What time is it there?!

We didn’t really suffer a great deal from any jetlag, but we’d booked three nights in the city just in case. Our first impressions of Calgary weren’t that great, but it wasn’t really a bad place to spend a couple of days.
Everyone we’ve met in Canada seems to be very friendly and helpful. It’s a bit like being in the north of England, complete strangers will say ‘Good morning’ to you in the street. This takes a bit of getting used to after living in the southeast of England, where everyone you pass in the street seems to size you up as a potential drug dealer or mugger!

Whereas some Canadian cities have networks of underground walkways to keep you warm and dry in the winter, Calgary has walkways up in the air. It’s called ‘+15’, because the walkways are 15 feet (or more) above the ground. It’s not quite as easy to get around as in Toronto because some of the walkways are only open from Monday to Friday, but if you wish you can walk from one shopping mall to the next without ever setting foot outdoors.

If you get bored of all the shopping you can get a coffee and take it into the garden. A place called Devonian Gardens that is. The gardens are up on the 4th floor between two shopping centres and it was a lovely place to sit and chill out and watch huge Koi and turtles. We spent a couple of hours here looking at the plants - not least of all, it was a break from the rain. There’s even a bit that is almost open air, but that wasn’t too much fun in the rain!

We didn’t do a great deal more in Calgary except walk around alot, but we did go up the Calgary Tower in the day and again at night as our tickets let us in as many times in the same day as we liked, at home you would be fleeced for another entrance fee. It was good to see the city from the air, although there wasn’t a great deal to see!