River Walk and Al Forno's Carrot Cake

Following the Drumheller trip, my sister took us to a lovely afternoon stroll along the Bow River. It was lined by Aspen trees and they were in their glorious golden yellow plumage.

But before we started undertaking the circuit track, we first got some take away Pad Thai from Thai Bistro, a restaurant that my sister has not tried before. It is just across Calgary's Chinatown. On the way there we passed by a giant wire-mesh sculpture located outside The Bow building at the heart of the city. This public art features the face of a twelve-year-old girl called "Anna."

As the sun continued to set, we saw a flock of Canadian geese return to shore and waddled their way as they walked on land. It was fascinating as they paraded in a single file. They appeared very comfortable with all the people standing by and watching them as they went along their way. It reminded me of Anna Paquin's film on her charming role in 'Fly Away Home.' We took some photos of us beside the "Canada 150" signage that was thoughtfully installed in Prince's Island Park, and we asked some people to take our photos too after we took some of theirs.

Further down the track, we met Daniella again, our tour bus mate who is a German stewardess from Cologne. She was enjoying her sunset walk as well. She got some directions from my sister for her way back to the city centre, quite the opposite to where we are going. As we bade her goodbye once more, we wondered where will we be bumping into her again in the future.

The track ends and we continue to make our way to Al Forno. It was a good 45-minute walk at our pace. We did not waste time when we got there and straight away my sister ordered her favourites. I have to say that it must be the best carrot cake I have ever tried. It tasted as rich and creamy as Sans Rival. Truly it is the benchmark standard of carrot cake, as LeTAO is to cheesecakes (from Hokkaido).

As we returned to Hotel Alma we passed by the Peace Bridge dedicated to pedestrians and cyclists. There, a kind local pointed to us that a beaver was swimming in the river. And true enough, the fellow was quietly heading to the river bank. It was a short glimpse of the awesome creature and we got very excited.

Back at Hotel Alma, we partook the scrumptious takeaway Pad Thai and we all thoroughly enjoyed it.Read more