Calgary was fantastic.
It all started on the first night when we (the Namibian guys from the Bus, Elizabeth from Quebec and I) went into town to have dinner after the long bus trip. Followed by some drinks in a pub called The Unicorn (a good sign anyway 🙂 ).
Followed but an absolutely phantastic Canada Day on the 1st of July:
I went to Prince’s Island Park with Sally and Andre from Berlin and spend a lazy afternoon in the sun listening to some jazz-rock-ska-cross-over. At some point we even met Elizabeth with a friend and PG and Jan at the festival. Which is kind of funny because it felt as if I would know more people in Calgary than I do at home 😉
When the last band was finished we went back to the hostel where I tried to get at least a bit of sleep which wasn’t really possible since it was already past 5 PM and the BBQ at the hostel should start at 6 PM.
So, I went out into the backyard to talk to a nice couple from New Zealand and two Swiss girls who had just arrived. After dinner Elizabeth, another girl from Quebec and I went to the Olympic Plaza, only two blocksfrom the hostel, where the evening music program took place. Whereas the others wanted to leave later and watch the fireworks from the roof of Steve’s apartment.
We had a phantastic time at the Plaza and also a very good view onto the fireworks – I just have to wait for Elizabeth’s pictures because I forgot to take my camera. After the fireworks the atmosphere became even better and in the end half of the whole place went into a polonaise – a quite fast one.
I guess it was only past twelve when we went back but we sure had a good time 🙂
On Sunday I went to the Olympic Parc. After a sunny start it became cloudy and quite windy, especially when I climbed the stairs up on the small ski jump. I also thought about renting a bike and try out some of those nice trails they provide there. But 40+ dollars for the bike plus 29 dollars for the day pass was definetely over my budget. So I just walked along the bobsled site and had a look at the trials: maybe some day with my own bike 😉
Altogether the whole park wasn’t as impressing as I would have excepted but maybe I missed something 😉
One day later on Monday the next highlight already followed: I visited the famous zoo of Calgory.
I read that it should be one of the most natural zoos in Canada/North America (?). So, I was quite excited.
But after visiting ZOOM in Gelsenkirchen the expectations were obviously too high: the zoo was alright but still the old fashioned way: path, fence, animal with a very emphasized fence.
The first resident I visited was – by chance – one of my most favorite ones: the tiger. What really surprised me was that almost all animals in the zoo were quite active. I’m used to playing detective to see any of the animals in German zoos but in Calgary the animals were all over the place and not asleep!!!!
So, I was really astonished that the tiger walked all around in his area directly in front of me, turned his back to me and….. sprayed. Luckily I reacted quick enough and didn’t get any tiger markings on my jacket – I was told that that would have been a really bad and smelly thing.
Funny thing was: there were warnings all over the place not to climb the fences but none that the tigers mark their territory by spraying (as well outside the fence). There was just a tiny note inside of a look-out with a glass window, on a place where nobody is affected by tiger piss. No, I don’t comment on that.
The rest of the day was quite uneventful: I stayed some time with the elephants, paid my visits to the leopards and the cougars which I also like a lot. I watched a young giraffe in full galopp (a first time for me) but otherwise it seemed to me to be a pretty “normal” zoo.
At some point it started to rain and became really chilly but after having lunch the sun came out again and it went hot again. Another example for the fast changing weather in the area.
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