We loved the Canadian War Museum, and spent about 6 hours there. The special exhibit was the War of 1812, which was presented through four different perspectives: American, British, Canadian and Aboriginal. Excellent presentation - I learned so much, not only about this battle, but about what led up to it, and the major developments that followed for North America. There is also a very good Canadian government website about the War of 1812.
Canadian War Museum
The permanent exhibits in the War Museum relate to Canada's participation in wars and peace keeping missions from the Boehr War to the present day Afghanistan. One section of the memories of WWII caught my eye - a description of the Corvette ships that crossed the Atlantic Ocean back and forth escorting ships carrying supplies to Britain, which had been cut off from the rest of Nazi controlled Europe. My father served in the Royal Canadian Navy, and was on Corvette ships for most of the war. He told us how small they were, and how they bounced around on the Atlantic - no cruise ship stabilizers here! He received awards for helping to sink German submarines.
The next day we went to the National Gallery of Canada, a magnificent building.
View of Chateau Laurier from the National Gallery of Canada
The Vincent Van Gough exhibit was amazing - so many paintings to view. It was exhilarating to experience his passion for art. It was so inspirational to me, that I am taking an 11 week drawing/sketching class at the Kerrisdale CC this fall to see what I can learn about art.
The above picture is of gardens near the Chateau Laurier and the Parliament Buldings. I took this picture after I left the Van Gough Exhibit because I was struck by the similarity of this scene to some of Van Gough's paintings. I took the picture showing more of the landscape in the front, with a higher horizon line towards the back, similar to Van Gough's work.
Banners celebrating the Queen's Golden Jubilee
No comments:
Post a Comment