By Well as most of you know I broke my arm on the last night before we were to fly back to Canada. So that made things interesting. Not being able to work has given me plenty of time and freedom to visit old friends around Ontario. This allowed me to be an observer for a while longer and take in the sights of my familiar Canadian countryside. As always I am looking predominately at buildings, allowing my renewed interest in architecture to guide my eyes across intersecting planes, proportions, and ornamental details. But now I have a problem. Europe has spoiled me. A land so old and so full of history that the manifestations of European culture in art, architecture, and literature, have literally chronicled the advancement of humanity and civilization. When you reach a certain elevation on a mountain the foothills fade into obscurity. And now back in Canada the urban landscape is tasteless and unimpressive before my enlightened eyes (and less dramatic).
A beautiful sight has never seemed so foul, but now I have begun to change my opinion. Europe has inspired me and I have the advantage. An unspoiled landscape, a fresh canvass. Untouched raw materials that I am determined to spoil with my own selfish ambition. What I have before me is what early settlers saw when they sailed to Canada, a new start, an opportunity to create a new civilization, to carve their own version of humanity out of fresh marble. I will follow in their footsteps, I will take this land and raw materials and a new vision to create something beautiful and build up Canada’s architectural heritage. So the plan goes…
I may blame Europe for ruining Canada for me, and I may have lost a little pride in my home country, but what I have lost there, I have gained in oportunity. Traveling through Europe, and what seemed to be time, has given me the academic background and experiential lessons to explore the possibilities of my future. Amen.