Calgary - Stampede City
The sun was shining, the sky was blue and we spent the whole weekend in t-shirts. I was surprised at how pretty the city still was with abundant flower displays on lampposts and around some of the popular buildings. Our hotel was the Hyatt Regency which has an entrance out into Stephen Avenue. This part of the downtown area is a pedestrian haven of mainstream and boutique shops, bars, restaurants and street entertainment. It’s also home to ‘The Galleria Trees’ steel sculptures which are 25 metres tall.
The Calgary Tower is a couple of minutes around the corner from us, but it’s currently closed for maintenance so we couldn’t go up. Having glimpsed what we now know as the ‘Wonderland’ sculpture by world-renowned Spanish artist Jaume Plensa on the way to the hotel from the airport, we decided to walk the city in the afternoon and find some of the others. ‘Conversation’ was easy as it was on the way to the trees. We walked past the ‘Iron Horse’ on the way to the tower but didn’t notice him until the next day! The Armengol ‘Tall Men’ are on 1st Street down towards the Bow River, which led us on to Prince’s Island Park that was clearing down the stages from their huge Pride event. The Island has a few sculptures of its own but we decided to enjoy walking along the river and through the park before taking the bridge back over at the other end. Whilst at that side of the city we found the Peace Bridge, but the whole area has a lovely boardwalk and lots of seating so it’s popular with people walking dogs, jogging and generally enjoying the outdoors and the river.
When we stopped by the Olympic Plaza we found the ‘Women are Persons’ monument. This is a group of statues recognising the role played by Canadian women in the growth of the country.The Plaza itself was the place where medals were awarded after the 1988 Winter Olympics but the most obvious reason for going there now is the huge paddling pool in the middle. When we were there they were having a food festival and several of the walls were planted with flowers – and funky beaver figures!
Throughout the city we saw old buildings sitting at the foot of sparkling new skyscrapers. It’s a real mix of creativity, includes several outdoor murals and has just opened the new Central Library which is almost an art installation in itself. Calgary certainly surprised me and we hardly scratched the surface so I’d love to go back and see it at Stampede when they really pull the stops out!