Navy Days

I usually tune in to the news while I'm driving and last week I heard of a display in The Military Museum, called Navy Days. I guess it was a sort of anniversary or something that they displayed Navy items in the museum. I called The Chef and he agreed to accompany me although I later regretted inviting him! The Chef is a nice guy but a pure idiot but that's not the subject of this post!

We were there around 14:00 I guess and as soon as we parked and walked toward the building I saw a gentleman in uniform and asked him about the display. We were looking at a T-72 on the grounds of the museum and he encouraged us to go inside and see the displays. He was very talkative and nice. He asked us were we were from and I said that he said he know a lot of history about Persian Empire. After a few minutes of talking when I told him that I had an application with the Navy he went silent! I think he didn't like the fact that a foreigner and a non-Caucasian might become a member of the Royal Canadian Navy! I wonder how he would have felt, had I told him I would enroll into as an officer! 

I learnt during this display that Canada once had an aircraft career. It was decommissioned in 1970. This airplane, an F2H was part of that career fleet and now on display in the Military Museums. It's called the Last Punch!

Anyways we went our tour by looking around different items. The place was not crowded just a few people. The rest were veterans and a few seemed to be the current crew. The place although small but had so many small items to display, many of them which I had never seen before. There were also very nice items for silent auction including a set of 3-piece German Nazi porcelain from 1939 and 1945. Unfortunately being out of work for more than a year didn't allow me to bid for any and The Chef is clueless of anything. He was looking at everything with lots of shock(!) and would whistle as a sign of wonder! I had to tell him to be quiet, quite often! 

We spent around one hour in there and it was good. As the guy said it in the beginning you would need longer hours and maybe even more than a day to see and read everything in detail. 

(Photo, top: This Churchill's quote sounded very interesting to me! Although Germans efforts to cut the line of supply to Britain was eventually unsuccessful, as seen partially in Das Boot, but caused indisputable  harms to the Allies fleet. This mannequin portraits a German submarine or as they call it themselves Das Boot captain which again reminds me of the wonderful movie of Das Boot)

Germany Trip (1): Munich Residenz: Incredible and Magnificent

I'm so tired now. I spent almost 6 hours in Munich Residenz today. The day before I saw BMW Welt, a free exhibition and Olympic Park where the 1972 Summer Olympic took place. I have to get ready for tomorrow that I'm going to Bertchesgaden, some 2.5 hours in south-eastern Bavaria. I will have to wake up at 06:00 AM and I've set the clock for that. I will post everything with necessary detail later.

(Photo: One of the many entrances to Munchen Residenz, a sort of palace for aristocrats of Bavaria in early 17th. More detail will be posted later)

The Military Museums

I was told by The Lady the other day that one of her friends had asked her to babysit her kid this weekend and she had accepted. She then started looking on the web to see what would be available this weekend to do so we would not have to spend the whole day at home and the kid becomes annoying and restless. 

Apparently The Military Museums would have open house and summer skirmish. So when the kid was dropped at our place in the morning, we did not waste any time. We went to a McDonald's for a little breakfast and headed to the museum. I guess we are among the very first people in there. They were making themselves ready and all the exhibits were available to the viewers by donation only. I slipped a brand new $10 but I guess the guy didn't like my joke when I said the Prime Minister's portrait was on it! 

We spend most of the morning until around 12:00 over there. There was simulated fights, which as actually called skirmish, by different people portraying old time fellas such as Vikings and other and it was quite nice. A group also simulated a little battle between the Allies and Axis forces which was really nice. They used blank rounds with actual sound of machine guns and rifles and looked so real and cool. 

Food truck were there too. So it was a food fun as well. I saw three but we were not that hungry. It is good that they make jobs and create customers for local businesses. Inside the museum was also open to the visitors and people were sitting behind the tables with information and draws. I really don't like draws as they look like gambling for me and I don't like to really on chance if I'm getting anything but I didn't say that to the people. There was a ticket selling for Westjet and the tickets were $10 or something they would want to use the money to expand the museum and put airplanes in there but I had already donated and was short on cash. Generally organizations like that really upon donations and volunteers in Canada and I don't have any problem with volunteering but I don't believe they will ever need a foreigner there! 

Anyways we viewed a bit of the inside exhibits and left the rest for another time because the kid was with us and he had no interest, of course, in those stuff unlike most of the young boys.

The exhibits are nice and organized and all the information is available. They have different section for WWI, WWII, Korean War, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Afghanistan of course but I guess a good 2 hours or more is required to go through everything and the admission is reasonable. 

(Photo: People are demonstrating Vikings' fighting skills. In this one they are using the shields as a combined defensive devise for the entire group. The two people at the sides are the counter-attack soldiers. While the group is resisting and defending, the two can freely attack and protect the group as well)

The Areospace Museum

We visited the Aerospace Museum of Calgary today. It has been a long time that I wanted to do it. I have always been a fan of flying, planes and spacecrafts although I never liked flying in a passenger plane! When I finished high school for awhile I had this plan to join the air force but then shortly after I realised that it was not the place for me. Today I should be thankful that I never got in. I wouldn't be here otherwise. F. F. once suggested to go and learn to flight. It sounds a bit scary to me now. With the news of this small planes crashing at least once a month, I don't think it would be a good idea to do that. There is one air strip at the west side of Calgary when driving eastbound, I guess before getting to Callaway Park. I have seen small planes going up but I still think it's dangerous to do that. We'll see. 

Anyways we went there and there was this gentleman, an old guy in his late 60s, I would say, a volunteer, who joined us and took us step by step. His hearing was really good and I was surprised by his vast knowledge. He told us that he had join the Air Force some 30 years ago. He was not a pilot but a technical guy because he knew everything, may be almost everything about plane engines. 

I thought that he might have been participated in the WWII but he said he was only 13 when the war ended or may be 13 when the war started! He was too young to participate. And when he talked about the Korean War I though he would say that he participated but he could only be 5 to 7 years older and still not old enough. The museum is small and does not have much to offer but for a small city like Calgary, it is enough. Poor lighting prevented us from to have a good photo of a few of the models. As well the limited space didn't let me to have nice photos of the planes but that's OK. I guess they could use a better arrangement but then the cost to provide light and heat would go up. One thing which caught my eye was a ejecting seat and that immediately reminded me of that scene in the movie story of Francis Gary Powers. 

The museum also has a gift shop like all the other museums in Canada and if you are a fan you can get nice things with reasonable prices. I have always been a fan of pins so I got myself a few nice ones including one for the abandoned project of CF-105 Arrow which requires another post. While we were there we saw the staff moving a few tables in and then the old gentleman told us that people would have their wedding here, something that surprised me a bit. Overall it was not something significant but I should have expected more. The admission is reasonable and although the website says you would require 2 hours to see everything, we finished it in 1 hour in total. There was a couple of guys who came in when we were going to the second hanger and when we finished it they left. It might not be very interesting to many but by just paying a few more I got a year membership so if I have another chance, I will go for another visit with the hope that I can take better photos. 

(Photo: Avro Lancaster is the most famous British plane, participated in the WWII. The bomb crew sits in the nose and I guess checks everything before realising them. There should be someone to operate the machine gun above him and then the pilot in little further back. According to the information available on the net, a Lancaster had between 7 and 8 crew on every mission!)

Glenbow Museum

We went to Glenbow Museum today. That was my second time. The first time I went with Mom back in 2004. The main entrance and gift shop has been changed. I am fine with the main entrance but the gift shop has been pushed sort of back and is not in your way when getting in and out. So might not be very good for their business. When I was there in the first time the entrance was from the gift shop or very close to it so you had the opportunity to see what's available.

Anyways the sections for Asian and African history, as well as Aboriginals, Mining and War and war was the same. I guess the only part changed was the History of Albertathat I realized changes in it. I think different items were displayed but still good. There were also paintings which were nice. We started at about 12:20 and finished at around 16:30 but got too tired and I missed the photography of the War section because I ran out of battery on my camera! But I spent very good time in Asian history which is the best as well as the aboriginals. I might go again for the third time and this time I will start from the 4th floor and come down and will make sure that I finish the War section completely and then I will spend whatever left on the rest.

(Photo: Artist has tried to give the reader how the creatures of the sea looked like 375 million years ago! According to the geological studies Alberta was a big sea on that time period called Devonian and creatures like these used to live in it. This is shown in the museum and looks like a terrarium)

Museum of Anthropology

We wanted to visit a museum last week to just try something new and also get some knowledge(!) so we decided to go to Museum of Vancouver first, yesterday but soon realized that is closed on Mon. then picked the Museum of Anthropology at UBC.

It was raining dogs and cats when we were on Marine Dr. but couldn't find the damn place for about 45 min.! Eventually got there at about 14:50 hours or something around that. So if you're planning to go there make sure that your there at least 4 hours prior to closure because that's the amount of time you will need to see everything and enjoy, not like 1 hour that stupid Chinese girl at the counter told us. Then you can simply park at the right hand side of Marine Dr. just a few min. walk from the Museum not like us who parked at Rose Garden parking and paid $7 for the parking. You need a good camera as photography is allowed inside and outdoor and flash and tripod would be necessary.

The Museum of Anthropology is basically about the Aboriginal people of British Columbia and then has displays for European ceramics from 15th century and some African and Pacific nations as well. I've seen National Museum of Denmark, Glenbow Museum, Museum of Cologne, National Museum of Iran and bunch more and every and each has something different. So does this. Go, spend time, learn and enjoy!

(Photo: A Micronesian armour displayed at the museum. To me looks like that the people from that set of islands in Pacific either never had very advanced weapons of there were not much violence goin' on!)

Trip Coverage, Story 7: The Queen's Palace and Sculpture Museum

This story covers what happens in a Tue. of last Jan., the 22nd day of that month. I didn’t know where to go in that day. Actually I wanted to go to some place (I can’t recall where at the moment) so I was just walking the street when I encountered a kind of old big building with sculptures all around it. I walked in and asked an old man what that building was. He told me that it was a sculpture museum. I got a ticket (for only 50 DKK as far as I remember) and got in. There were too many things to see, mostly sculptures and tombstones from ancient Greece, Roman Empire and Egypt. The museum was not too crowded just a bunch of school kids and a few old Danish couples and me! I spent a considerable amount of time in there until receiving a call from Pejman on Ane’s PDA which had been lent to me. He told me that he would take me to the Queen’s Palace. I was there in a few minutes right before the guard gets changed.
First of all, the streets ending to the square were blocked by police or politi as it’s said in Danish. A few of them were walking around and watching the tourists who surprisingly were not a few. I took out both my regular and digital camera and unluckily both of them got problem! My regular old Kyocera camera was kind of frozen! The shutter didn’t work! And the digital one was out of battery! I did take a few photos and a short clip of the Queen’s guard but then decided to leave the square because the ceremony was long and I didn’t see any reason to stay while I was not capable of doing photography. I walked away and bought 2 couples of Danish AA size battery for the camera and returned to the museum because my ticket was valid for the day. There are too many things to discover in there and I ran out of fuel soon. But it was a good experience studying Greek, Egyptian and Roman history.

(Photo: This is one the two favourite Egyptian gods of mine, Anubis or Jackal-headed god. People in ancient Egypt used to worship this god because they believe he had embalming powers. The other one is Amun who might be the topic of a post later, at least I hope. Egypt and his rich history has been always my interest, especially after I finished the book about the Egyptian physician when I was a 12th grader! The book is called The Egyptian and it's about a royal physician called Sinuheh. I read that a few more times and finally bought it. Egypt is where I'm planning to go with FF if everything goes well and she agrees. I took this photo in sculpture museum. The piece is obviously found in Egypt and has a long history of thousands of years hidden in it. I prefer that to any other photo taken there!)

Trip Coverage, Story 5: Erotic Museum and The Royal Copenhagen

The first day in Copenhagen which I was on my own, Mon. Jan.21, I went to the tourist information today and told the lady over there that I wanted to see the aquarium beside the other attractions in the city centre. She told me that it’s a bit far from the most-seen parts of Copenhagen. It’s funny that I’ve living in B. C. for more than 8 months and never been to Vancouver Aquarium once and wanted to see the Copenhagen’s! So I decided not to go and spend most of my day around. The information lady gave me an illustrated map which spots important buildings of the city, shops, restaurants, attractions, museums, etc. What caught my eye was Erotic Museum in one of the walking streets in Downtown! Downtown in European cities, at least the two ones I spent more than a week in them, Cologne (Köln) and Copenhagen, doesn’t look like a typical Downtown in North America. In a city like Calgary or Toronto you see all the skyscrapers gathered in a few streets located in the centre of the city. You don’t see such a thing in Europe; you actually don’t see many high rises in the cities. European cities are mostly old but beautiful, attractive and historic but at times you see tall buildings, mostly luxury hotels or offices scattered all around the city.
Anyhow I followed the map and found myself in Erotic Museum. I paid 110 DKK as admission! Some $22 Canadian! I was the only one who was visiting the museum at the time! Honestly who the hell in Copenhagen, the city of most beautiful women, spend 110 DKK to see a few posters, sculptures and dildos?! I didn’t know what to expect but whatever was there was not much attractive. As I mentioned, it was all sexual biography of famous people, for instance Adolf Hitler, Carl Marx, world records, sex in nations’ history, photos, and history of pornography and so on. That might not sound so attractive to most of people but it’s OK to me. I once wanted to see the one in New York, now I’ve seen the Danish one first and may see the other one when I go to see Alfa this summer.
Then I was walking in that street till I got to Royal Copenhagen. This super luxury store is a direct seller of a very famous manufacturer of porcelain in Denmark with a great history. The prices are so high that I didn’t even buy the apron I wanted, the cheapest good in the store, probably for almost €25! A. J. had told me that I should do my shopping in Europe and he’s right in a way. But I was out of money! In fact I wanted to have some traveller’s cheque with me but stupid A. J. kept me at job until the morning I flew.
Where were we? I spent almost one hour in there. The main floor is store, so the basement is but in the basement a bit cheaper stuff are sold. The second floor is exhibition. There was a young lady who was doing hand painting. Unless most Danish women who are really pretty and indispensable(!) she was just below average. She told me that the training for this job takes some 4 and a half year! And honestly her work was excellent. Such an amazing work is also be done by Isfahani artists in Iran but no one pays such an extravagant amount of money for their art. The reason is art not admired as it should be Iran. The infrastructure of life is not based properly so not many people appreciate art, literature and so on.
I took a few photos, saw the other parts of the museum, talked to the other women and left the store eventually, without spending money.

(Photo: This single hand-painted plate is priced DKK 12000 which is almost $ 2400!)

Roman-Germanic Museum of Cologne

We spent a few valuable hours in the Roman-Germanic Museum yesterday. As Cologne (or in German, Koln) is a city which used to be inhabited by Romans, its culture roots to the Romans. There are thousands of pieces shown in the museum. Most of them tagged with the street address of where it has been dag out in the city!
I still was a little tired of the yesterday’s exercise in the gym so after that we went to a McCafe which is a cafe in a McDonald’s restaurant and that’s the only place which you can get a good cup of coffee in this city, and relaxed for a few minutes. You can find Starbucks and other chain restaurants here as well as other coffee shops but the coffee is either not good or very expensive.
I tried to make the girls understand what I want but finally my coffee was served with whipped cream on the top instead of cream in it! Not to mention that a tall coffee costs €2.5! At least it’s edible.
Then we had a little window-shopping and walking around, Cyrus’s favourite hobbies(!) and did night photography. We crossed Rhine over the main train bridge – which its German title is so difficult to pronounce and write – walking along the riverside and then crossed back over a vehicle bridge.
There’s one neighbourhood alongside the river which is a kind of entertainment centre with bars, pubs, restaurants and cafes. We stopped for an ice cream and that was our final stop.

(Photo: City of Koln in 300 to 400 years AD, taken from a painting in the museum)

Our Way of Enjoying Canada Day Weekend

I didn't go to any of Canada Day's celebration in the city but in the afternoon I called Ali G. and we meet in a Second Cup for a chess game. I totally destroyed him in the first game then we had a break and decided to watch War of the Worlds. As a result of that I resigned the second game and we went to Famous Players in Shawnessy. We were late and had to sit in the 3rd or 4th row! That's so close to the screen and you have to turn your head continuously and hold it up while you see the dots on it! After a few min. I told Ali G. (That was his fault. Moron!) to go up and we did, sat on the stairs! The movie is good, in terms of cinematography, special effects and sound but I'd say average in performance. We both didn't get the last and the most important part of the movie: What happened to the machines? They were broken down and crashed. Also they hunt people, suck their blood out and spray it all over. What was that for? I may watch the movie again. After that we go to Tony Roma's for our dinner. Ali G. usually takes me to fancy restaurants and the bastard pays a lot as tip! The food was good (I ordered pork rib) but as I was not very hungry as a result of no physical activity on that day I didn't enjoy a lot as I usu. do from eating.
After dinner I kind of urged him to go to downtown to see what was going on in there. We tried a few bars and finally settled down in the Yardhouse for a few drinks. Then headed toward where he parked (11th Ave.) and found a bar where live music was going on but we were late and it was almost finished. So we left for home.
The next day (Sat.) we went to Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller. That was my second time and his first. I went by myself in Sep. 2003 but this time the road was really beautiful. We also stopped in Horseshoe Canyon in our way to Drumheller. It's beautiful and reminds you of Mars when it's occupied by human being and it's atmosphere is breathable! (Remember Total Recall and also remember Aliens where there's a big machine for that purpose in the planet)
(Photo: Edmontonia, the dinosaur which used to roam around Edmonton millions of year ago and has its name from that northern city of Alberta. I took the photo in the museum)

Where The World Meets The West

I took Mom to Glenbow museum today. Glenbow is the most important museum of Calgary and one of the most important ones across Canada as that's where the world meets the West. I was going to the museum last winter when we had stat. holiday but I was lazy and didn't.
We entered the museum from the gift shop. Great stuff and of course most of them expensive. Things you can't find anywhere else. The museum, itself, has 5 floors. The main floor is administration, gift shop and theatre. The second floor was prepared for two American artists, painters and I'd say sculpture artists. All about Cowboys and Indians (native Americans). There's also one department for Asian art and most of them are sculpture from India, Japan, Tibet, and other countries in Asia. Gods and Goddesses including Buddha and Shiva. Iran of course is not an Asian country in North American point of view! They know it as a Middle-Eastern country! There was a big map on the wall. The map shows that Asia begins from Pakistan and Afghanistan in the west and ends to Japan in the east! In fact an Asian is an Oriental in North American view.
Anyways the 3rd floor is about native people and the first people who migrated to Canada more than 100 years ago. How they lived, What they used, etc. Also there were everything that Indians (native people from different tribes) used to use in their daily life. From canoes and kaiak to different customs, their language, locations, dishes, everything. It was very interesting but there were too many things to see and I was tired. Mom was fine and liked it very much. The first agricultural and oil industry were another part of this section of museum.
4th floor was departed to 3 major section: Western African, minerals and military. We passed through the first 2 parts quickly but spent more time on military. One thing that I found there very interesting was a Persian armour. Every part of the armour was named in Persian and of course in English and was translated.
As I said, because of my tiredness we returned to the main floor and Mom bought a very cute beaver doll from the shop and we left.
I promised me to go there and see, photograph and read more. There are many things to learn. The admission is $12 for each but I used a coupon to get a %15 off of one of them. I found the coupon in Avis, last summer when I rented a car to go to Royal Tyrrell.
(Photo: This photo taken in the museum shows probably a horse accessory shop. Where saddle, spur and other stuff is being sold and repairs and services are provided)

The Royal Tyrrell Museum

The first thing is I went to The Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller on Aug.31. I rented a Chrysler Sebring and drove all the way to the museum. Although that's a very comfortable and reliable car but the road made me very tired. It was all wheat farm in the way and nothing else. Highway number 2 was very busy till Airdrie but when I turned right to highway 72, it was very quiet. After highway 72 there is highway 9 which takes you to Drumheller. It's a town with all facilities and services like any other town in Canada.
Actually after High River, Canmore and Banff, this is the forth Canadian town I've been to. I've never been to a city but Calgary so far.
The Royal Tyrrell Museum is 10 min. driving from the town. A very large and fantastic building. It was busy as that was the last long weekend of summer. Many families were there with their kids. It's a very good place for kids to learn about dinosaurs and their life. There is something like a remote control of electric appliances that can be rented from the information desk. When you are in front of the cabinets which is specified with a number and a symbol of a headphone, you can use that number and the tool explain the thing to you. I didn't get one but it was available.
The museum is very interesting and there are too many things to see and read. And you can take many photos. As I started late (By the time I got to the museum it was 03:00 PM, I guess, I get tired and left the museum while passed many things. I would like to see it again. May be next year with Mom and Farzin.
(Photo: One of the many interesting pieces in Royal Tyrrell. A dinosaur embryo in an egg)