Arctic Perspective: Canada House, London

Outside of the British Museum on bustling Trafalgar Square sits on innocuous, slightly smaller building called Canada House. Sitting there on the square, the first thing that draws a visitor's eye to the building are the Canadian flags flying on the rooftop. A sane person visiting any of the more popular destinations lining this historic square, in particular the Brit's museum and it's lovey Portrait Gallery or the corner behind it, will want a bit of respite. As travel bloggers, it is incumbent for us to tell you about the very special Canada House.
Our first trip to the British Museum, we were already tired. We walked in and walked out. Getting into the door was just too crowded. We had been two hours walking, but we loved the activity happening on the square outside. We sat there wondering what this exhibit and building were that was advertising "Arctic Perspective."

Arctic Perspective was a wonderful blend of indigenous Inuit artists, sculptures, printmaking, painters, and blends that with scientific research and engineering related to the future of Arctic Exploration. Its more important focus was that it highlighted the ecological, cultural, and geopolitical importance of the Arctic in the context of its indigenous cultures. It is a living project. It has an auspicious goal. It is something which can be documented and followed beyond its short tenure at this small London government institution of Canada. It aims to promote and sustain that which it exhibits and displays. Arctic Perspective is working in collaboration with the people pf Igloolik, Kinngait, Iqaluit, Mittmatalik, and Kanngigtugaapik in Nunavut, Canada and with other arctic communities, artists, architects on devising 'mobile media' and 'living units and infrastructure' portable buildings which can be used across the arctic for creative media production while being powered by renewable resources. It is a big project. It has teachable standards. The project will go on indefinitely as the Arts Catalyst seeks to provide a nurturing and sustainable home for part of Canada's national identity.


Canada House, Trafalgar Square, London
Canada House and other reasons to find places of respite and refuge in cities

When I first got my travel bug as a young adult I tried to find the end of the road and found several of them wound up in Alaska. To get there, we drove through Canada and learned about the ruggedness of the Arctic. It has always remained an important memory for me. Today we were two or three hours walking inside the big museum across the street from little Canada House. So, when our search for floor '0' ended in a wing with no connections to Michael Angelo, we exited back onto the street and popped out in front of the waving maple leaves and welcoming exposition signs.

There are other reasons to visit Canada House, it is a wonderful nicely decorated period building, you can get lots of information, you can arrange Visas; but, our favorite attribute which I am trying to embed deep enough within this blog not to overrun them with cheapskate backpackers - is that they have a lobby with really great computers which can be used to check internet and even print documents f_ee!!).

Scattered throughout downtown London and in its surrounds there are many such places of respite. We have passed Zimbabwe and Korea's welcoming centers and not gone in them. But, my guess, is like most of the cultural attractions and visitor centers around the world, not only will they have great inviting literature, but often they will have some exhibit or special introduction to their country.

London is of course filled with so many examples of where one turn down and underused alley or behind an ivy gate can bring you to lovely points of solace. All along the Thames are underutilized but much appreciated and cared for gardens where you are more likely to see street repairman having lunch or business types having a smoke, than see any roving bands of tourist groups or the like. Deacon's Square tucked behind the Westminster Abbey is the perfect place to quietly reflect on what the town might have sounded and acted like one or two hundred years previously.

Everywhere we go we continue to discover places which we want to share. Remembering to blog about them in time is hard for us. So we will have to come back soon, bog from the Americas and continue to refine our ever expanding interests in both going local and finding the hidden gems which are placed all around us.

Stay tuned, we cross England next to Scotland and then taste the Isle of Ireland before we fly across that big Atlantic pond back to our homelands.

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"After you travel around the world, Uncle Tetan, the only place left will be the BLAST OFF to outer space!"

My seven year old nephew Johnathan has the flu. And he is really worried about H1N1. I called him before we left New York for Tokyo to tell him about our trip; but, his focus was a miserable fever. "I went t the doctor's office and there were lots of sick people coughing, and I did not want to get H1N1," he told me. "I am so scared. I just want to blast off into outer space."

Seven year old Johnathan thinks a lot about going to outerspace, just like his dad Noah, my brother. Johnathan reminded me of a conversation I had with Noah when he was still in college, "I'll bet," he said tome, "that I can visit space in my lifetime."

Noah and Johnathan think about science a lot. Johnathan's Mother Sharyl is a stroke scientist and researcher. Dinner table conversation can flip between the icky, the scary, the far out, and the sublime.

I got my nephew back down to earth by offering him the most tantalizing elements of our flight to Asia. First, that we were flying around the world and that our first stops were going to be Japan and China. "Oh my god," Johnathan exclaimed, "You are going to Japan and China and you are traveling around the world," long pause while he gathered himself, "After you travel around the world, Uncle Tetan, the only place left will be the BLAST OFF to outer space!" Promptly he had returned us to the pressing subject at hand. So, I offered Johnathan another tantalizing tidbit of travel temptation, "And guess what else Johnathan," I asked, "when you fly to Japan you get to fly over the Arctic."

"Oh my GOD!!" Johnathan gasped, You are going to fly over the North Pole!"

'Thank goodness for National Geographic Young Explorer,' I thought. And thanks to Christmas stories of Santa Claus, Rudolph, Frosty and the gang - I had his full attention.

One of the best attributes of travel is we separate from the day-to-day, the hamster wheel, the mundane. We gain perspective on what is important to us; and, when we find a special place, we remark to ourselves who would love it,why,and we bring our loved ones and their memory with us. My other niece and nephew, Abigail and Isaiah, both under two, will not miss that their uncle has absconded with their brand new Aunt Brittany for lands and peoples across the planet. Johnathan, however, can place us on his globe.

When I was a child all my grandparents, aunts and uncles, had lived and traveled abroad. My parents met in Germany. My mother's father courted my grandmother on a long trans-atlantic passage (she could not escape). When my father's parents returned from Africa and points beyond, they always brought some cool gifts representing the cultures they'd visited. Travel is infectious. Meeting new friends, exploring new places, and bringing our loved one's memories along with us all make the world smaller, more reachable, easier to unscramble, and more sympathetic. Brittany and I hope our time away can plant seeds for future generations to want to see the world in new and innovative ways. While we are so excited for our trip - Johnathan's plan to escape H1N1 by blasting off to outer space reminded us how the farthest places to reach are often reachable.

Footnote for Johnathan - Planes are SO COOL these days. On our plane across the top of the world, traveling more than 6000 miles from New York City to Tokyo, Japan there is a camera underneath the nose of the cockpit beneath the front of the plane. It is called a 'bird's-eye view' camera. It never fogs, even when the temperature outside was 80 degrees BELOW ZERO!! This camera is really cool. It takes a video of everything you are flying over. Because it wass winter, a lot of thee time it was just cloud tops. But, guess what?!! When we flew over the Arctic Ocean it was clear for hours and we could see the whole frozen ocean and the massive ice flows of winter with all the big cracks in them 40,000 feet below our plane. Of course, when you are flying that high you can't make out any polar bears, arctic fox, caribou, or musk ox, but it was fun for us. We really wish you had been there with us!! Lots of love to our nephews and niece from people who have flown across the top of the WORLD!!

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