(Calgary, Alberta, Canada)
I recently spent nearly a week in Calgary. Ordinarily, that would provide me with at least a couple of blog posts. But that wasn’t the case this time. I was playing in the Canadian Bowler Open, probably the pre-eminent lawn bowling tournament in Canada at the moment. And I did so much bowling over the course of the tournament that I just didn’t have the time to properly experience Calgary.
The event was hosted by the Calgary Lawn Bowling Club, which must surely win the award for the coolest looking clubhouse in Canada. But, more importantly, they also have the best greens I’ve ever played on in Canada. It was an absolute pleasure to bowl there. Every rink was fast and true. I hope to return again soon – possibly for next year’s event.
Anyway, my observations of Calgary are basically limited to the area within a block of the club and within a block of my downtown hotel. I’ll talk about the club area first. It’s in Calgary’s Spruce Cliff neighbourhood.
The club is a peaceful oasis, but so is the small nearby Poplar Park. But to get to Poplar Park, you have to pass a strip mall with a cool local business: Pie Junkie. They focus on pies, but also on savoury variants. No less than three times, I enjoyed the Peach Habanero BBQ (chicken) handheld stuffed pie. It had a great burn and replenished whatever nutrients I was losing in all those matches.
My hotel was not as peaceful, although that is to be expected given its downtown location. Two blocks north of the hotel was a Safeway supermarket, where I picked up snacks (and lunches, when I wasn’t stuffing myself at Pie Junkie).
Calgary’s downtown is interesting: at one time, the Calgary Tower defined the city’s skyline. At 191 metres in height, it towered over Calgary just like the CN Tower did in Toronto. However, in recent years, the Calgary Tower was surpassed in height by other buildings. The Calgary Tower isn’t even visible in the photo below of downtown Calgary (taken from my hotel room).
On my last night in Calgary, I *finally* decided to look around my downtown neighbourhood and grab a bite to eat. I found a great locally-run restaurant called Tre Vietnamese Kitchen. I had a coconut peanut satay chicken noodle soup (see photo below), and it was pretty spectacular. Just like the handheld pie at Pie Junkie, it was both spicy-hot and flavourful. I wouldn’t hesitate to have it again, especially after a hot day on the greens…or on a cold winter’s night. Anytime, really.
When I walked a few blocks the next morning to catch an airport bus, I stumbled across a National Historic Site called the Lougheed House. It resembled a grand old mansion that you might find in many small Ontario towns…except that it was in downtown Calgary, which is (relatively) a much younger city.
I didn’t get a chance to visit Lougheed House this time around, as I was toting a very heavy suitcase and was racing against the clock to get to the airport on time. I learned the hard way that Calgary’s public transportation has some very good aspects…and some frustrating ones. Transferring from the frequent LRT trains to buses in the downtown core would be one of the frustrating ones!
The next time I visit Calgary, I will do some more advance planning and seek out some more special attractions. Maybe I’ll stay longer too. On this visit, I got the feeling that there was much more to be seen…but I just didn’t have the time to do it.