Mosaiculture 2

 

The growing displays in Gatineau were so stunning that I have to devote another blog to them .... culling from the 1000's of pictures we took that day.

 

But first here's a nice shot of our friends Lawrence and Sandy as we gathered outside the Lord Elgin for another day of hiking the fun streets of Ottawa and Gatineau.

 

Back in the Jacques Cartier Park in Gatineau we savored more of the carved and manicured shrubbery. The polar bear representing the northern territories of Canada is walking along the tundra.

And a couple of goofy puffins; one with a load of fish for his friend.

 

What display in Canada would ignore the national sport. In all of these displays there were speakers with the sounds relating to each particular display; this one had the roar of the crowd as team Canada scores a goal.

Because of the large Chinese population on the west coast their heritage was reflected in this display.

Then the huge grand piano with the accompanying music and living piano chair was awesome.

 

The finale being Mother Earth holding many animals in her grasp with all of the representative forces of nature and the animal kingdom ... wow! You can grasp the size of these displays by the size of the fascinated tourists.

After the stroll through the gardens we settled into a nice wine bar on the Rideau Canal at the National Art Center. As we chatted, I decided to get the "wine toast of the day" as I have done in the past.

And then every photographer's worst nightmare. I concentrated hard on getting the yacht across the canal in focus and in having the wine at just the right angle. Perfect shot ... oooops. I didn't notice the streaker until I got home later and started to enlarge the pictures to see what might be blog material. No one at the table saw the guy either, but we all had a laugh later!

This city and the area around it will remain at the top of our worldly most favorite places.