Our Day Trip to Edmonton   As part of our visit with Premier Klein and Minister Mar, we visited the Parliament building. Parliament buildings are also another sentinel that mark the capital cities of each province. The Legislature Building This is a picture of the Legislature Building. When the blue flag is up it means that the Premier is in the building. We got to meet the Premier and you can see the blue flag out front. You can also see 2005 Alberta Centennial banners hanging over the doors. The building is made out of sandstone and granite. (David and Tyler)   The Chamber Brent showed us the red mahogany doors to the chamber. They came from Belize. Above the doors in the same kind of wood is the coat of arms of Alberta. The words FORTES ET LIBRES mean STRONG AND FREE. You hear these words in our National Anthem as well. We got to go in the chamber and look down from the observation deck. We saw the big chair where the Speaker and the Queen sit. We also saw a table with no chair because one of the members is in a wheel chair. (Spencer, Matthew and Mikenna)   Princess Alberta This is Princess Alberta. Her full name is Princess Louise Caroline Alberta. Our province is named after her and Lake Louise is named after her too. She is one of Queen Victoria’s daughters. Her statue is in the Rotunda. Her statue is made of bronze. The other statue in the Rotunda is of Chief Crowfoot. He has an owl on his head. The man beside the statue is our tour guide, Brent. He is wearing an Alberta Tartan tie. ( Myah and Aaron)   Private Meeting with Premier Ralph Klein We got to have a meeting with Premier Klein in his office. There is a guard at the doorway to protect so nobody goes into his office without and invitation. We had an invitation. His office was really big and a bit messy. He collects boats and other knick-knacks. They took a picture of us with Mr. Klein while we were talking to the Premier. Aaron got to present the gift to the Legislature. He said, ”On behalf of the Elevator Kids, Prince of Wales School in Calgary, we would like to present this artwork and story to the Legislature Building.” He was nervous but he did a great job! He looked like a real Premier; he looked like he just put on a new suit. ( Aaron and Dayna)   The Mace This is a picture of the mace. The mace represents the Queen because she lives in England. When she comes to the Legislature they cover up the mace because the Queen can celebrate herself if she is really there. Alberta’s first mace was made from metal toilet parts and pipes. They painted it gold to make it look real. We were only supposed to use the old one for one week but we used it for 50 years instead. We got the new mace for our 50th birthday. In the case with the mace there is also a black doorknocker. One time they hit the door so hard with the knocker that it made a dent in the door. There is also a sword in the case with the mace. Sometimes the holder of the sword is black. That is worn when someone important has died. (Teslyn, Jorin and Tyler)   Legislature Fountains These are the two fountains at the Legislature building. One is in the Rotunda and it was built to celebrate the first visit of Queen Elizabeth. There are flags that hang around the Rotunda for battalions that fought in World War One and Two. The fountain’s sound bounces off the dome and hits the magic spot on the fifth floor. The other fountain is outside and in the summertime you actually swim in it. When nobody is in it, the pool looks like glass and you can see reflections. (Christian and Ryan)   Architecture The building has some interesting architecture. The stained glass ceiling in the chamber tells a story. It has maple leaves and an ax on it. The ceiling in the chamber has 600 light bulbs on it. OH my gosh that would take forever to change if they all burned out at once. There are some beautiful pillars in the building. Some of them are painted gold and some of them are sandstone. (Laura, Holly, Myah and Teslyn)   Lunch with Minister Gary Mar These are some of us in Gary Mar’s office in our Elevator Kids 2005 t-shirts. We were sitting on the couch waiting for Mr. Mar to come in. We ate hot dogs and carrots and watermelon. We got ketchup on his carpet… oops. Mr. Mar sat on the carpet with us. We played a game called mock parliament. We debated the bike helmet law and a bill to save grain elevators. We learned that crossing the floor means you have to have an argument for the other side. This doesn’t happen very often in real life but in our debate it happened a lot. Colby and Aaron presented the framed picture of our grain elevator and story and picture. The pictures were the same ones that went to the Queen visit at the Saddledome. We thought Mr. Mar was fair and gentle and handsome.   Elevator Kids 2005 T-Shirts We looked like a soccer team in our yellow and green Elevator Kids T-shirts. They were donated by Itlwork Marketing Group and printed by Mrs. George’s husband Les George. Everyone jumped up and down when Mrs. George handed them out. We are going to wear them on our celebration night. (Alanah and Christian)