further non-chronological update
ok so today was pretty cool. went in to the city, walked from midtown to the bottom of manhattan via some cafe and shop stops etc. visited ground zero - nothing much to see apart from bumf about the new building etc, but pretty amazing to think that the two tallest buildings in NY were there and now they are just gone. took the free staten island ferry - just turned around and came straight back. got a good view of the statue of liberty and also of the manhattan skyline on the return journey. starting to like NY more now, especially around greenich village area - much more chilled out full of character than the hectic business district in midtown.
another highlight of the trip so far included drumheller - quirky town near calgary that is famous for dinosaurs. everything there is dinosaur themed and they have dinosaur statue thingies all over town - including "the world's largest dinosaur", which is a t-rex you can climb up and is 4 times actual size. the dinosaur madness owes to the large number of fossils found in the region (the most from the cretaceous period anywhere in the world - i think). we also went to the royal museum which was really cool and included more than 35 full dino skeletons. bet you didn't know that there is a dinosaur called the albertosaurus named after the province of alberta! its similar to the t-rex but smaller and more agile. also near drumheller are the hoodoos - strange rock formations that look like mushrooms. they form when softer rock/dirt gets eroded from beneath a hard rocky surface. pretty cool looking. also saw some smallish badlands and canyons - landscapes i have never really seen before.
of the three cities we visited in canada so far, winnipeg was the coolest followed by saskatoon and calgary. calgary was not bad, but really not blessed with any particular natural features and the whole city was tinged with an ugly 80s look owing no doubt to the 88 winter olympics. it is fairly close to the rockies though. saskatoon was a really cool little town. hometown of joni mitchell, niceish river, and pelicans at the weir. cute shopping area in the middle of town. main drawbacks are that it really is in the middle of nowhere and population is only 200,000 so its pretty small and would get a bit limited. winnipeg is also in the middle of nowhere but is big (population 600,000) and interesting enough to hold its own. some nice architecture and really cool old town area. of course all three cities would be frickin freezing in winter!
ok time for bed. central park and the met are on the agenda tomorrow...
another highlight of the trip so far included drumheller - quirky town near calgary that is famous for dinosaurs. everything there is dinosaur themed and they have dinosaur statue thingies all over town - including "the world's largest dinosaur", which is a t-rex you can climb up and is 4 times actual size. the dinosaur madness owes to the large number of fossils found in the region (the most from the cretaceous period anywhere in the world - i think). we also went to the royal museum which was really cool and included more than 35 full dino skeletons. bet you didn't know that there is a dinosaur called the albertosaurus named after the province of alberta! its similar to the t-rex but smaller and more agile. also near drumheller are the hoodoos - strange rock formations that look like mushrooms. they form when softer rock/dirt gets eroded from beneath a hard rocky surface. pretty cool looking. also saw some smallish badlands and canyons - landscapes i have never really seen before.
of the three cities we visited in canada so far, winnipeg was the coolest followed by saskatoon and calgary. calgary was not bad, but really not blessed with any particular natural features and the whole city was tinged with an ugly 80s look owing no doubt to the 88 winter olympics. it is fairly close to the rockies though. saskatoon was a really cool little town. hometown of joni mitchell, niceish river, and pelicans at the weir. cute shopping area in the middle of town. main drawbacks are that it really is in the middle of nowhere and population is only 200,000 so its pretty small and would get a bit limited. winnipeg is also in the middle of nowhere but is big (population 600,000) and interesting enough to hold its own. some nice architecture and really cool old town area. of course all three cities would be frickin freezing in winter!
ok time for bed. central park and the met are on the agenda tomorrow...
posted by Gordon Simpson at 9:39 PM
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