This is the continuation of National flowers series that I started sometimes last year. I was too busy to continue posting remaining flowers. The countries are selected in alphabetical order and I have to continue after Canada.

China  -  doesn’t have an “official” national flower but tree peony (mudan) is considered national favorite.

Chile   -  Copihue, Lapageria Rosea

Colombia   -   Christmas orchid (Cattleya trianae)
Costa Rica   -    Guaria Morada (purple orchid)
Croatia   -  Iris Croatica (Hrvatska Perunika)
Cuba  -   Butterfly Jasmine (Mariposa)
Cyprus   -  Rose (Rosa)
Czech Republic  -   Rose (Rosa)

I will update this post later with photos of remaining flowers later.

The photo was taken at the Grouse Mountain in Vancouver BC. The unique architecture of the building and the cloud at that time looked as if the pointed roof is clearing the cloud high up in the sky.

National Flowers of Canada

The Leaf of Maple is an official symbol of Canada. The maple leaf was first used as a Canadian symbol in early 18th century and till now is depicted on its current and previous flags, the penny, and on the coat of arms.

Each provinces however have their own floral emblems (I don’t have knowledge about floral emblem of Nunavut). Floral emblems of Canadian provinces and territories are given below:

Alberta – Wild Rose

Wild rose was chosen the provincial flower of Alberta in 1930.

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What is your national flower – 3 – Canada

The Bahamas

The national flower of The Bahamas is the Yellow Elder (Tecoma stans)
The flowers have an odd but pleasing fragrance and also provide nectar for bees. The Indians made bows from its wood, and in Mexico a beer was prepared from its roots; it has also been used for a variety of medicines. Also known as: Yellow Bells, Hardy Yellow Trumpet, Trumpet-flower, Yellow Elder.

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What is your National Flower – 2

I am going to post a series of posts about National flowers (floral emblem) of different countries starting with countries with first letter A.

The National Flower of Albania

The floral emblem of Albania is the red and black poppy. The poppy can be found everywhere in this Mediterranean country, and are recognized for their beauty, medicinal value, and seeds.

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What is your National Flower -Albania, Argentina, Australia, and Austria

A government sponsored list of 101 things that most define Canada missed the most Canadian thing — aboriginals.

The list was commissioned by Citizenship and Immigration Canada and the Dominion Institute.

Number one in the list is the maple leaf followed by Vimy Ridge and Queen Elizabeth. The Canadian Flag made it to #4.

Over 2,000 Canadians as well as educators and Order of Canada recipients from coast to coast participated. The result is a ranked list of 101 people, places, symbols, events and innovations that respondents believe define our country.

Well, looks like none of the 2000 participants realized that the aboriginal Canadians were important enough to be included in the list. They have set up a site to to ask people “What is missing?” in which general public can cast a vote for #102. That was how aboriginal Canadians were voted 102. People also want Canada “Eh?” in the list. More recommendation are listed here.

Calgary Tower Peeking besides a Skyscraper

Original post

We went to see Calgary Tower last weekend and I am posting some photos and videos of the tower. Thanks to the clouds, we were not lucky enough to see the mountain but the view of the city and the virtually ‘stepping out into’ space on glass floor at a height of 525 ft. was simply amazing. One of my friend took a video (posted below) of the view from the glass floor which is new addition (added in June 2005) to the old tower.

View from the glass floor on the tower (video posted below)

The tower officially opened on June 30th, 1968. The 191 m (627 ft)tower is considered one of the first Towers of its kind, offering the best view of the City of Calgary. At the time of construction, it was the tallest building in Canada, although it was surpassed that same year by the Toronto-Dominion Centre in Toronto, prior to opening. (Don’t want to copy everything, you can visit wikipedia article on the tower for more information).

During 1988 Winter Olympic, the torch lighted on top of the tower made it the World’s Largest Olympic Torch. This and other facts about the tower can be found in the Official Site of Calgary Tower.

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Calgary Tower: Photos and Video

Mountain Goats are amazing climbers and we were lucky to see them in real when we went on our tour to Jasper. It might be the frequent encounters and people feeding them, they seem a bit more friendly to human. I am posting the small clip I took of them blocking the traffic on the highway.

If you are interested to learn more about them you can visit Jasper Journal website. I was busy taking the following video clip so I borrowed the above photo from the journal website :-;.

I took this video sometime back. It is sort of cute how the little squirrel is eating flower.