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Published: July 14th 2008
So Lake Louise was gorgeous!
I hardly got any sleep that night, the room was the hottest I've ever tried to sleep in. The power ended up being out until 10am the next morning, so obviously there was no air-con, and I was lucky enough to have the highest, hottest bed in the room. I ended up braving the super steep stairs in the dark and sleeping for an hour or so on a couch in the common room.
I left the hostel at about 7 for Lake Louise, it took about an hour to walk there, but it was a nice trail in the forest along a river, pretty. Lake Louise was so picturesque and serene. Had I not been alone, there would have been a “The Castle” quote thrown around for sure, so relaxing. I took a photo or three, but none are as pretty as the postcards. The lake wasn’t blue enough, probably because it was a cloudy day.
A lot of the shops were closed, I’m not sure whether it was because of the blackout or because it was Canada day, but there wasn’t really very much to do. The hostel didn’t end up putting
on the activities while I was there, so I just hung around on the deck for a while.
At 4 I got on the Greyhound headed for Calgary! Because it’s not the start of the route I didn’t get first dibs on the back seat, dang. I did get two seats to myself though, so not all was lost. I’m pretty sure I slept most of the way to Calgary, and woke up just before we pulled up.
Tom picked me up and took me for a quick tour of the city, before dumping my ridiculous amounts of luggage at his place. That night we braved the mozzies to watch the Canada Day fireworks. They were really good, I lovelovelove fireworks, and these went for like 15 minutes.
The next day I slept til 11 which was great, very much needed! Did some washing and not a lot else, but went and saw Wanted (again.. Still a good movie!) with Tom and his friends Jen & Jason. Thursday I went into the city and went up the Calgary Tower. It’s pretty cool up there, there’s a glass floor in part of it so you can see everything
below you. It was hilarious to see everyone walking on it, as if it would break underneath them. I also went to the Glenbow Museum and was greeted by the creepiest man I’ve seen in a long long time. It’s hard to explain his creepiness, but I couldn’t get my ticket fast enough! It seemed as if I was the only one in the museum, so that was kinda good. They had Chinese statues and stuff so it was nice.
The city itself was buzzing with all the excitement of Stampede. I’ve never seen so many cowboy hats! Even the porters at hotels were wearing jeans & cowboy hats. Restaurants had hay bails outside, and all the shop windows were painted with cowboy scenes. Yeeha!
Tom’s neighbourhood was ridiculously hard to get around, mainly because all the street names are the same, every street started with Strath.. Doesn’t make it easy for tourists! I eventually found my way home on the bus though, so all was good.
Friday was the official start to the Stampede, and the morning of the parade. I was told that to get a good position I would have to be in the
city by about 7 or 8. Ugh. I set my alarm to get in there early, but really couldn’t handle it. Both Tom and Gui, Tom’s housemate, had told me that you could watch the parade on TV, and that it was easier to know what was going on because it was commentated on. When my alarm was going off all I could think about was the extra 3-4 hours sleep I could have if I just watched it on TV. I’m pretty sure you can guess what I did! The parade was cool, not unlike the one on Vancouver Island for Victoria Day; lots of marching bands and horses etc. I don’t think there was a homeless people float though, like there was in Victoria.
Once the parade was over and I finally got my arse into gear I went down to the Devonian Gardens. They’re basically this huge indoor gardens that are above a shopping mall. Beautiful. When I move there in November I’m sure that will be the place I go when I’m bored.. It’s so peaceful! There were heaps of turtles there, but other than that it was just plants and water features.
Saturday
we went to the zoo, zoo, zoo! Yaaayyyyy! I’d read that the Calgary Zoo was the best in the world, pretty big ask! It delivered in my eyes, they had a baby elephant (soso cute!) giraffes, hippoes, bears, tigers, gorgeous monkeys, otters, red pandas, and even an Australian section! The Australian section was a let down, they basically had a frill neck lizard, wallaby, cassowaries and some other reptiles. No kangaroos or koalas? WTF mate?! We got to feed a giraffetoo, which was beyond awesome. The tongue was so very long though, and kind of wrapped around your hand. I screamed when it did that, no surprises there.
That night a group of Tom’s friends came over and we watched the UFC fight. Oh my god it was gross and scary. The first fight was the worst, this one guy had horrendous amounts of blood coming out of his head, yet the other guy just kept pounding me. I thought I could vomit. Thankfully that was the worst though. I got mildly drunk on this big can of Long Island Iced Tea.. So good! We tried to go watch the fireworks but missed them somehow. Le sigh.
The
next day was Stampede! Yeeha! I donned the cowboy hat that Tom had got me, and we were off. The rodeo was interesting, so much to see! Tom’s dad had gotten primo tickets through his work, they were right in the front near the barriers where they hold the bulls & horses before they go out. Apparently they were worth $300 but we got them for freeeee! Score! I screamed a few times when firecrackers went off or when someone was tossed off one of the bulls. At one stage the guy behind us tapped me on the shoulder and told me it was going to be OK, and not to get so scared. How embarassment. There was this one guy who got speared in the chest by a bull horn, and was on the ground for what felt like hours, but was probably only 5 minutes. His leg was jittering in that “about to die” way. It was intense. He ended up getting up and walking away so all was good. One of the Australian riders got trampled too, so sad. In intermission there was this native American who did all these cool tricks with hula hoops, he was
awesome. The scariest were the bulls, they got so angry and would head butt/buck ( I don’t know what the word is) the riders and clowns.. So scary!
After the excitement of the rodeo, Tom and I went and played on the midway for a while. We were meant to stay to see Hedley at 9, but Tom was feeling sick so we didn’t. I wasn’t too upset, it would have been good to see them, but I didn’t know much of their stuff anyway, so it wasn’t a huge loss.
Tuesday I went to the Stampede with Vanessa and Erin. I didn’t go to the rodeo this time because they FORGOT to buy me a ticket (bitches, moles, sluts :P) and I couldn’t get a seat near them. So I met them afterwards. We played some games, checked out the BMX thingie, and generally looked around. This time I tried some of the culinary delights that Stampede had to offer, and indulged in a bit of food on a stick! I got a Corndog (dagwood dog for those playing in Australia.. Only not as good) and a pizza on a stick. I passed on all the other
fried things, as I don’t think my stomach could have handled it. Also up for grabs were deep fried Oreos, deep fried cheesecake, chocolate dipped cheesecake, deep fried twinkies and deep fried Coke. Yes, deep fried Coke. I’m told it’s actually the Coke Syrup.. I’m still not sure how it all works though! Playing that night were Finger Eleven, who I’d never heard of. They’re a Canadian band and they’re really good! I must have heard them somewhere along the line, cos I was singing along to a few of the songs. The girls left after the concert, they had to go back to the Greyhound Terminal to collect their bags. I tried to stick around for the fireworks, but on three separate occasions saw a few big bangs, so thought I had somehow missed them. Apparently they’re just part of another show, and that I had to wait longer for the fireworks. Bummer. I did, however, see an American Indian getting arrested for something. Woo!
The next day I boarded the Greyhound for Edmonton, but will write about that in a different blog, as this one is already far too long!
xx
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Kat
non-member comment
Gosh.. dot points time!
*Did you know that there is a glass floor in the Eureka Tower? You have to pay $15 to go on it though, that's on top of the entry fee to get up to the viewing tower.. Oh, and then it's another $20 to get a professional photo done while your on it. *Your moving to calgary? *"The first fight was the worst, this one guy had horrendous amounts of blood coming out of his head, yet the other guy just kept pounding me." He was pounding you instead of the guy in the fight onTV? *I can't beleive you haven't heard of Finger Eleven until now. Freak. okiluvubaibai