Today at around 5pm, I set off to go to London’s famed Springbank Park, only to be thrown off by Google Maps which said that it closed at 6pm. Wary of taking an hour-long bus ride to a park that was possibly not open, I decided instead to take a leisurely walk along the North Thames River. The journey started at the campus of the University of Western Ontario.
After crossing the North Thames River, I arrived in Gibbons Park, an expansive and beautifully green park with tennis courts, a splash pad, and a bike trail running through it that leads all the way downtown.
Unfortunately for me, legions of mosquito warriors were lying in wait in this park this evening. Every second I spent with my camera to my eye was a second that I lost to mosquitoes taking a sip out of my neck, arms, and legs. My eyes and my skin were in a constant battle over convincing me whether this was heaven or hell.
After leaving the park, I followed the bike path towards downtown and discovered this gem, Blackfriars Bridge. Apparently, it’s the oldest wrought iron bridge in North America to be used for vehicular traffic. It’s currently under extensive renovations so it might not be open again for some time. Seriously though, does everything in this city have to be named after something in London, England?
My journey continues at River Forks Park where there are several plaques that explain the history of this city. This set of branching rivers that I walked along today were originally called the Askunessippi by the local Ojibwa, which aptly meant “the antlered river”. However, in 1793, John Graves Simcoe, the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, thought it fit to rename the river patriotically after the Thames in London. Creativity much.
David Lam Photography 