Thursday – June 28, 2012
Today we planned to go to two of our favorite Vancouver sights: The Nitobe Memorial Japanese Garden and the UBC Museum of Anthropology. They are both located near each other at the end of the Westside Vancouver peninsular on the University of British Columbia campus. We first went to the Nitobe Memorial Garden which is supposed to be the most authentic Japanese garden in North America.
Nitobe Memorial Garden
Reflection and Beauty
Harmony Bridge
Lantern
A short walk from the beautiful Nitobe Garden is the Museum of Anthropology which is affiliated with the University of British Columbia. This is one our favorite museums in the world! The building is a fabulous place to house and exhibit artifacts from people around the world. MOA also has the best collection of Northwest Coast First Nations art we have ever seen.
Totem Poles
First Peoples Screen – Crossroads
The Great Hall
Canoes & Poles
Entrance Gates
Bill Reid’s Raven and The First Man
The Museum of Anthropology also has more than 10,000 objects from people around the world on display in their new Multiversity Galleries. This is an amazing area! A visitor could spend many hours looking at treasures in this gallery.
African Percussion Instruments
There was a small sign under these drums which said, “Please Touch Gently” Each had its own unique sound when a visitor rapped on them. What fun!!
African Headdresses
Whimsical Owls
Pacific Northwestern Coast Baskets
First Peoples Masks
The mosaic below wass made of different kinds and colors of granite and was created by artist Susan Point to greet visitors at the Welcome Plaza. The Museum of Anthropology and the University of B.C. was built on traditional Musqueam land.
Mosaic at MOA
After we spent many delightful hours exploring the MOA, we left and went to dinner at a restaurant on West Broadway called “Go Fish”. We had tickets for a Bard On the Beach performance of The Taming of the Shrew. After a good dinner we drove to Vanier Park where the Shakespeare Company’s tents were set up for the summer season. It was a very good performance and we had a really good time. Vancouver twinkles at night and we drove back to the hotel after a full day.