Today I bring to you another blog about my Canada adventures, in today’s blog I show you my adventures in scouting the city streets of Calgary.
Being quite a relaxing day in general I decided to explore some of the city as opposed to my usual nature escapes. I woke up early and set off to the city centre, I decided to stroll around the city a little before heading to the infamous Calgary museum, which was the main attraction for the day.

I couldn’t get over how spacious and clean the city centre was, having some experience living in different cities, this one was so different in so many ways. I could keep going on about the size comparison of everything in regards to U.K for example… but I think I outlined it pretty well in my previous blogs hehe

I strolled around the streets looking for a place to fuel up before the museum, and finally I found a café worthy of a try. I ordered a toastie and an amazing frappe which got me buzzing just before entering the museum.
Being a bit of an art freak, and getting inspired by so many different factors including history, I was excited to explore the depths of the museum and what it has to offer. I also was deeply looking forward to the photography exhibition which was being shown there this month as well…. So I rushed inside as soon as I finished my toastie….*priorities first hehe

I entered through the museum door, purchased my tickets and rushed straight into an exhibition section, I was so so excited- and here is why:
Geraldine Moodie was one of the first professional woman photographer in Canada, she opened studios in Battleford, Saskatchewan in 1891, Maple Creek in 1897 and Medicine Hat in Alberta, in 1897. She was born in Toronto in 1854 andshe married Douglas Moodie in England in 1878.
‘’Living in rural Canada at the turn of the twentieth century, she found herself living in a world of male dominance and a lack of women with notable social status. Despite this adversity, she was far more successful and influential than her metropolitan counterpart’’

The exhibition was evolved around the work of her and her husband on one of the arctic voyages. Geraldine would often travel with her husband with his work of the Mounted Police and capture the adventures along the way. Her husband became interested in photography also as a means of documenting his police work. He got an opportunity to go an Artic expedition along Hudson Bay, where his wife was determined to join also. The couple documented their travels with touching photographs of Inuit people and the drastic changes and challenges they had to face as foreigners were profiting from their land.

The couple had very different photographic styles. Douglas’s photos consisted mostly of landscape work, with good composition and amazing technical prospects. Geraldine focused more on people, creativity and story behind the photos which resulted in more emotive shots. I like how the couple complemented as a whole despite their different approaches and that they would spend their evenings together developing photos, planning new shots and preparing slide shows for public displays.

Geraldine took most of her images with a hand held camera, allowing snaps of raw emotion and variety of angles, she was very passionate about her profession, which was clear all throughout the exhibition displays.
Her and her husbands work was outstanding in my eyes, despite the difficult conditions they were facing. She was always facing challenges within her profession, which would result in experimentation and failures, but she carried on being persistent until she achieved what she set out for. Her persistence and passion is truly admirable and definitely shows within her work, it’s a big inspiration to me. I was mesmerized by the selection of shots displayed, each one of them being an artwork in itself. I took great time reading, watching and reflecting upon their pieces…. Fully immersing myself into their world. Maybe one day I shall go on a voyage like that….. it would have been magical, too bad I hate boats though hehe

I could go on, annotating each single image in depth (in fact, I did for my own keepsake). But I shall spare you from reading the lengthy novel and will get into exploring the museum.

I moved on after that truly inspiring exhibition and was suddenly hit with loads of pristine paintings showing the culture and beauty of Canada. Each piece was characteristic, and each style stood out amongst the variety of artists displayed. I was staring at each painting, imagining myself in their world. But the time started running short…. Yes, already. I was so mesmerized by the contents of the museum, if I carried on like this I would of missed majority of it! So it was time to move on again.

I moved onto the Asian History part of the museum. I’ve always been fascinated by the wonders of this part of the world. The rich culture with strong beliefs, saturated with all sorts of art pieces in plenty of forms. Majority of the contents included a Buddhist sculpture, lit in a very balanced and peaceful manner, with a bench available if one needed some self- reflection.

Another part which stood out to me was the Chinese masks used for theatre displays. And then there were loads and loads of statues of different variety from different countries. They were in wood, in stone…. So so many. Each of them represented a strong idea, a myth, a story, a worship… you name it. I found each of them unique and fascinating. The detail in some was stunning, again- I got caught up ignoring time and observing these beauties.

I carried on the museum corridors and was met by more history from different parts of the world, there was an entire room dedicated to African history, with artwork, objects, masks and even video documentaries. Walking past all these wonders I instantly realised that it was foolish of me to assume, that one day trip was enough to really see all of the museum.

Another favorite part of the museum was dedicated to Native Americans, where the first time in my life actually… despite visiting so many museums… I was exposed to the genuine objects from them. I suppose living on the other side of the world, the western/ native American concept is somewhat treated like a hollywood movie more than a part of genuine history.

(hand painted teepee)

As a kid I watched movies and documentaries on Native American history a lot, I even had my own teepee tent and of course, wore bird feathers in my plated hair. That inner child excitement kicked in when I saw the outfits, accessories and original artwork painted on the genuine teepee. AHHH…. I also learned so many new facts about the Natives in Canada. It was wonderful.

The next part of the museum was presenting war wear, in different parts of the world- including series of weapons which were so interesting to examine. I’m a bit of a geek …okay…. I find history fascinating.
Fastforward to my next favorite part, was more of the western goodies. Outfits, trains, bits and pieces showing the way of life back in those days. Everything was so captivating, I took many photos. But I’m trying to restrict myself from sharing too much or writing a novel.

The best advice I could give is to go there if there’s a chance, it’s really worth it and you will experience a lot of joy and excitement seeing a bunch of things that I decided to not involve in this blog….
I do have to outline the last stop however, as if I wasn’t rushing already before the close time…. I stalled again when I saw a photography section of the western Canadian part of the museum…. My inner photography geek lights started flashing… there was no turning around now.

I faced a wall of photos and I wasn’t planning to leave until I examined each and every one of them. And ohhh… there were so many amazing and stunning ones…. The photos were an absolute thrill but what grasped my attention, was what I would call ‘’an early day photoshop’’. It’s a device used to edit photos - it’s called the ‘’Retouching Machine’’ by Van Built Manufacturing. It’s a light box which was used when re-touching film or glass plate negatives. This explained the photo’s stunning aesthetic, and incredible detail. What a thrill.

Next on the stop….. was the remains of the museum which I literally sprinted through trying to see as much as possible before I got kicked out by security. He was actually such a nice guy… seeing my enthusiasm he gave me extra 5 minutes…. Why can’t everyone be as nice as Canadians? *says in a sobbing voice
I snapped the remains of photos… without much context as I had no time to read anything in the room. But despite my wonder-procrastination, I’d say I’ve done quite well as I’ve managed to see majority of the museum, having missed only one floor.

I waved the museum goodbye, went outside to breathe fresh air again and give my brain some oxygen after reading and in-taking so much information and then sprinting as if I was on a marathon….
I thought I could get back to normality after that intense trip …. But no….. Canada had other plans for me…. I was to remain on cloud nine being in complete awe and excitement. I heard a bell tune roam around me, and as I looked up to check the source of the sound.. there it was. The mighty Calgary tower, with the sun behind it, giving it some sort of an aura effect. I kept looking at it, listening to the tune, not believing my eyes…. Am I crazy, or is this utterly beautiful ?

It was obvious, this tower was calling to me…. So next destination stop was set in stone, although I have a slight fear of elevators and heights, I rushed into Calgary tower, and went all the way to the top to admire the city landscape, stretching vastly. I was a little scared to walk on top of the see-through glass part of it… and thanks to my amazing company- I made a fool out of myself screaming as they pushed me onto it, while I was trying to step on it slowly. Yep. People laughed. My misery was this hilarious hehe

I sat down and felt a bit dizzy looking down seeing the road and cars pass by, it was surreal, I’ve never experienced anything like this before…. Glass floor at a tall tower was a first for me. I enjoyed this experience though, and the more I looked around, the more I got used to it. I still was careful walking on it though…. Don’t wanna tempt fate hehe
Seeing the city in it’s glory, and even rockies stretching amongst the horizon was a wonderful experience and really gave an idea of the scale of the place. It was so pretty.

I was so run down at this point from all the excitement that it was time to sit down and re-energise. So I went one floor below me, to the 360 restaurant, which was a first for me also. It’s a restaurant with the same amazing views… only it slowly rotates at a 360 angle, so I could drink my coffee and slowly watching the view change without doing anything.

That. Was. Amazing. I couldn’t afford any of the food they had there, but the re-fillable coffee was more than enough to re-energise my body and mind. It felt really fancy, the entire place and drinking coffee while watching the rotating view definitely woke me up enough for the rest of the day.

##I hope you enjoyed this blog, as always thank you for reading!

Cheers,

Marta x