Tennis Walk

Arnie's 17 minute Walk to the Lakeshore Tennis Club.

Almost every weekday morning, from May to October, I play tennis in Wascana Park. The beautiful walk from the apartment is through the park and takes 17 minutes -- 25 minutes to return because it is uphill (uphill in Regina, you've got to be kidding!).

(Click to see the larger picture. To return, click on your browser's BACK button.)

My walk starts by crossing College Avenue into Wascana Park.

Wascana Park is the world's largest urban park in the centre of a city! In case you don't believe me here are some statistics:

Wascana - 2300 acres
San Diego's Balboa Park - 1,400 acres
Vancouver's Stanley park - 1,000 acres
Central Park, New York - 843 acres

A few steps into my walk and you can see the Legislature which is just in front of the Tennis Club.

We are now five minutes into the walk. Most walkers are faster than I am.

This is not our apartment house; it is for Purple Martens. They are voracious killers of mosquitoes.

This is one of the gas lights from London's Hyde Park. Regina has been fortunate to have a connection with Queen Victoria. When changes were made in London's parks we obtained many of the original artifacts. These lights are from Speaker's Corner in Hyde park. Another area has a fountain from Trafalgar Square. Regina was to be named Victoria but some idiot civil servant gave the name to British Columbia. Queen Victoria personally asked that we name the city Regina after her. We also named our two major streets, Victoria and Albert to honour her and her husband, Albert.

Another Hyde Park gas light.

If you glance left from Speaker's Corner you can see a better view of the Legislature.

Gas light and the 'Ledge' across Wascana Lake.

The first look at 'The Bridge' over Wascana Creek. It is the longest bridge in the world (850 feet) over the shortest span of water (50 feet).

Turning on to Albert Street we start on the bridge. Floreat Regina is Latin for 'Let Regina Flourish'.

It is decorated with Buffalo sculptures and fantastic balustrades.

I guess Queen Victoria put up some money.

The real name is the Albert Memorial Bridge. It's on Albert Street so I guess that makes sense. It was built during The Great Depression as a make-work project for some 2,000 men. They also dug out Wascana Lake. I wish I could say the Wascana Lake is the largest man-made lake in the world, but I won't.

Now our walk takes us to the other side of the lake. From here you can see that the bridge is really a dam. It has an opening near the North end to help regulate the water level. A little known fact is the presence of a "fish ladder."

This shows that the Legislature is 'One Way' to the right but it has been 'left' most of the time in the past 50 years.

Our walk takes us past the World War 1 Memorial where all the names of the soldiers who died are inscribed.

The Lakeshore Tennis Club is right behind the Ledge. It originally was The Civil Service Tennis Club and was started in 1913.

It is one of the most beautiful settings for a tennis club in Canada. The tennis venue for the 2005 Canada Games will be here. 2005 is Saskatchewan's Centennial.

Arnie, 68, Roy, 65, Brent, 11, Ryan, 12, in the Club Tournament. Roy and Arnie won, 6-1. In the next set they lost (1-6) to Lucien and Blair, the eventual tournament winners.

My return walk detoured around the Legislature. In the early 1900's Canada gave 'free' homesteads to thousands of immigrants. Each one was a quarter square mile called a quarter-section. As couples moved in and started raising large families the growth rate was so high that Saskatchewan would have become the most populous province in Canada. The estimates were in the tens of millions of people by 1930; so the Legislature was built and is the largest one in Canada. It is still larger than Ontario's or Quebec's. Unfortunately, the World Wars and the depressions stopped the growth. Most people here are thankful that we did not grow so quickly.
The building's exterior is Manitoba Tyndall Stone. The interior is made from thirty-four types of marble. The main stairway is made of veined marble from Philipsburg, Quebec. The marble on the walls is from Italy, and that used for the floor is from Vermont. The marble used for the baseboards and the bases of the pillars came from Ireland; the pillars and columns themselves were quarried on the Island of Cyprus.

The Legislature has the world's longest straight hallway. By the way, the University of Regina is also in Wascana Park and it has the longest hallway in the world: the corridor from College West that spans the whole University of Regina Campus. While I am boasting, we have the longest continuous running symphony in North America and a crown investment corporation that has bigger profits than Ford or Westinghouse. This is the main reason we are the only province to have more balanced budgets in recent years than any other. Saskatchewan also has the dubious pleasure of supplying 80% of the world's uranium.

Another view of the bridge on the way back.
Thank you for taking this walk with me.

Revised: August 28, 2002

	My walk starts by crossing College Avenue into Wascana Park.
	Wascana Park is the world's largest urban park in the centre of a city! In case you don't believe me here are some statistics: Wascana - 2300 acres San Diego's Balboa Park - 1,400 acres Vancouver's Stanley park - 1,000 acres Central Park, New York - 843 acres
	A few steps into my walk and you can see the Legislature which is just in front of the Tennis Club.
	We are now five minutes into the walk. Most walkers are faster than I am.
	This is not our apartment house; it is for Purple Martens. They are voracious killers of mosquitoes.
	This is one of the gas lights from London's Hyde Park. Regina has been fortunate to have a connection with Queen Victoria. When changes were made in London's parks we obtained many of the original artifacts. These lights are from Speaker's Corner in Hyde park. Another area has a fountain from Trafalgar Square. Regina was to be named Victoria but some idiot civil servant gave the name to British Columbia. Queen Victoria personally asked that we name the city Regina after her. We also named our two major streets, Victoria and Albert to honour her and her husband, Albert.
	Another Hyde Park gas light.
	If you glance left from Speaker's Corner you can see a better view of the Legislature.

	Gas light and the 'Ledge' across Wascana Lake.
	The first look at 'The Bridge' over Wascana Creek. It is the longest bridge in the world (850 feet) over the shortest span of water (50 feet).
	Turning on to Albert Street we start on the bridge. Floreat Regina is Latin for 'Let Regina Flourish'.
	It is decorated with Buffalo sculptures and fantastic balustrades.
	I guess Queen Victoria put up some money.
	The real name is the Albert Memorial Bridge. It's on Albert Street so I guess that makes sense. It was built during The Great Depression as a make-work project for some 2,000 men. They also dug out Wascana Lake. I wish I could say the Wascana Lake is the largest man-made lake in the world, but I won't.
	Now our walk takes us to the other side of the lake. From here you can see that the bridge is really a dam. It has an opening near the North end to help regulate the water level. A little known fact is the presence of a "fish ladder."
	This shows that the Legislature is 'One Way' to the right but it has been 'left' most of the time in the past 50 years.
	Our walk takes us past the World War 1 Memorial where all the names of the soldiers who died are inscribed.
	The Lakeshore Tennis Club is right behind the Ledge. It originally was The Civil Service Tennis Club and was started in 1913.
	It is one of the most beautiful settings for a tennis club in Canada. The tennis venue for the 2005 Canada Games will be here. 2005 is Saskatchewan's Centennial.
	Arnie, 68, Roy, 65, Brent, 11, Ryan, 12, in the Club Tournament. Roy and Arnie won, 6-1. In the next set they lost (1-6) to Lucien and Blair, the eventual tournament winners.
	My return walk detoured around the Legislature. In the early 1900's Canada gave 'free' homesteads to thousands of immigrants. Each one was a quarter square mile called a quarter-section. As couples moved in and started raising large families the growth rate was so high that Saskatchewan would have become the most populous province in Canada. The estimates were in the tens of millions of people by 1930; so the Legislature was built and is the largest one in Canada. It is still larger than Ontario's or Quebec's. Unfortunately, the World Wars and the depressions stopped the growth. Most people here are thankful that we did not grow so quickly. The building's exterior is Manitoba Tyndall Stone. The interior is made from thirty-four types of marble. The main stairway is made of veined marble from Philipsburg, Quebec. The marble on the walls is from Italy, and that used for the floor is from Vermont. The marble used for the baseboards and the bases of the pillars came from Ireland; the pillars and columns themselves were quarried on the Island of Cyprus.
	The Legislature has the world's longest straight hallway. By the way, the University of Regina is also in Wascana Park and it has the longest hallway in the world: the corridor from College West that spans the whole University of Regina Campus. While I am boasting, we have the longest continuous running symphony in North America and a crown investment corporation that has bigger profits than Ford or Westinghouse. This is the main reason we are the only province to have more balanced budgets in recent years than any other. Saskatchewan also has the dubious pleasure of supplying 80% of the world's uranium.
	Another view of the bridge on the way back. Thank you for taking this walk with me.