Canada’s Northern House

Today’s excursion started out at the Canadian Mint Pavilion right across the street from my office. I headed out on my lunch hour to see all the monies only to be turned away at the door by a very civil security guard who informed us all that “We’re not open until Friday.” He was kind enough not to point out the big sign that said the same thing out front that I had just walked right past. It may also surprise you to know I was not the only one who missed the sign. So, I put the money display on my schedule for next week and headed up around the corner to 602 Hastings Street to visit Canada’s Northern House. It’s the pavilion showcasing art and culture from the coldest part of our country – The Northern part of the White North. Now that’s cold.

The art displayed included paintings, beaded works, leather work, crafts and sculptures by people from Nunavut and Northwest Territories.

I love this sculpture of the old woman playing string games – her wrinkly face and the hood of her park. At one time, the Inuit played the string games with sinew. Oof.

Another cool thing about this pavilion? The taxidermy. I know. Stuffed animals are a bit disturbing, however, they have been preserved and are treated with care and respect. Here they are:

This was a lunch hour well spent. Really, if you are interested in crafts at all, it’s a good place to visit. The downstairs exhibit is where you can find the embroidery and other crafty items.

As the week goes on, there are more and more of these display areas opening. We stopped by Harbour Centre to see if German House was ready to go. Nope, not yet. It’s still under construction. And tomorrow is the grand opening of the W2 Media Centre (it’s a social media hub so bloggers and others can meet up, use the internets and hang out) so I plan to drop in there if I can fit it into my schedule. There is just SO MUCH TO DO!

One other change I noticed today? The Skytrain announcements have been changed to include all the names of Canada’s Hockey House and other Winter Games names. And the “traffic control” of the passengers for the trains have also been put up – short, red fences to guide pedestrians on where to walk and where to wait. And there’s plenty of people with all their luggage getting off the Skytrain from the airport as well.

And just as a few commentors mentioned in the last post, the general feeling of “Oh my God. What a pain. I can’t stand all this construction and hassle of this upcoming event” has turned into, “Wow! The Games! They’re here! I’m excited!” Many people I’ve talked to feel this way about the Games now, so that’s a nice change. Mind you, there are a few who are not happy, but I’ve run into more people who are happy and looking forward to the next few weeks.

Tagged as: Canada's Northern House, pavilions, The Winter Games, tnmh, Vancouver 2010, Winter Sports