Alberta - Calgary


Calgary probably wouldn’t be on the top of many travelers’ bucket lists, but as the gateway city to the great Alberta national parks of Banff and Jasper, it is also worth a couple of days exploring in its own right. It’s a bit like a Canadian version of Texas with its cowboy hats and oil money. In July it hosts the Calgary Stampede, a huge rodeo and festival. Count us not interested in that one. But we did enjoy our walks around the downtown area and our visits to a couple of nice museums and riverside parks.

View of downtown Calgary from Prince's Island Park.



Calgary sits at the confluence of the Bow and Elbow Rivers, which overflowed their banks in the massive flooding of 2013 when 80,000 people had to be evacuated. It was the most destructive flood in the province’s history. Maybe we shouldn’t be smiling.










Weaving Fence and Horn by John McEwen



Chinese Cultural Center



Interior of the Chinese Cultural Center



Olympic Plaza. Built for the 1988 Olympic Winter Games, it becomes an ice rink in winter.







For wearers of high heels?



Public Library



The CORE Shopping Centre



...which also has an indoor garden.



The Galleria Trees



Brotherhood of Mankind by Mario Armengol.
This set of  21-foot tall sculptures was created for the British Pavilions at Expo 67 in Montreal.



Luminescent minerals at the Glenbow Museum



Also at the Glenbow, from their West African collection.
They should post this in Washington, D.C.
(photo by Deborah)


The structure on the left is Calgary Tower. Great views from the top, I hear, but it is butt-ugly IMO.



Wonderland by Spanish artist Juame Plensa. 12-meter tall white bent-wire sculpture of a girl’s head. You can walk inside through doors in the neck.





The Wonderland sculpture sits in front of this building, known as The Bow.



Studio Bell, home of the National Music Centre with exhibits on Canadian music history and a vast collection of instruments.



Very interesting architecture both inside and out at the National Music Center




Collection of bass guitars of Geddy Lee (of Rush).
You forget how many popular recording artists are/were Canadian: in addition to Rush there's Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Drake, Gordon Lightfoot, Feist, Leonard Cohen, Sarah McLachlan, Loreena McKennitt, Ann Murray, Alanis Morissett, The Band, Avril Lavigne, k.d. lang, Arcade Fire, The Guess Who, Bachman Turner Overdrive, The Tragically Hip, Barenaked Ladies, Bruce Cockburn, Bryan Adams, etc., etc.,...not to mention Glen Gould (classical) and Oscar Peterson (jazz).



Six-sided harmonica. (six times the torture)



Your moment of zen: Deborah's video of kinetic installation outside the public library called TRIO (apparently there's a third one on the other side of the building), also known as the drinking birds




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