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Well it was take two this morning as our first stop after breakfast was the Calgary Tower. We knew that as soon as we walked up Stephens Street that it was going to be closed purely by the amount of businesses that were still without power but we turned the corner towards the tower with a skip in our step and a prayer in our thoughts only to have it dashed. The tower was very much still closed so it was on with our next stop, the +15 walkways.

Now we tried to explain the +15 walkway system to you all yesterday but heres another brief synopsis. Imagine that there are no pavements and that you have to get from building to building using bridges at first floor level. This is exactly what the +15 system is. Its weird because as you walk between the buildings you feel like you are walking

into some private office building or oil company tower but no one seems to bat an eyelid. We did find one major indoor shopping precinct (finally). We were not after anything but it was just nice to see some retail whilst here and it does exist. The defining glory of this downtown shopping centre was actually the food court up on the top floor. The whole place had a glass arched roof and the top floor had been turned into a tropical garden oasis called the devonian gardens and it really was quite beautiful. Shame that we were not hungry at this point as I am sure that we would have stopped here by one of the internal pools and underneath the trees for a bite.

Now as much as the +15 walkway is unique it does not fill a whole day so we decided to take a look at the public transport system. Calgary has a tram system called the C-Train that runs from north to south. Unfortunately we wanted to go south and the C-Train in that direction was non-operational due to the flooding so they had laid on replacement bus services, the 201.

For $3 you seem to be able to go anywhere in the city one way so we hopped on hoping that we would be able to tell when to get off, we were looking for an outlaying suburb called Chinook and the Chinook Centre, a large out of town mall (Trevor wanted to visit the apple store).

Well I have to say that we had no need to worry about missing the Chinook Centre as it is huge....so this is where all the retail is!!!!

We walked around the centre taking in all the stores. It was sale time here in Calgary so there really where some bargains to be had. Jonathan succumbed to some shorts in A&F and we both bought some new pants whilst Trevor spent a few hours deciding if he needed the new macbook air (laptop computer) or not.

After a thai lunch the decision was made and it was a no so we headed back to the bus and back to downtown. Now we would not normally spend half a day walking around a mall but with al the restrictions in and around Calgary this really was the easiest option and it was nice to see a normal retail space as the downtown city area had really got us quite confused. I'm sure that you get used to it when you live here full time but walking into an office block to go shopping seems wrong.

Back at the hotel Jonathan went off to the gym with the washing. The hotels guest laundry facility was located in the gym so whilst he was running our clothes were getting cleaned. Now today he was also joined by a very special guest, Mr. Blofeld made an appearance and put in some time on the cross trainer and the exercise bike.....well done Trev!

After our posh dinner last night, tonight was going to be a much simpler affair and we actually decided to go back to the bar/restaurant that we went to on the first night here. we had really enjoyed those salads so tonight it was more of the same.

Now the one thing that we have not talked about is the Calgary Stampede. This is an event that takes place once a year here in a purpose built events area just on the edge of the city. Its a celebration of Albertas history with farming so its like the biggest rodeo cowboy event you are likely to ever see. Had we know about it we would have shifted things around to be here at the same time. All the office blocks and bars and restaurants are all getting in the mood with cowboy and horse themed murals appearing over building everywhere. Our hotel reception even has a stage wagon in it. Now they obviously take this Stampede thing very seriously as there are even shops that are dedicated to selling things for the stampede. We walked into one today and all they seemed to sell were cowboy boots from the floor to the ceiling, stetson cowboy hats and leather jackets (cowboy style). The shop was rammed with people picking up their outfits and choosing some new look for the event...madness.

And thats Calgary over, tomorrow we move onto Edmonton. I would not say that we feel the need to ever come back to Calgary. Its not that it is a bad city or anything like that, it has actually grown on us a little over the last two days but we have just not found its point of difference or its heart. I'm sure that it is out there but I cant think of a good enough reason to want to come back. We are pleased we have seen what we have seen but maybe this city is just not our thing.

Onwards and upwards......to Edmonton.

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