot pedal!
For one's forward and rewind ease!

Translator's essentials
...

stress ball
almonds
earphones
dictionaries

and other stuff...

Let the countdown begin!



Satisfied tourists!


According to the cards, there are 13 monuments and statues surrounding the building. Could tell Alma wasn't exactly enthused about finding them so I didn't push it. We were so hungry by the end of our walk, it's hard to imagine how cranky we'd have been if we'd been delayed even longer.

I didn't mind looking for them... though, Sean didn't even know where all 13 monuments were. Soooo... yes...

My attempt in capturing 2 monuments... atleast I tried. 

The blue green evergreen on the right is where the hawks stay.

1. Leslie Dan Pharmacy Building (144 College St.)

Designed by Sir Norman Foster, it is part of Toronto's contemporary architectural renaissance. Enter it to view the cutting edge of architecture, taking note of the two "floating pods" (best viewed at night).

I think I imagined having been in here before. But once we did enter, I realized I hadn't. The building is where the old UofT greenhouse was. Think they just about finished building the building during our time at UofT??? When we were in Queen's Park on our tour, I whacked Alma on the arm (just incase I didn't say it Alma - sorry!) when I realized we could have done a library mission at the Pharmacy building! Well, if people were up to date on their homework.....

It's in the process of getting done.. now where did I put that book... 
(oh man... Mon is probably freaking out now) 

Sean commented on the effectiveness of metal mortar and pestles. Which I quite agree on. It gave me an excellent idea for a new Grade 10 chem question for single displacement reactions, and activity series..... geeze, I have to go back to work soon.

It's like choosing your own chalice when becoming a priest....

Cool pic Alma. I was taking a picture of the bottles but Alma took a similar picture so no use posting it.
Can you see the second reflection to the left of the prominent one? Kind of look creepy in that one?


Alright here is that pic I took. Looks like they're floating... or falling to their doom.
I like your version better. 


I haven't been able to figure out what exactly a kidney wort was believed to be.... it's also the name of a plant.... maybe the tables are made from them?



This one amused Sean cause it contains turpentine (!) and is supposed to be used for everything from sore throats to burns.


I thought this was amusing. Among legit, prestigious awards relating to academia in pharmacy theres a tug of war plaque.
to me, it makes perfect sense...




We wanted to enter one of the pods. The first one seemed to have an exam going on so, we didn't intrude. Supposedly you can feel it move a bit when you're inside.

 So we walk up the stairs to get to the next one but.....


....Alas! We're forbidden....

We were able to walk on top of the first pod - in the quiet study area for Pharmacy students only.

Really? Only Pharmacy Students?! 

To be a student again...

Pharmaceuticals makes them serious!

It is better at night...

and at this angle!
(is this my 'no time to stop, just take a picture'?)

3. Fallen Fire Fighter's Memorial

There sure are a lot of statues and memorials on this walk....

We all agreed this was a little creepy from the front

After viewing the memorial we do as the card orders us and begin walking down University Ave and enter the "Discovery District": the name refers to the medical research that takes place nearby. No kidding! First of all there are the UofT buildings just to the north including Med Sci,then there's the MARS center (which we will cover on another walk) and then all the hospitals: Princess Margret, Mount Sinai, Toronto General, Sick Kids, the old Women's College, and Victoria Hospital (which in all fairness doesn't function as a hospital anymore). Oh and Toronto Rehab. I'm sure I missed something.  God forbid anything bad happen to you, but if it does, you wanna be standing somewhere around here.

Mount Sinai to the left, Princess Margret to the right.
Don'tcha feel safe, right now?!

Just one wing of Toronto General.

"Hotel Sick Kids" - it's really nice inside and truly designed to make it a bit easier on the kids.
Don't think  I've ever been in there... but my cousin Mike a pharmacist there...
He actually went to school at U of T.

So along University Avenue from College Street to down about Adelaide there are landscaped medians with lots of statues and memorials and fountains. The cards only mention 3 of them but there are more and think it would have been nice if they did them all. (Makes sense... I mean, this walk is pretty short as it is, if you didn't take a tour inside Queen's Park) Alma even reserached one that she photographed on an earlier walk (5 points if you can name that walk!)

4. World War I Memorial 

Ever been geocaching? Well now Alma and I can officially say we have been. It had been on the to do list - I always figured we could do some during a walk but always forget about looking them up. Sean had found a cache here a while ago and so we try to find it again.

In here?!

Found it!

Fun!





Our found treasure!!

Scrawling our team name to the list!
(Mon, you look really nice here!)

Last time Sean was here there wasn't a sign in sheet. We're officially team "S.A.M. epic crew". I'm sensing a whole other blog!
There's a Team Teen Mom......
Sooo...
We're suppose to exchange the left item for another... but we decided to leave the coins for someone else. We did however leave a token for the others...
A bandaid! 
A new one! not used! For all those thrill seekers and paper cutters...

5. Airmen

The Oscar Newmon Sculpture.

Know who he is Alma? (I kind of just assume Alma knows about all painters and sculptures) Ummm... no... But now I want to look him up!

Oscar Nemon --> born in Austrai-Hungary. His dad was in pharmaceuticals and he did sculptures of several high profiled ppl, like the Queen! Nice way tie into our walk! (Think the card's knew this?!)
The sculpture below was his last major work... 

I don't think I've ever really noticed this before. It's actually quite nice. I like!

Can you see Alma and Sean's reflection?

6. Canada Life Building (330 University Ave.)

The building's dominant feature is the rooftop weather beacon. Intended as a mooring for airships, the beacon's lights show green for clear skies, red for rain, and white for snow, while lights running up or down it indicate a change in temperature.

Sean's response to me reading this out loud was "So it's not an urban legend!" As you can see from the picture below, it's white at the top which means snow..... huh? Okay, maybe that doesn't count cause the lights are running up and down meaning a change in temp - but when I was walking home later, the lights were running down but the top was red- meaning rain. Hmmm... didn't rain on me. Don't remember if it rained that night or the next day (I was deathly ill though, it may have.)

I remember on one of my first adventures downtown with my mom, she told me this and thinking that was the neatest thing ever. 

We kind of cheated on this one and didn't walk all the way down to the building. Hey we were hungry.




The pic was so dark, I had to play around with the contrast which is why its so grainy.

I'll admit... I ate more than my share of chips... 
(sshh.. we didn't get charged for these...)

We're trying to mimic Frida's expression. (I'm holding back the laughter)

kisses on the nose are the cutest

This picture makes me happy...
even if it's blurry.

Mon and I loved Sean's glasses... they seem to suit him very well!

Apparently they're just the frames!

MONICA'S RATING: Hmmm.... this was a tough one. I enjoyed Queen's Park and Pharm, and well the memorials were all good.... it's just the walk as a whole just lacks a bit. A little dry. I mean I had a great time cause of my awesome walking companions but there could have been more to the walk. I would have liked them to go through all the memorials as I mentioned before. And it would be nice to have actual interesting info about them. Pretty much nothing offered by the cards excpet that Oscar Nemon did Airmen. I'm going to give it a 3. Was going to go lower, but I did enjoy our 2 two tours of Ontario Parliment.
    3 unibrows ot of 5. 

Alma's Rating: I must admit, I was kind of distracted on this walk but being with Monica and Sean really made my day! Definitely needed a walk!
Like Mon...I think the walk from the cards alone was missing a lot of information, considering it was a short walk, we could've learned a lot! I mean... look at how many hospitals we passed by! However, I do appreciate being pointed toward the Oscar Nemon sculpture, since it really tied into the theme of the walk.
But I must say...
We definitely made this walk our own! With our own private tour of Queen's Park with Sean and also our first geo-cache adventure.... these small additions made this walk more interesting. Perhaps we are outgrowing the cards a bit with each walk that we take, but our enthusiasm in discovering our city is continually growing.
I give the walk on the cards a 2 and our walk a 3.25 out of 5.