First day in the Mother Land...

I woke up at 6am and hit the road on the first stop of my tour. Regina. The motherland. The city where I spent my first 18 years.

But before I got on the plane I met these two lovely ladies who recognized me in the airport bookstore and we had a nice chat before I headed out.
I always have mixed feelings about going back to Regina. There are so many sad ghosts waiting for me there and because I don't go back that often I spend most of my time scouting out buildings and places where my memories are hiding.

This time around I found many of my touchstones gone. So many buildings gone and replaced with parking lots. There was a time when the downtown core of Regina was full of gorgeous and beautiful vintage buildings. One by one the city knocked them down and replaced them with glass towers and parking lots. Now downtown has only a few of these beautiful buildings left ...
I popped into the mall (where I spent a lot of my teen years) and saw that the spot where my friends and I used to hang out and watch boys ... is still a magnet for The Youth. Nice to see some things don't change. :)
This is the facade for the original Globe Theater (the theater company my parents founded). When the city started buying up all these old buildings to knock them down to build "The Cornwall Center Mall" or the "Corn Hole" center as we used to call it - my parents got active and helped to keep the facade of many of the buildings in the area, in particular the facade of The Globe.
The theater then moved to the old City Hall building and thankfully it is still standing and is as gorgeous as ever. Imagine most of downtown looking like this ... how sad that "the man" didn't value these buildings and preserve them.
Then I wandered around and looked at my old apartment building ...
And one of my favourite buildings in Regina is The Sask Power building. This building is a beautiful example of 1960's architecture and I love every inch of it.
You used to be able to go upstairs to the top floor and check out the view, but they don't let anyone up there anymore. :( Too bad because the view is spectacular.

I also popped by The Novia Cafe. I used to love this place when I was a kid... probably where my love for the 50's comes from.
Check it out. Nothing has changed!! I love it. Sadly they were closed, but I'm going to try and pop by tomorrow and visit. I also stopped by The Blue Mantle. THE best thrift store in the world and where I spent most of my high school time looking for outfits, but they were closed as well... :(
Then I met up with some friends from the Regina Vegetarian Society who took me to Flavours of India for dinner. So yummy!
After dinner they dropped me off downtown and I took in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at The Globe.

There is something about that theater that makes me tear up the second I walk in the doors. Maybe it's because I spent more time there as a kid then at home. Maybe it's because I know how much blood sweat and tears my parents put into every square inch. Maybe it's pride. Maybe a little melancholy for when my life was easier and my biggest worry was about whether or not Shaun Cassidy would fall in love with me. Maybe it was because I woke up at 6am and I was exhausted ...
Needless to say it was a LONG day ... and I slept like a log!