As we walked the Bow River Parkway towards the area where this large statue was located, we enjoyed the day and other features along the way. Once we arrived at this cast, bronze statue, we saw General James Wolfe, commander of the British army who successfully battled against Montcalm on the Plains of Abraham in 1759. He stands atop a white pedestal in Inglewood near the 12th Street Bridge. Modelled after an existing statue in Mount Royal Park, he is quite different from his counterpart. Instead of a head and shoulders, sparrows replace these parts of his body. Since sparrows are native to England, Wolfe's home land, it is logical why these birds were chosen to be part of the art work.

One of my first interesting travel memories is seeing the memorial to Wolfe in Westminster Abbey in London, and I was quite surprised by it. I only heard about this statue of him recently, and decided to check it out. In Canada, James Wolfe is remembered mainly for defeating the French forces on the Plains of Abraham in September of 1759, paving the way for Britain to take over from the French what is now Quebec. In 1867, Canada became its own country, but still tied to Britain through being a part of the British Empire and later, the Commonwealth of Nations. Interestingly, this is not a new statue, having been created in 1898, and it stood for a long time in the Exchange Court in New York City. It has been in this gorgeous park in the wealthy Mount Royal community since 2009. If you're a history buff, a good excuse to check out the statue, and one of Calgary's loveliest communities!