Thursday 25th May
It was a lovely sunny, albeit cool, morning for our journey to Calgary. We got away from Banff just after 9 am and made our first stop shortly after at Canmore to get a coffee for Mark. I’d been keen to check out Canmore as I’d heard it was a great alternative to Banff and I had, at one point, considered staying there instead of Banff. Canmore looked to be a lovely small town and, similar to Banff, a section of the main street is closed to traffic in peak season for pedestrian only use. There are also mountains dominating either end of the street, like Banff. I think this partial street closure is a great idea and should be tried on Hall St in Bondi at certain times over summer.
Mark had read a suggestion to take the scenic route, via the A1, from Banff to Calgary and so it should be of little surprise that the route was spectacular. Imposing mountains and beautiful lakes to start that then gave way to broad rolling hills of forest and farmland before we hit the city. We noticed how flat the area immediately around Calgary was and pondered how they ever held the Winter Olympics only to discover later that the skiing events were held back closer to the mountainous region around Canmore.
Our check in at Calgary was from midday and we arrived at 12 noon on the dot. Our hotel accommodation was very comfortable and well located being right near some trendy cafes, shop and restaurants and the whole area had a rather young and edgy vibe, something a bit like Darlinghurst in Sydney.
Our first stop on leaving the hotel though was to look for a new suitcase for me. Mine has somehow suffered a crack in transit coming through Vancouver airport and I wasn’t confident it would last the next 4 months. I had done my research prior to our arrival in Calgary and so it was an easy task to walk the 12 minutes to Bentley to pick up the new case. This took us up through the CBD and along the pedestrian mall section of Stephen Avenue and you would have thought it was a Saturday afternoon judging by the number of people in the outdoor dining sections of the many restaurants and bars enjoying the sunshine. We dropped the new case back to the hotel and did a bit more exploring in the afternoon where Mark had a beer at Social, along the Stephen Avenue pedestrian mall.
There were a lot of great options for dinner located just across the road from our hotel and we settled on Ten Foot Henry. The name derives from a 1930s comic strip character but this restaurant was thoroughly modern and packed full with what seemed to be a local and young crowd, rather similar to the likes of what we see around Bondi restaurants. It was no wonder it was packed as the food was delicious and it’s a place we’d highly recommend if you’re ever in Calgary. Our lovely waitress shared a passion for desserts like myself and recommended another venue for us to try, Model Milk, that she said served up the best apple pie and ice cream in Calgary. So we headed straight around to Model Milk after our dinner and secured a table for tomorrow night. It was then back to the hotel with one last stop at this great bottle shop, Vine Arts, to pick up a bottle of wine for Mark.
It had been another full and productive day and we were both tired. Mark has plans to go for a bike ride in the morning and then we have a 3 hour walking tour at 10 am.
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Friday 26th May
It was a lovely sunny morning and thankfully much warmer here than what we’ve had in Banff. Mark headed out for a bike ride and I went to the gym in the hotel.
There was no breakfast deal with our hotel so we went across the road to First Street Markets. This is a great concept where a range of different food and drink providers are housed in the one complex. It reminded us of the fantastic Timeout markets in Lisbon, just on a much smaller scale. There is pretty much something on offer to please all different food preferences
Our main activity for the day was a three hour walking tour from 10 until 1 pm. It was great to be taken to parts of the city that we wouldn’t normally explore and to hear a little bit about the history of Calgary. However, our guide made Forrest, from Victoria, look good. He was an affable guy and meant well, it was just that he was in the wrong business. We did pick up a few interesting points about Calgary though and I’ve noted these below:
- The main industry in petro-chemical followed by finance.
- A chinook is a wind that blows into Calgary from over the mountains in the west bring warmer damp air and underpins the design of the entry to Calgary Library.
- The Calgary Stampede was started in 1912 to rival performances of Buffalo Bill. Initially the first prize was $18,000 where as now the rodeo winner takes home $1.8 million!
- The geology of Calgary in mostly sandstone and differs markedly to areas just to the west.
The tour wrapped up by around 1 pm and so we then headed back to First Street Markets for lunch and it was lovely to see the place so alive and busy. The rear section flows out onto a large park area and is where the craft brewery provider was located and so that is, of course, where we headed.
It was 2 pm by the time we got back to our hotel and all thoughts of heading back out to do a river walk faded quickly. We are both noticing how we are tiring much more easily and quickly on this trip. As a result, I spent the next few hours blogging and reading and Mark watched a rerun of last nights Swans game.
It was around 5.30 pm before we stepped out again and Mark tried a beer across the road at St James Corner Restaurant & Irish Pub. This filled in the time nicely before our 6.30 pm booking for dinner at Model Milk. We had a lovely meal there and it is now the bench-mark for all subsequent meals out on this holiday. The setting is rather special as well as the restaurant is located in a historic dairy building and, hence, the name. The main reason for our visit was so that I could try the Apple Pie and this certainly did not disappoint. Even Mark, who vowed I’d be on my own with this, dug in heartily and was raving about the pastry. This particular dessert dish has a lot of notoriety and apparently it’s the cheddar cheese in the pastry that sets it apart. This is one restaurant you should not miss if you are ever in Calgary! Matt Vickers: put this Apple Pie on your to do list!
We were home by 8 pm, after watching the salsa dancing in the park behind the First Street Markets, but this suited us as we had a day of travel tomorrow to lake Louise. We have enjoyed our short stay in Calgary but it’s not a place I would say is a must-visit.
