Posts tagged Trinidad

The Year in Review 2011

January 3, 2012 · Filed under garden visits, history, Random Thoughts · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Another  year has come and gone, where does the time go!

January

Yet another idea for my garden, it would be a lovely reminder of my time in Barbados!

February

Bumped up my country count with a quick trip to Trinidad.

March

Oooh, maybe this would be a better reminder of my time in Barbados.

April

I arrive back in Canada, just in time for the snowdrops, yay!

May

I finally get to visit Brian Bixleys garden, after wanting to for many years.

June

The trees in the Lime Walk get their first prune.

July

Visited Hunte’s Gardens, an amazing place in Barbados.

August

Saw my first Kadooment Day parade, and vowed to start exercising when I saw the size of the costumes.

September

The hydrangea (free leftovers from Easter sales), finally started bulking up in the Lime Walk and looking like something.

October

Visited another amazing garden while I was home in the autumn. Keppel Croft is located close to Kilbourne Grove.

November

My SIL came for a visit and we tried zip lining, what an adrenalin rush.

December

Christmas on the island, what a glorious feeling.

Interested in what happened last year? You can read about it here.

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The Magnificent Seven

March 3, 2011 · Filed under Travel · Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Perhaps you could fill me in, why do you want to live in a new house? I know they are (practically) maintenance free, but in my (oh so humble opinion) they lack soul. Ian and I are both in love with old houses. They have so much character. They are all individual, (just like people), everyone has something unique about them. The building materials are more luxurious, real wood floors, instead of laminate, plaster walls instead of drywall.  There my mini rant is over.

On my tourist map of Port Of Spain in Trinidad, there was something labeled the Magnificent Seven. As I continued my walk around Queens Park Savannah, a huge building appeared on the horizon. It was the first of the seven, Queen’s Royal college. 

 Built in 1902 in the German Renaissance style, it cost 15,000 pounds to build.

 It is the leading secondary school for boys in Trinidad.

Beside it is Hayes court which was built to be the residence of the Anglian Bishop.

It was named after Bishop Thomas Hayes when is was built in 1904, but he died before the building was completed.

Number 3 is called Millefleur (great name for a garden blog).

It was built in 1904 in French Provincial style. In 1979 the government of Trinidad and Tobago purchased it for $1,000,000, to be used as offices for the National Security council.

However it is not occupied and certainly not maintained. Such a shame,

look at the gorgeous iron fretwork.

At Number 4, is another French style house also built in 1904. On the map it is labeled Rumor, but when I researched it on line, it was called Roomor.

 The name comes from combining names of the owners, Roodal (who bought it in 1940) and the present day owners (Morgan).

It is still a private home.

The Archbishop’s Residence is number 5.

It is of Indian style, built in 1903 for the 5th Archbishop of Port of Spain. It is the official residence of the Roman catholic archbishop.

White Hall is the Prime Ministers office.

 Built of coral stone in 1904 and refered to as Moorish Mediterranean style,

 it is now closed for renovations. This was my favourite,

it reminds me of the houses near where I lived in Holland Park.

As is number 7, Stollymeyer’s Castle.

This house was patterned after a wing of Balmoral when it was built in 1904.  The owners wife Mrs. Stollmeyer found the house a bit busy, and gave it to her son and new daughter in law when they were married. The new bride called it Killarney, but in 1940, when the US Forces were using it as a base, they began to refer to it as a castle.

It is now part of the Prime Ministers offices, and undergoing renovations. They had the property all boarded up at street level

so I was only able to get a photo of the top.

Looks like the very early 1900’s were a very busy time in Port of Spain.  Can you imagine what it must have looked like with all of these houses being built at approx the same time?

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TNT

February 28, 2011 · Filed under Travel · Tagged

Sorry if I haven’t been commenting on your blogs lately, (although I have been having computer and internet problems), but I have been away. Ian had a business meeting in Trinidad and I decided to go with him.

We actually have a diary where we keep track of all the countries we have visited since we have been married, so we were happy to add Trinidad and Tobago to the list. Not that I made it to Tobago, we were only there a few days, and Ian was working anyway. Well someone has to keep me in the lifestyle to which I am rapidly becoming accustomed to, lol.

We stayed at the Hyatt in Port of Spain,

what a great hotel. It had a very cool shower in the middle of the room, dividing the bathroom from the bedroom.

A sand blasted panel on the glass gave you a bit of privacy if you are shy.

The pool area was beautiful as well,

I want one of these beds.

They were so cozy for curling up on.

We were only there two days, so one of them I went on a walking tour of the downtown. I left the hotel and started down Independence Square, although I do not know why they all it that, it was a road with a median in the middle not a square.

And look what I found.

The Cathedral of Immaculate Conception was a gorgeous landmark on Independence Square.

I could not stop taking pictures of it,

but I won’t bore you with too many.

I then headed up Frederick Street, a main shopping street downtown, and reached Memorial Park.

What a beautiful obelisk in the middle of the park,

 and not a single person in the whole park. Was I the only crazy person out, walking around in the heat?

So I decided to take a break at the National Museum and Art Gallery.

Some very interesting exhibits about Trinidad’s history. And I cooled down.

Walking along Queen’s Park at the edge of Queen’s Park Savannah, locals call this the world’s biggest roundabout. I admired the mountains in the distance, they are such a beautiful backdrop.

At this point I was getting tired (and hungry),  I wanted to hit one last sight, but I will tell you about it in my next post.

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