Day 3 London ON

 Tuesday June 2022 - London ON

Click here for Day 1

Middlesex Courthouse

Day 2

Day 3

Whistling Gardens cactus

Weekly recap including meals

Murals - Covent Garden Market lane

Coffee

Murals - Covent Garden Market interior

Murals - Old East Village

We checked out of the hotel and took the car to breakfast on Talbot St. just down from the market. 

Old East Village - I would have liked to explore this part of town that they are trying to regentrify.

If you look closely, some of Old East Village’s most iconic artworks are actually mosaics made up of thousands of brightly coloured ceramic pieces. The following ceramic mosaics can be seen in OEV: The Canada 150 Mosaic on the side of London Clay Art Centre, Wayfinding Mosaics at Marshall Street and Elizabeth Street and Gateway Mosaics on several concrete barriers around the neighbourhood. Known as legacy pieces, these large-scale, longstanding works of art will represent Old East Village for years to come.

This is at Marshall St.

Under the stewardship of Diabetes Canada, Banting House National Historic Site of Canada creates public awareness and understanding of the national historic significance of Sir Frederick Banting and preserves the commemorative integrity of Banting House, the birthplace of insulin, for the benefit of the people of Canada.

The museum celebrates not only a great Canadian discovery, but the life and career of Sir Frederick Grant Banting (1891-1941). Come celebrate the most important Canadian medical discovery of the twentieth century and experience the life of the man you thought you knew.

Banting lived at the house in London for ten months, beginning in June, 1920. He attempted a private medical practice and when it was unsuccessful, he began working at the University of Western Ontario; his research for a lecture there was what inspired his 25 word idea that provided the key to discovering insulin, and prevented the certain death of those affected by diabetes. Banting returned to the University of Toronto to begin his research on insulin in the spring of 1921.

Click here to read more about Banting in Toronto and his Nobel Prize.

Adjacent to the museum is Sir Frederick G. Banting Square, a garden with several information plaques, and three main attractions. Two of the attractions, a full-sized sculpture of Banting writing his life-altering idea down, and the Flame of Hope, were unveiled by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. The Flame of Hope, symbolizing the hope for a final cure for diabetes, was kindled by Her Majesty during her visit. The third attraction is the globe sculpture, which was added more recently in 2010. It represents Canada's gift to the world, and embraces Banting House's visitors from abroad, with the names of every country listed on it.

One of the Gateway mosaics mentioned above.

We had spotted the wood carvings when we arrived in London but didn't stop. We left the same way, however the sun was high in the sky and it was impossible to capture them as we drove. This would be a great walking tour.

The Tree Trunk Tour is a co-operative partnership involving Tourism London, the City of London, STIHL Canada and most recently, the Hamilton Road Business Association. The brainchild of the Woodfield Community Association, the first five carvings were completed with community support and fundraising activities in the Woodfield Community Association.

Recognizing the 'walking tour' potential of tree carvings as public art, Tourism London became involved and with the support of STIHL Canada and the City of London, developed tree carvings within the Woodfield Community Association boundaries. Recently, the Tree Trunk Tour has been expanded along Hamilton Road with the addition of fifteen carvings.

Time to head back to Toronto but we made one more stop. On the way here I had seen an Attractions sign on the highway at Brantford for Whistling Gardens. I had never heard of this and I am an avid garden visitor. 

Whistling Gardens is one of Ontario’s premier horticultural gardens. Since 2012, we have garnered regional, provincial, national and international awards and are home to North America’s largest peony collection, North America’s largest conifer collection and one of Canada’s largest computer run fountain shows. Stroll and explore over 20 acres of gardens displaying over 4,500 different plants including the rarest tree in the world; the Baishan Fir.

Well, it is peony season...

The Fountains
The water theatre at Whistling Gardens was inspired by Andre Le Notre’s 1634 design at the Palace of Versailles. It has over 100 water jets on 3 – 90 foot staircases and the stage floor.
Music is specially written for the fountain program. Owner, Darren Heimbecker works with state-of-the-art digital technology in his home studio to do most of the creative writing, editing, mixing and mastering. The latest in computer technology runs the fountain program.
Whistling Gardens incorporated Canada’s first computerized fountain pumps into its existing program in the fall of 2020. They are directly controlled from a computer without piping of any kind. Whistling Gardens owner Darren Heimbecker composes the music and choreographs the fountains’ shows.