Trip Report: 20070804
We had allocated an extra day in our planning to check out Calgary. We were pretty sure that we could not see the city in just the half day that was left on the day we arrived, so adding a day seemed to be the logical thing to do. But, we did not have a rental car, so whatever we were going to see would be done on foot, by taxi or via the local public transit. But, despite that restriction, there was plenty to see. The photos below are what we saw.
We went out for brunch on Stephen Avenue, and we past the "tin man" again and I could not resist taking another shot.
After brunch, our destination was the Calgary Tower. This is a big chunk of concrete. They did the tower in one continuous 24 day pour. The tower is 535 meters tall, but the foundation is only 20 feet deep! I have to assume it is in bedrock, but maybe not.
The view from the top was spectacular, but the windows were dirty with hand smudges and grease from people's noses making a good shot problematic.
Calgary is a big city - over a million folks.
There were plenty of new high rise buildings and lots of construction in progress. Note the pit and the crane in the lower left of this photo.
The reflection off the mirrored windows provided nice patterns.
This is the Talisman Centre, some kind of convention center.
This structure is called the "Saddle Dome".
The large structures in the center are part of "Stampede Park" where the Calgary Stampede rodeo is held each year.
Yet another big high-rise under construction.
This very cool building was near the base of the Calgary Tower. I do not know the name of the building, but it has a very innovative design.
A view of the Calgary Zoo. We would hike there later in the day and cross the bridge at the right center of this photo.
A parting shot of the Rocky Mountains to the west. The big structure in the distance is a grain elevator. On the horizon, you can see the peaks of the mountains near Banff. I think the rounded top mountain is named "Castle Mountain". Since the Rocky Mountaineer train goes through Banff, we should get a closer look at these peaks.
We left the Calgary Tower and headed north through the center of town to 7th Avenue and then east past City Hall. This is the pool at Olympic Plaza and the city hall tower is visible.
We heard some noise and turned around just in time to see 2 young dudes throw this young woman in the pool.
We crossed the Bow River on a pedestrian bridge and spotted a big crew on rafts coming down the river.
The skyline of Calgary made a novel backdrop for a bunch of rafters on the river. Particularly since I usually associate rafting with being in the boondocks.
We passed a substantial bunch of sketchy characters on our walk. These boxes did little to address my angst.
We reached the zoo, but it was closing time so we decided to mosey on. Near the entrance, there was a large thistle bush in bloom attracting many bees.
A parting shot of Calgary from the bridge to the zoo.
From the Zoo we crossed the bridge and headed back to our hotel. Along the way, we had to cross the Elbow River (not the same as the Bow river) and we spotted this goose hunting for lunch.
There were other waterfowl in the area beside the geese including this fellow. I shot him after he completed a dive to the bottom; I think this is a grebe.
On the way to the bridge that crosses the Elbow river, we passed this great garden that was part of a Deane House restaurant. Most of the flowers were in bloom.
Several of the flowers in the garden at the restaurant were in full bloom.
The monument at the entrance to Fort Calgary.
A somewhat under whelming Fort Calgary. There was less left of the original fort than we expected. Indeed, this was a recreation of the original as opposed to a relic.
We had a good day walking around. There were some sketchy looking folks, but none of them hassled us. The streets were clean and generally we felt safe.
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