Day 31 Wed-Walking the Pavements!

So, so crook last night…so didn’t get to sleep until midnight, then awake every hour until 4.45am and gave up…went out to get a coffee only to see Tim asleep on the lounge….guessing me being in there probably woke him up….Couldn’t even get the coffee machine working, so back to bed to start the blog… just as I was getting into it we received an email to say the payment for here hadn’t gone through it was declined…ohh my glory…I waited a bit before waking John to tell him…He finally after much hassle and phone calls back and forth with Booking.com who we have never really had issues with..did sort it out…..they were a bit Cross at the owner contacting individuals to get extra payment deposit different from the accommodation payment in case of damage.,… they found this very unprofessional and we’re going to take it up with him…Jess did some research and found lots of past guest had the same issue and were all miffed as to the procedure… anyway we finally got a confirmation email to say the money had been sorted…it actually ended up being quite a painful process and this unit is pretty dodgy anyway…the little wall shelf beside my bed just feel off the wall…. we will have to try and fix this or he will, take our $250 extra money he has gotten out of us…it is to be repaid once he knows there is no damage…let’s hope that’s what happens🤔🤔🤔

Finally done by 7.30am, did my readings, then up for Brekky and start the pic download process…. Never a quick job, but finished by 10am…

We set off on foot to check out Calgary… walking past really lovely homes made very modern around the corner from us…then down a big hill to make our way across the The Centre Street Bridge which crosses the Bow River it connects with Chinatown….and Memorial Drive…..on top of the 4 concrete pavilions are 4 massive concrete Lions which apparently have just been replaced due to deterioration…From here we could see the very tall, Calgary Tower, with its bright Red Deck… heaps of very modern building with a sprinkling of some older ones.. Murals on some of the buildings… The most humongous wire head sculpture of a young girl…really quite amazing…it stands 12m tall…it sits at the base of what is called the Bow Building quite a striking building in its own right…
From here we tried to find a coffee shop to have morning tea…that was a bit of a feat in itself…most places looked like they didn’t open until 11am…it took us until just after 11 am but did find a place…certainly not the coffee culture we have in Aust….after that Jess had suggested we go to see the State Library, had some issues finding it…but did find a park on the way… it had what’s called the 5 Famous Statues …. The Famous Five are Women five (5) prominent Canadian pioneers who fought for women’s suffrage – the right to vote, be a part of the senate and participate in public matters (Person’s Case led by Emily Murphy). This park had a huge water feature in the middle with Pergolas around one side of it with beautiful baskets overflowing with planted flower plants… this was the same up the Main Street as well. Made everything look so pretty flowers make such a difference in a city of concrete….
We got a little lost in the main government building, so I asked a couple armed security guards how to get to the library…we only had to go out the door and there it was…it had a very modern look of the Central Library as it’s called…. The design features an oval-like form and an interior with a large central atrium with a skylight. The building is elevated one floor above street level to accommodate a light rail trackway below, as well as a public plaza. Planning for a new library began in 2004 and was finalized in 2011. Construction began in 2013 with the encapsulation of an existing CTrain light rail tunnel portal; above-ground construction of the library itself began in September 2015.

We checked it out as much as we found interesting then headed towards Prince Island, going past their Light Rail Stns…up the Main Street where it was foodie paradise with heaps of now opened restaurants to feed the hungry hordes… it truly was packed…By then Tim had contacted us,.. He and Jess had gone to the Zoo had hoped to spend all day there only half of it was closed down for now… they had decided to go to another motel tonight with aircon and a decent bed…their bed in our apartment is a 3/4 mattress on a king size bed frame… ours is a Queen size on a King Frame… very odd….

Anyway they wanted the key to access the unit to pack up.. so they met us on the mismatch bridge being built across a tributary of the Bow River…all along the water front of the area is being extensively refurbished and redone…guess by the time it’s done it will be great but for now quite a mess… we said farewell and headed to the Restaurant on Prince Island for lunch…it was quite upmarket but very quite, good service…lots of skiing artefacts around the lodge walls… A huge fire place and quite rustic yet upmarket… We ordered a shared meat platter… which was not to bad…but whatever they put with the fish in a little dish I think it was either duck fat, or lard something very heavily oiled and yep it did me in…by the time I got to the Unit after walking from the island, through Chinatown, across the bridge and up the big hill I had to go to bed for an hour or 2 to let my poor old gut settle… did my usual med regime to calm it down, but it still took quite a bit…the trouble is you have no idea sometimes what things are until it’s too late… anyway back in the Unit…Tim and Jess are packed and gone…

Our afternoon was spent relaxing…John watched some movies…I did yep this blog….. we ate in with bits and pieces I needed to use, it ended up a mixed Bruschetta type dish on toasted bread….We finished the evening watching the last of Obi Won Kenobi we had been watching the new Star Wars series with Tim….
Now we will have to find something else to keep us entertained at night when we have access to a smart tv….well that was Calgary for us! Guess we could have seen more but most cities are that s city I personally can’t wait to see the Rockies tomorrow that’s more my type of tripping nature at it’s best!!Read more