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So after visiting West Edmonton Mall (WEM) last night, this morning I had plenty of time to wait for the morning rush to finish before making my way into downtown Edmonton. Roads are a little different and after a few meandering loops, I ended up climbing into downtown which is located atop a hill overlooking the river. I found a parking station which was $14 daily max which is pretty good for a business day right in the centre of town. The parking station is connected to the City Centre shopping complex which is a linked mall with overhead walkways. It is not a single mall, but looks like one owner has bought out a bunch of smaller malls and linked them all together to make the City Centre. Probably a good idea in the cold of the northern Canadian winter, similar to WEM - people can just stay indoors all day.
I didn't spend much time inside the mall as it was such a nice warm sunny day outside so I decided to do some exploring. After confusing myself with the whole AVE's run East/West and STREETS run North/South, I got my bearings and managed to see some sights.
I found Chinatown, which is a sorry excuse as it was very run down and looked like a slum area. 2 blocks from here is the magnificent looking Art Gallery building. Directly across the road is Churchill Square, an open concrete area where people seem to congregate and enjoy the sun. Today there was a guy and girl playing guitar and singing. They were actually very good and the crowd built up as office workers came outside to enjoy the sun during their lunch break. I spent about 90 minutes just sitting there, enjoying the show and people watching. In doing so, I got a healthy dosage of sunshine without getting too hot and I kept thinking it was good to be on extended leave and having so much free time to enjoy the simple things in life. This is the first time in my life that I have been able to relax like this and it's only been 2 weeks and I still have plenty of time. I realise that the remaining time will fly by but I am currently enjoying it minute to minute, day to day.
After I had enough of downtown, I headed back to
downtown
another Fairmont the hotel via Whyte Ave and Old Strathcona which is a recommended shopping/dining strip and it didn't appear to be terribly exciting. I headed over to WEM later in the day to buy an extra memory card and pick up some asian takeout so I could watch the 2nd NBA Eastern Finals between the Bulls and Heat back in the comfort of this hotel room. Miami have been able to tie the series 1-1 after a good defensive effort which resulted in Chicago shooting at under 40% from the field.
Off to the east tomorrow and will be at Niagara Falls tomorrow evening.
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