Provincial Fair - Day 3

Our Saturday began with a guided tour of the Legislative Building. We learned about the architect Francis Rattenbury, or Ratz for short, who designed the building (as well as the Vancouver Art Gallery) using many local materials, including Douglas Fir, Western Red Cedar and stones from the Sunshine Coast. Fun fact - the gold statue on top of the dome is Captain George Vancouver.

Gorgeous view of the Legislative Building.

We toured several rooms inside the building and learned about the symbolism in the Provincial Coat of Arms, including the fact that animals on the crest with their tongues sticking out symbolized power. We found it interesting that only heads of state could go through the special entrance, while heads of government had to go through the main entrance. That means that while President Obama could go through the special entrance as both head of state and government, Prime Minister Stephen Harper would have to go through the main entrance as Queen Elizabeth (or her appointed representative the Governor General or Lieutenant Governor) is Canada's head of state. 

Journalling on the steps of the Legislative Building.

Up next was a tour of the Royal BC Museum. We started with the feature exhibition, Gold Rush! El Dorado in B.C. where we saw amazing gold objects and got to use some fun interactives, including one that told you how much you were worth if you were completely gold!

Irene exploring the artefacts on display in the feature exhibition.

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the museum exhibits. Some of the highlights were hearing different First Nations language in the Living Languages and pretending we had gone back in time in Old Town in the Modern History Gallery. 

Posing in the Gold Rush Gallery of the Royal BC Museum.

Leaving the museum, we headed to eat a picnic lunch on the lawn of Government House before we began our tour. As the residence of the Lieutenant Governor, it was filled with all sorts of interesting pieces of history, including artwork from famous artists like Bill Reid, Susan Point and Lawrens Harris. 

Learning about the artwork during our tour of Government House.

After walking down to the Ross Bay Cemetery, we participated in several different activities led by the Old Cemetary Society. Our group started with a tour of some of the famous people buried in Ross Bay Cemetary, including James Douglas, Emily Carr, and Billy Barker. 

Next up was a lesson on how to record information on gravestones to make sure that there was a record should they get damaged or destroyed. We also did rubbings of symbols on the stones and tried to decipher them. 

Our last activity was cleaning gravestones. We had to spray them down first with water from the hose then scrubbed then down using brushes to help remove the build up of salt, dirt and tiny plants. It was fun to be able to see the difference we were making in preserving history - see our before and after shot below! 

Wesley recording information off of a gravestone.

Sahir cleaning a gravestone.

Before

After

After finishing up our activities at the cemetery, we headed down to Ross Bay for a beach BBQ. It was neat because we could see the Fisgard Lighthouse, where we were yesterday, off on the distance

Eating dinner at the beach.

Group photo by the ocean.

Out last activity of the day was a group swim at McKinnon Pool. Everyone really enjoyed cooling down in the water and playing with their friends.