Venice -a City of Canals and Bridges

Venice is an elegant older lady, full of charm and majestic architecture, with canals instead of streets and more than 400 bridges.

She is a romantic city... where you can get a gondola ride just for the joy of it!

Some even get a singer with accompaniment!  We enjoyed their music when they passed by... and it was great while it lasted.

The first picture and this one are our friends from Alberta.... 12 of us enjoyed a ride together in two gondolas. Above left to right is Barry and Gail Grabo, Byron and Joyce Grabo...amd Shirley.

Most of the bridges in Venice are masonry. 

Academy Bridge as seen from Peggy Guggenheim Museum (1854)

Some are wooden.  

Rialto Bridge opened 1591

Some are large.

And some are small..

But all have steps.  

And all are arched to accommodate boat passage under.

This is not a bicycle friendly place.

We were surprised to learn that it is illegal to ride a bicycle in Venice.  In fact you will get a fine if you are caught riding a bike here.  These bikes stayed parked in the foyer of our hotel until the guests left.

Venice is an island, divided in two by the Grand Canal... with only four bridges over it. 

This is the newest bridge over the Grand Canal.

On our way to board the Royal Carribbean cruise ship our vaporetto (water bus) went under this amazing bridge... unlike any other in this ancient city. This bridge is new... only five years old.

Immediately I was impressed by it's design.  Good design is not an accident.

I was clicking photos like crazy as we passed under it.

I resolved to come back when we returned after the cruise to take more pictures of the bridge and to walk over and enjoy it.  I love creative engineering!

There was a lot of controversy about this bridge before the design was approved.  There was resistance to do anything modern or contemporary in a city steeped in history.

Notice how you can see daylight thru the steps.

The bridge was opened September 11, 2008 and named Ponte della Constituzione.

But the locals and tourists call it the Calatrava Bridge after the famous Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. Please click on this link to see exceptional photos of his world class portfolio of projects.

Every effort was made to integrate traditional materials into the construction.  The deck is paved in Istrian stone and the steps have a gentle rise that decreases as you ascend.

The glass panels are translucent so it isn't scary to walk over it.

The parapets are solid glass and the brass handrail seems to just float above.

At the ends of the handrails where they meet the abutments the architect left his subtle stamp with the crest of the Knights of Calatrava.

This pod for handicapped people was no doubt added to satisfy the complainers.

It has not yet been completed and the project has significantly exceeded the 6.7 million dollar budget... so who knows if or when it will get done.

Calatrava is well known for creating bridges inspired by nature and this bridge is no exception.

"Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature.  
It will never fail you." 
-Frank Lloyd Wright

What do you think?

Did they do the right thing here?

Do you like the bridge?

I came upon this link which shows some photos taken during construction... like floating the prefab sections on a barge down the river at night.  And cranes putting sections of the bridge into place.  I like construction projects so found this website most interesting.

Look at some the links and share your thoughts.

Head Smashed-In Buffalo Jump

We always enjoy the time we get to spend at this UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Every trip here I learn something new.  This time I learned how this site got its name.

Legend has it that in the 1800's a young brave wanted to witness the plunge of buffalo as his people drove them to their deaths over the cliffs.  Standing under the shelter of a ledge, he watched the great beasts fall past him.

The hunt was unusually good that day.  As the bodies mounted, he became trapped between the animals and cliff.  When his people came to do the butchering, they found him with his skull crushed by the weight of the buffalo carcasses.

Thus they named the site "Head Smashed-In."  You can hardly detect the building, designed right over the cliffs into the hillside, designed by architect Robert La blonde.  We met Mr. La blonde in the late 1990's... he flew out to Kelowna to try to sell us his services for the Cove Resort project.

In his portfolio Robert showed us his award winning design of Head Smashed-In Buffalo Jump.  That was the first we had heard of this place.  This six level facility follows up the hillside and is built right over the archaeological dig site, the cliffs... everything.  Absolutely incredible piece of work.

We could get right up close to this excavation and see the bones buried over hundreds of years ago.

Our tour inside the facility began in a theatre with a 15-minute movie of a buffalo hunt where the beasts were herded towards the cliffs where they stampeded to their death.

We then ascended to the sixth level where we could walk out onto the top of the cliffs...

Piles of rock held branches behind which the natives hid to scare the buffalo and make them stampede.

As I was walking back into the Interpretative Centre we could see the hillside where the buffalo were funnelled towards the cliffs.  For a moment I thought I could see a buffalo in the distance... but it was just  the neighbour's cattle.

It was quite amazing how this facility was designed into the hill and they captured the feeling in actual scale with real stuffed buffalos.

Numerous exhibits tell the story of the Blackfoot, how they utilized the buffalo, wasting very little.

Architectural details included custom made carpet with buffalos.  Pretty cool!

“All architecture is shelter, all great architecture is the design of space that contains, cuddles, exalts, or stimulates the persons in that space.” -Phillip Johnson

As a bonus there was a temporary exhibit of 16 Legend Paintings done by students at Outreach Central in Fort McLeod.  Guidance was provided by a First Nations youth worker and an artist in residence.

Vibrant colours and strong images portray legends that are centuries old.  Space does not permit showing them all... but these kids did some awesome pieces of art.  Both Shirley and I really liked their show.

We arrived here at Head Smashed-In after 3 PM and basically had the place to our selves... until a couple of school groups from Calgary arrived and breezed thru the place.

From the Buffalo Jump site we could see these wind generators in the distance. What  a glorious afternoon.

Heading back to Calgary it was fascinating to watch the clouds... it had been snowing and raining all around us to the north.  We left Calgary in a snow shower... and now it was breaking up.

I was amazed to see two of these huge Case crawlers rolling down the highway at 50 mph pulling a cultivator with liquid fertilizer tank... looks like it can cover 36-40 feet in a single pass.  Things have changed a lot since my days on the farm.