1001 Historic Sites You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc. "Pancho Villa's House"

They start in the Americas:

Place: Dawson City, Yukon Territory, Canada

Reason: Birthplace of the world-famous Klondike gold rush.

[image=http://www.cbc.ca/sevenwonders/images/pic_wonder_dawson_city_lg.jpg]

[image=http://findmycountry.ca/pictures/day16/dawson-105.jpg]

[image=http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g196/worldadventuretour/Picturemark037.jpg]

Wiki's summary of the Klondike Gold Rush

This was one of the most remote places on earth in 1896, when the rush began. It still is. The city itself is ye tacky tourist trap, but the scenery outside it is sublimely beautiful.

[image=http://image02.webshots.com/2/6/53/2/95465302coIrju_fs.jpg]

[image=http://gallery.photo.net/photo/6622442-lg.jpg]

[image=http://image03.webshots.com/3/3/80/17/18038017xhSABwfJjZ_fs.jpg]

 

Next:

Place: Banff Springs Hotel

Location: Banff, Canada

Architect: Bruce Price (USA)

Reason: Hotel in the Scottish baronial style

[image=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Banff_Springs_Hotel1.jpg]

[image=http://www.difmca.com/images/banff/112-Banff%20Springs%20Hotel%20fr%20Gondola%20-%20Tolson%20155.jpg]

[image=http://image.hospitalityonline.com/e/2074/2074162.jpg]

A typical 'chateau style' Canadian railway hotel--they built them along with the railways, for tourists. Still in operation, but bring C$900 (per night.) Banff is in the Rockies.

 

I've never stayed in it, but I've been there twice. Its very beautiful and definetly worth seeing.

 

Next:

Place: Fort Edmonton Park

Location: Edmonton, Canada

Architect: N/A

Reason: Historic trading post

First established in 1794 at the confluence of the Sturgeon and North Saskatchewan rivers as part of the western expansion of the Hudson's Bay Company (there is a similar recreation in Thunder Bay, Ontario, of the Norwestern Company...HBC's main competitor.)

[image=http://www.connect2edmonton.ca/images/snap/play/Visiting_Fort_Edmonton_Park_Medium.jpg]

[image=http://www.edmontoninfocenter.com/images/fortedmontonpark.jpg]

[image=http://www.westerntour.com/Edmonton/EFtEd-3m.jpg]

 

Next:

Place: Wanuskewin Heritage Park

Location: Saskatoon, Canada

Architect: N/A

Reason: Sacred site (First Nations)

[image=http://pro.corbis.com/images/DH010478.jpg?size=67&uid={609282DE-5743-4270-A237-BD41E8BE535D}]

[image=http://www.branimirphoto.ca/gallery/wanuskewin/images/wanuskewin_park.jpg]

Wanuskewin Heritage Park

 

Next:

Place: Royal Canadian Mounted Police Academy

Location: Regina, Canada

Architect: N/A

Reason: Training academy for the RCMP

The RCMP--cross between a ceremonial cavalry, national police force and the FBI, according to the book--has a training centre here which all recruits must attend for six months.

There is a 12 acre site, which includes a mess hall, chapel, drill hall, forensic lab, firearms complex, a 'town site' for policing enactments, gym, fitness centre, and a cemetery (where executed rebel leader Louis Riel is buried).

Wiki Summary

 

I've flipped through this book; been to maybe two places. Brother.

 

Next:

Place: Union Station

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Architect: Four architects

Circa: 1914-20

Reason: Beaux-Arts style railway station

[image=http://www.planetware.com/i/photo/union-station-toronto-cdn1203.jpg]

[image=http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2384/2044077285_917e55b8ff.jpg]

[image=http://solarider.org/my-pics/union-station-24-03-2006.jpg]

Union Station

 

Union station?? Seriously?? The most interesting thing there are the crazy homeless people who wander around muttering to themselves.

 

I absolutely don't know why the book included it. I once spent a thoroughly uncomfortable night on its benches, so I hate it.

 

Ah, Union Station. If I'm not going to a sports game then I'm going through there to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre for exams. Good times.

 

Next:

Place: Casa Loma

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Architect: Edward Lennox

Circa: 1914-20

Reason: "Majestic Kitsch Monument" (according to the book)

[image=http://galenfrysinger.name/eh70/loma09.jpg]

[image=http://www.ryandelaplante.com/rdelaplante/resource/blogpics/casaLoma1.jpg]

Casa Loma

Built in 1911, and costing a huge (for the time) $3.5 Million, this huge white elephant has been hulking in the Toronto scene ever since. I don't agree it's kitsch; it's in proper style, and worth seeing.

 

Next:

Place: Parliament Buildings

Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Architect: Edward Lennox

Circa: 1914-20

Reason: Canada's historic seat of government

Ottawa was chosen as the capital of the country in 1858 (by Queen Victoria) because it was the farthest city from the American border (the Yanks had burned down Canada's previous capital), and it was on the border of Ontario and Quebec (then referred to as Upper and Lower Canada--as upper and lower on the St. Lawrence). Gothic revival in style. Generally known in Canada as Parliament Hill.

[image=http://www.pc.gc.ca/culture/proj/rec/Photos/RNH-ROH09-01.jpg]

It's a bit heavy in style, but having seen pictures of Brasilia, it could be much worse. The Gothic library is a real gem:

[image=http://pro.corbis.com/images/42-19689377.jpg?size=67&uid={D548B5FD-595F-4ADB-8620-5978CB610F21}]

[image=http://www.cbc.ca/sevenwonders/images/pic_wonder_library_of_parliament_lg.jpg]

 

Union Station in Toronto is one of the few places in the book I've been too; figures it would be the one everyone disagrees with. I was . . . well, busy trying not to get completely lost while I was there, so I didn't exactly get any historical ambience, but it is a beautiful facade.

I was planning to get to Casa Loma while I was in Toronto, but I'm afraid I didn't.

 

Next:

Place: Hotel-Dieu de Montreal

Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Architect: Guillaume Bailly

Circa: 1645

Reason: One of the oldest hospitals in North America, and the site of many important medical advances, including the first kidney removal and the first femur transplant.

[image=http://imtl.org/image/big/hotel_dieux_montreal_2.jpg]

 

Next:

Place: Chateau Ramezay

Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Architect: Not Known

Circa: 1705

Reason: Last standing home of a French governor

Later also used as the residence of the British governors, then as a school, college, law courts, and a museum.

[image=http://www.vieux.montreal.qc.ca/tour/etape2/images/02_p08a.jpg]

 

Place: La Citadelle

Location: Quebec City, Quebec, Canada

Architect: Saint-Leger-Vauban

Circa: 1693-1812

Reason: British fort (still working)

[image=http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/1015/50249305.JPG]

[image=http://www.gearthhacks.com/showimage.php?image=new/080505/57294911537.jpg]

 

Place: Green Gables House

Location: Cavenish, Prince Edward Island, Canada

Architect: None

Circa: 1850

Reason: Putative original of "Green Gables"

[image=http://www.fritchman.com/images/Anne%20of%20Green%20Gables1.jpg]

[image=http://www.hickerphoto.com/data/media/7/house-of-green-gables_19222.jpg]

"Anne of Green Gables" was written in 1907 by Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874-1942), and is still popular (particularly in Japan). This isn't the home Montgomery lived in when she was young; that one was torn down by a relative when he inherited it. This one belonged to other relatives. Typical mid-18th-century Maritimes farmhouse.

 

Place: L'Anse aux Meadows

Location: Newfoundland, Canada

Architect: None

Circa: 11th Century

Reason: The only authetic Viking settlement in the Americas

[image=http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/Sect6/l-27anse-aux-meadows.jpg]

[image=http://www.cichw.net/sea2005/bothi1.JPG]

 

It's on the Northern peninsula of Newfoundland, so it's not too easy to get to. They estimate it was occupied for three years at least.

 

Newfoundland is actually well-worth seeing, but it's sort of like Iceland...hard to get to.

[image=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/L%27Anse_aux_Meadows_map.png]

[image=http://transcanadahighway.com/images/Newfoundland-Map.jpg]

Cornerbrook is probably the closest airport, but I'm guessing they must have emergency services of some type for the Northern Peninsula. The Rock (its Canadian nickname; the Island is Prince Edward Island) used to be served by a railway...the infamous Newfie Bullet...but the short-sighted bureaucrats discontinued it.


EDIT: I'm wrong; St. Anthony has an airport...just 45 minutes away.

Wiki on L'Anse aux Meadows

They don't think it is Vinland; probably just a relay station...

 

Place: Signal Hill

Location: St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada

Architect: None

Circa: 1704 and on

Reason: Historic lookout where the first transatlantic wireless signal was received

[image=http://gallery.photo.net/photo/5663597-lg.jpg]

[image=http://brigus.physics.mun.ca/zedel/marconi/cns.jpg]

From 1704, flag signals were flown from the summit to inform St. John's of approaching friendly or hostile ships. The tower was built in 1898-1900, and here Guglielmo Marchoni received rako signals--the letter 's' in Morse code--transmitted long distance on December 12, 1901, by electromagnetic waves from Poldu, Cornwall, 2155 miles (3,468 km) away.

 

Next: Moving on from Canada to the US of A

Place: Klondike Gold Rush Historical Park

Location: Skagway, Alaska, and Seattle, Washington

Architect: N/A

Reason: Park preserving the routes of the gold prospectors

[image=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/klgo/adhi/map1.jpg]

[image=http://pics4.city-data.com/cpicv/vfiles19683.jpg]