I know I’ve previously written about often preferring to skip well-known tourist attractions, but sometimes it’s fun to stumble upon something touristy, yet very unique. That’s how I felt about encountering the steam clock in Vancouver’s Gastown neighborhood.

The clock was built in 1977 to solve the problem of an open steam vent in the middle of a busy sidewalk. It has a steam engine and electric motors, and it chimes on the quarter hours in a train horn whistle style. If you want to read more specifics about the steam clock’s inner workings, I highly recommend visiting the clock’s Wikipedia page. But because I am not a scientist or a clock expert, I will skip trying to appear like I know what I’m talking about and simply leave you with cool video of the clock chiming.