over 30 years ago I emigrated to Calgary Canada from London England, I was 21 years old and had no clue about where I was moving to. A few weeks ago my 21 year old son moved to Calgary from Vancouver. The distance was much less as was the culture shock, but never the less he had broken the apron strings and embarked on his own life separate from the rest of the family. I decided as a friend of mine was visiting her daughter also living there, I would visit the town that welcomed me to Canada all those years ago after a 25 year absence, and see where he is living.
We had brunch of eggs Benedict and champagne and orange juice before heading out for a walk through downtown. The iconic Calgary tower is still there, though mostly dwarfed by the many new tall glass towers that have grown up around it. Only from the south of downtown, do you really get to see it. I was only in Calgary for two days, but for both of those days the sun shone and temperature stayed pleasantly above freezing during the day.
We walked through the downtown passed the apartment building where I had lived for the first year that I was in Calgary. It too is now dwarfed by the many buildings around it, and I expect the incumbent of my old apartment on the 27 floor does not have the views that I used to enjoy.
A couple of blocks from my old apartment building is the bridge over to Prince's Park, which is a place that I often went on the weekends for a walk. The river on downtown side of the Park had been cleared for a large skating area.
There were only a few people skating on such a perfect day, I guess Calgarians are used to what was a real novelty to me. We had gone skating in Bowness Park the day before, but if I had had a pair of skates I would have been out there again, skating outdoors is so much nicer than in a skating arena. We walked through the park to the Peace Bridge.
It connects the Park to the North side of the Bow river. Apparently there was a lot of controversy regarding the cost as well as the necessity of this pedestrian bridge. Well I am not sure of all the issues, but it was quite spectacular and we walked across it to continue our walk.
We looped back downtown again and were ready for a sit down also I had promised to buy my son a pair of sunglasses which were sorely needed in this sunny climate. So we went to the downtown shopping mall called The Core. This mall and attached indoor gardens were there back in the 70's when I lived here but they had both been recently renovated and were actually quite spectacular. The center of the Mall was covered with a glass roof with the three floors open to it.
So though we were indoors protected from what can be very cold weather. we were in day light which is so much better than artificial.
I thoroughly enjoyed my visit with my son, who seems to be very happy in his independence in Cow town. I also enjoyed my trip down memory lane, though it was hard to imagine the person that I was then, and as in all periods of our lives, they were not all happy memories.
We walked through the downtown passed the apartment building where I had lived for the first year that I was in Calgary. It too is now dwarfed by the many buildings around it, and I expect the incumbent of my old apartment on the 27 floor does not have the views that I used to enjoy.
A couple of blocks from my old apartment building is the bridge over to Prince's Park, which is a place that I often went on the weekends for a walk. The river on downtown side of the Park had been cleared for a large skating area.
There were only a few people skating on such a perfect day, I guess Calgarians are used to what was a real novelty to me. We had gone skating in Bowness Park the day before, but if I had had a pair of skates I would have been out there again, skating outdoors is so much nicer than in a skating arena. We walked through the park to the Peace Bridge.
It connects the Park to the North side of the Bow river. Apparently there was a lot of controversy regarding the cost as well as the necessity of this pedestrian bridge. Well I am not sure of all the issues, but it was quite spectacular and we walked across it to continue our walk.
We looped back downtown again and were ready for a sit down also I had promised to buy my son a pair of sunglasses which were sorely needed in this sunny climate. So we went to the downtown shopping mall called The Core. This mall and attached indoor gardens were there back in the 70's when I lived here but they had both been recently renovated and were actually quite spectacular. The center of the Mall was covered with a glass roof with the three floors open to it.
So though we were indoors protected from what can be very cold weather. we were in day light which is so much better than artificial.
I thoroughly enjoyed my visit with my son, who seems to be very happy in his independence in Cow town. I also enjoyed my trip down memory lane, though it was hard to imagine the person that I was then, and as in all periods of our lives, they were not all happy memories.
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