A Steam Clock

There are very few steam clocks in the world and I had the opportunity to see one in Vancouver city in the British Columbia, Canada which is considered the world's first steam powered clock.

World's First Steam Clock, Vancouver 

I thought that it must have been made several centuries back by the looks of it but was surprised to find out that it has in fact  been built in 1977 by horologist Raymond Saunders. It is called Gastown Steam Clock because it is located in the Gastown district of Vancouver.

Gastown Steam Clock

Every quarter of an hour the clock sounds the Westminster chimes and a large whistle sounds every hour. It is good fun watching the clock and the steam emanating out of it. 

Totem Pole

Totem Poles are carved by the indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast in the North America. I was able to see several of them in British Columbia.

Knowledge Totem

Carved by the Master Carver Cicero August and his sons Darrel and Doug August of the Cowichan Tribes the Knowledge Totem stands on the premises of the British Columbia Parliament. The loon, fisherman, bone game player and frog represents lessons of the past and hope for the future.

A Gitxsan Totem Pole (left) & Kwakwa'wakw Pole In Thunderbird park in Victoria

The word totem means  - his kinship group. The totems are made of cedar wood. The totem poles may recount legends or are mortuary structures.

Eagle is a common motive in several Totems

Among the common motives of the totem stories are eagles, ravens, human beings and their children, bears, frogs, sharks and fish. Among birds that appear on totem poles, besides the eagles and ravens, are woodpeckers, hawks and several mythological birds. The highest in the rank is the Thunderbird. The Thunderbird Park in Victoria containing several totems is named after this bird. 

A Haida Totem Pole in Thunderbird Park, Victoria

A totem pole is normally made of a single piece of wood and could be higher than 40 feet. The highest ones are even above 40 meters high!

Totem with reflection

The traditional tribal styles of the totems are the Haida, Coast Salish, Nuxalk, Kwakiutl and the Tsimshian style. The Kwakiutl are very brightly painted whereas the Tsimshian are very simple. Haida style is mainly commemorative.

Totem Poles outside the Vancouver Airport

Each totem pole depicts a story but the totem poles are not objects of worship. As the totems are made of wood they decay with time so one would not find really old totems.

The Yosef Wosk Reflecting Pool

The Yosef Wosk Reflecting Pool gives the feeling of a much longer totem due to its reflection in the pool. The pool and the totem are located on the premises of Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

Mortuary Pole

In the Pole above the eagle is at the top then it is human mother with child/cub, then a grizzly bear with child/cub. Again these are very common motives on a totem pole. The ordering on the poles is significant (in all the totems and not only this one) from the fact that higher the figures on the pole more is the prestige. However, this is contentious as some say that the opposite is true i.e.the figures at the bottom are more important and that is why greater detail and care is given while carving them compared to the figures at the top.

Mortuary House Frontal Pole

In the photo above on the pole at the top are the watchmen, then raven/human with human/bird face on tail, then a bear with raven between its legs, then a frog like creature and finally the bear with frog in mouth, wolf between legs and cub between ears. Yes some of the totems could be very abstract!

Double Mortuary Pole

The Double Mortuary Pole in the above photo shows shark or a dogfish. Transformation of animals and birds into humans and sometimes from humans to animals or birds is a very common theme of the totem poles.

Several Totem Poles & Two Haida Houses

In earlier times a typical native village consisted of about 50 houses like the ones in the photo above each housing a dozen or so families. The house front poles normally depict the success of  families and therefore the bigger and better the poles higher was the status of the families.

Pit Houses of the Aboriginal Canadians

The aboriginal people of Canada specifically in the plateau region were semi-nomadic due to climatic conditions. Therefore their shelters were easy to construct and dismantle. They either lived in a pit house in winters or a Tipi or a Tule-mat lodge in summers.

Interior of a Pit House 

A Pit house could be 15 meters wide and is built below the ground in a 1-2 meter deep pit and could accommodate as many as 30 people. Well insulated by the sod and earth roof a pit house required only a small fire to warm its interiors. Most pit houses were built so that people could enter and exit through the smoke hole via the notched pole ladder (see the pole ladder in the photo above). Some groups used a side tunnel as a women's entrance and as an emergency exit.

The summer shelter was either in a Tipi or a Tule-mat lodge both of which were made above ground.

Pacific Spirit Regional Park

The Pacific Spirit Regional Park has over 54 kms of walking or hiking trails. The Park is located in the west of city of Vancouver, British Columbia on the shores of the Georgia Strait in the Pacific Ocean.

Mushrooms

The Park is on the University of British Columbia (also known as UBC locally) endowment land. The huge 763 hectare park is the largest in Vancouver.

Georgia Strait

If one does not have time to hit the mountains then it is a nice piece of wilderness within the city.

Park in Winters

One can decide to make ones own trail picking up one and leaving it in between and joining another.

One of the Trails

The Park is a heaven for bird and plant species.

Rejuvenation Cycle in Progress

The Park had several birch trees (photo below) the bark of which in the earlier Indian system was used as a paper for writing before the advent of the modern day paper.

Birch Tree or a Snake?

Inside the forested parts it does not feel cold whereas on the seaside the wind chill factor makes it very cold in winters. But then that is the best weather for jogging!

Wild Mushrooms on Rock

Some of the trees were deciduous while the other were evergreen. Within the Park there were several water channels.

Evergreen Forest

Wild flowers were in bloom even in winters. One could hear and see several birds as well.

Wild Flowers

There are choices of trails whether you want one with steep inclines or whether one prefers trails along the Pacific Ocean front.

Tall Trees

There are sections of the trails that are open to the dogs as well as for horse riding while there are others where only hiking or jogging is allowed.

The Pacific Spirit Regional Park Map

There is no entry fee to the park and one can enter from several points. One can spend either half a day or a full day exploring the various trails depending upon the time available and the energy left. 

Vancouver to Victoria by Ferry

For going to Victoria, capital of British Columbia, from Vancouver there are only two options  - either by air or by sea as Victoria is an island so I decided to take the ferry so that I am able to observe nature on the way.

Dawn on way to Tsawwassen

I started early in the morning from Vancouver and saw the dawn on the way to Tsawwassen. Tsawwassen Terminal, though known to be in Vancouver, is technically in the Delta municipality, south of Richmond and bordering the USA. The Fraser river borders its northern parts.

Tsawwassen Terminal, Vancouver

Because Tsawassen touches a shallow bank the ferry terminal is built at the end of a three kilometer long causeway that juts into the Strait of Georgia.

Cars waiting to board the Ferry at Tsawwassen

It is a huge terminal and the each ferry ship takes several hundred cars besides passengers. The cars in the que above are all waiting for the terminal to open so that they can board the ship.

BC Ferry Ship

The ferry ride from Tsawwassen terminal in Vancouver to Swartz Bay in Victoria covers 24 Nautical miles and takes 1 hour and 35 minutes by the BC Ferries. The first service starts at 7 AM and then there are services till 9 PM either every hour or two hours.

Sea Gull in Flight

During the whole ferry ride the Sea Gulls are your constant companion even when you far from the shore. Maybe they are looking at possibility of getting food from the ship.

Sea Gull getting a free ride!

Besides Sea Gulls and some other birds once can also see dolphins on this route of the ocean. Sometimes the dolphins accompany you for quite some distance and what a sight it is to see them jump high in the air above the water!

Emergency Rubber Boats

Every ship has several rubber boats in case of any emergency. It reminds you of the film Titanic. The anchor of the ship is massive.  It was thicker than a thigh as one can see in the photo above which has been taken from some distance.

Huge Anchors

I stayed very little inside the comforts of the ship and spent most of the time standing on the fore or after deck despite the fact that the winds that you face there are so strong and cold (in winters). Of course, one do have the option to watch from inside also through the glass panes but the feeling is not the same.

Beautiful Island Houses

During the whole journey one comes across several inhabited and uninhabited islands on the way to Victoria. I wished I could stay in one of these beautiful locations for some days.

Sun & Shade

All along the route the sun and clouds played hide and seek and the changing reflections in the ocean were beautiful. In the photo above the cylinders that you see in the bottom right hand corner are also boats that open up in case of emergency (about five to six on one stand - and there were several stands).

Swartz Bay

The photo above is of the Swartz Bay when I was returning from Victoria to Vancouver in the evening. Both the terminals have plenty of eating options as well as shops to buy souvenirs or other stuff.

Plenty of eating options on the Ferry

The BC Ferry ship itself also has various lounges for eating as well as shops to buy souvenirs, books etc. The interiors of the BC Ferry are nice and plush and warm. The lower floor is for parking of the cars etc and the upper two floors are for the passengers with nice comfortable seats and views.

Dusk on the Pacific Ocean

I returned back by another BC Ferry in the evening and was greeted by a beautiful dawn sky and the fading lights of first the Swartz Bay and then Victoria and sometimes later houses on the various islands on the way.

Queen Elizabeth Park

The Queen Elizabeth Park is among the most beautiful and well maintained parks in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Queen Elizabeth Park

The day I went there it was drizzling so there were few visitors and I had the park more or less to myself! The park is spread over over 130 acres and was so named in July 1940 after the visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1939.

Water fountain with Bloedel Conservatory 

The triodetic dome of the Bloedel conservatory is filled with exotic plants, flowers, fish and birds. The park is also famous for being the highest point in Vancouver at a height of above 500 ft above sea level!

Mallards

The two lakes in the park have several Mallards. They have gray body and chestnut brown breast. And as you can see in the photo their heads are green (in the males of the species which as is usual among the birds are more colorful then the females).Their legs and feet are orange in color.

Contrasting Colors

A tree inside the park

Red Berries

Canada is known to have all kinds of berries - be it the blueberry, strawberries, blackberries and the wild berries. 

Japanese Maple 

The park has several varieties of the ubiquitous maple tree. Of course the maple leaf is also the symbol on the national flag of Canada.

View of Park with Lake

A Fountain

As it was raining while I was trekking inside the park I saw that the rain water was forming this fountain.

Reflections in the second lake in the Park

A Stone Sculpture in the Park

Seasons in the Park

One has plenty of dining options within the Park and its restaurant Seasons in the Park is very famous.

Overall I enjoyed the trek inside the park and especially in the winter rains!