So my lovely friends, followers and blog readers, lets get you settled.
Sit in your favourite comfy chair, have a drink to hand, turn off any gramophone, televista or wireless listening device and get ready for a long, long, long read as it covers the whole 14 days and we did so much. It's the great Canadian Adventure!
I will forgive you if you fall asleep or give up reading, it's almost like War & Peace but with bad punctuation and spelling 😝 but more piccies.
This journey starts in Cardiff, Barkers Cafe to be precise as do all our journeys.
Sian had a Salmon & Cream cheese bagel, i had boring granary toast.
Couple of drinkies and then some food in the restaurant before up to the room to get few hours sleep if we can but excitement is building.
Not to bad a nights sleep as our flight is 12.40pm so can have a lay in until 7.30am, shower, dress then over to check in and use the executive Air Canada Maple Leaf lounge for 3 hours before our flight is called.
Bags checked in through priority so only took 5 mins, priority security another couple of mins and time to relax in style.
Free food and drink? Don't mind if we do.
Cheers, yahoo! Just call me Cletus.
3 hours flies by and it's time to board the flight and have our first look at our business class seats, are we buzzing at this point or what? Yes we are.
As we reached our seats through the business class sky walk we were looking forward to the relaxing flight over to Toronto first then connection to Calgary.
No delay, flight leaves bang on time.
Our own private cabin space with entertainment system, bedding, quilt and pillow, wash bag full of goodies including bed socks and our lay down bed seat with built in massaging unit and adjustable mattress hardness. Wow, i felt like James Bond. Sian can be Money Penny.
"Spread yourself out Money Penny, i may get you to take down some items later".
Of course i didn't say that but that's the sort of cheesy thing Mr. Bond may say.
I want this seat in our living room.
Sian knows how to kick off a flight in style, Champagne all the way and yes it was proper champagne not this cheap imitation called prosecco, drinking prosecco isn't classy, now champagne, that's classy but a big boooooooo for no champagne flute glass but you can understand that as the slightest turbulence and the glass would be over.
With proper steel cutlery and a table cloth, this is way to much for my tiny brain to take in.
My choice of poison is a good old Black Jim Beam with dry ginger, that will go down so sweetly.
Would you like a snack sir? Maybe a salad or sandwich with nibbles? No i think i'll pass for now, thank you.
After 7 hours 30 min flight landing 15 mins early its a 90 min wait. Time goes back 5 hours.
Time for another executive lounge at Toronto.
It was a bit packed here as loads of internal flights for Canada had delays but i did like the pour your own beer bar which no one was using, you can tell we're not in the UK anymore Toto.
On to our next flight but the plane i knew had be changed for a smaller model. We were meant to have bed seats again but due to the change in plane we had business class extra large seats instead. Not a problem at all as still reclined far enough, were very comfortable and the next flight was only 4 hours.
More food and drink. Another 3 course meal but smaller and no Jim Beam but they had Canadian Club.
A pepper salad starter, gnocchi with butter sauce and baby asparagus main and a apricot cheesecake for dessert.
So since leaving our hotel room we could have eaten and drank constantly from Maple leaf lounge at Heathrow through to landing at Calgary. My god, i only eat one meal a day.
30 mins until we land and again arrive 10 mins early, time goes back another 2 hours, this is truly messing with our heads and our body clocks.
In all even with the connection the time flew by or should i say flew backwards ha, ha, ha, snort, grunt, ha!
We land in Calgary around 6.40pm and 7 hours behind the UK.
We look out from arrivals and can see Calgary stretched out in front of us. Bag is almost the first on the conveyer belt.
Time for the bus to downtown. We've done it before so nice and easy it was too.
Now on our flight we could have taken, wait for it, 2 hold luggage cases each weighing in total 64kg and 2 cabin bags BUT because we are clever with our packing we packed one case with both our clothes then packed that bag inside another bag for when we come back with goodies we've bought. Our total hold luggage weighed in at 29.9kg and a cabin bag each. This makes it so much easier for getting around. Sian is such an expert at packing and that was with a change of clothes each per day and 3 pairs of shoes each. Don't forget we also had washer and dryer in apartment so didn't even need to take that amount either.
Bus took about 25 mins in to downtown and as we stepped off the bus it was as though we were there only a month before not March 2020, it felt like we were home. Strange feeling but really good feeling.
My mistake, we got off a few stops to far away from apartment but that wasn't a problem, the adrenalin and excitement was pushing us on so i dragged the suitcase and Sian kept me going.
We're at our apartment, yaaaaaaaay! Pictures of that i put on my previous blog update and it was exactly what those pictures looked like, not one bit different. Very modern, comfortable and quiet.
This is going to be so good!
The view out from our balcony.
3.30am and we're both wide awake, BLOODY JET LAG! Totally forgot about that, last time it took us about 4 days to get our body clocks sorted, ah well, who cares, we're here and it feels amazing to be back.
7th July
"Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day, we both have major jet lag but nothing will get in our way" and it didn't. Up early, well, we hadn't slept but got ready to leave at 7.30am for a nice walk and get some groceries.
First stop is for a coffee and found our local Tim Hortons which was just around the corner from the apartment, so a good starting point.
All wide eyed and ready to go we take a walk in to the centre of downtown which is about a 25 min walk but with so many avenues with shops, bars, coffee shops, parks etc it never seems that long as always got something to look at. Our apartment was right on the very edge of downtown 13th Ave & 14th street but that was the best decision we made as it was only 4 avenues from the main 17th Ave bar area and next to the parks and river walk, so we had calm and nightlife all in the one place.
As we reached 8th Ave & 1st street, the very centre of downtown we were greeted by a mass of cowboys and cowgirls giving out free breakfast pancakes and Starbucks coffee, dear god, not more free food. We were asked if we wanted branding (like cattle) so we weren't sure what they meant. I definitely didn't want a hot piece of steel pressed against my peachy buttocks that's for sure but it was ok, it was just an ink stamp, phew!
Free pancake breakfast for everyone and i mean everyone, it was a constant production line of pancakes, bacon, sausages, berries, cream, maple syrup and Starbucks coffee in the middle of the main shopping street.
Fed and even more coffee time to head to the grocery store for our shopping. Off to Safeways we go.
I have to say the grocery stores in Calgary put all UK supermarkets to shame, it's like all the workers in them have OCD, they're all so neat and tidy and all the shelves are full and not with multiple faces of the same product over and over again making it look like the shelves are full when really its just beans filling half an aisle.
All the fresh fruit and veg aisles have cold mist sprays above them to keep it fresher longer. In this country we're lucky if the fridges work or they're leaking all over the floor.
Best flavour crisps ever, really sharp and strong.
A nice little walk back to apartment and starting to feel a little bit thirsty, lets pop in to a bar closer to home. In fact the bar we went to was that close it was on our block, HOORAAAH!
Fionn McCools. What a beacon of light for us, we were so hot and thirsty. As we approached we could here Stone Temple Pilots playing "Plush", that's a good sign. We sat down outside and were given menus, it was happy hours, that's an even better sign $5 a pint, YES!
We could see on they're menu they also did shots and bombers, it was our mission to do all of them one or two each visit.
Our first visit we took it easy, Sian had a Coors light i had a Whispering Fog.
Just by luck McCools was a rock bar, result.
After walking 8 miles on our first day after being up since 3.30am it was time to head home, unpack our goodies and relax for tomorrow is the start of the Calgary Stampede and it begins at 9am with the parade where Kevin Costner is the Marshall of the parade. See you tomorrow Kev. That's me talking to Mr. Costner not myself.
July 8th
3.47am, WE'RE WIDE AWAKE! Uggggh, this jet lag. Think the last time we were here it took 4 days to get body clock sorted, looks like it's going to be the same again.
Never mind any hour in bed here in Calgary is an hour wasted. Today and all over the 10 days of Stampede they are expecting 1.5 million to visit Calgary just for the Stampede, that's allot of people entering a city just for one event. Lets not forgot, this isn't a resort, this is a business and industrial city but just on the edge of the city they have the Stampede area where the Calgary Flames ice hockey team also have they're arena.
All over the city during the Stampede wherever there is a open piece of land or parking lot they build a concert event tent for bands and shows, there is so much going on that even with us being there for the 10 days of the Stampede there is no way at all you can do everything that's going on.
Lets go get our spot for the parade, we thought we would get there a little early as it started from downtown 9th Ave & 1st Street at 9am and our apartment was close to where the parade turns around and heads back at 9th Ave & 11th Street.
As we arrived we could see it was packed, there was a space right on the curb side BUT it was next to the porta toilet. I went to check for any whiffy smells but it was fine, later in the day it may become a problem. No matter we took up our prime positions alongside the toilet and people in their lounger seats they had brought with them.
The parade is coming.
At the head of the parade after the police display was the man himself, Kevin "The Marshall" Costner.
That's how close we were, he's the one in the middle.
"Kevin, Kevin, over here, I'm the only person who liked Waterworld, all your other films are crap!"
It went on for ages to be honest, band after marching band, floats, vehicles, horses, we stayed for 2 hours in 34deg with sun directly on us so we decided to leave and go for a river walk at 11am with the parade still in full flow.
The river walk takes you from one end of Downtown to the other so it's quite a distance but it's a enjoyable walk seeing the river in full flow instead of a frozen mass like the last time. Along the way we took pics to show then and now.So here is the first.
March 2020
July 2022
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July 2022
March 2020
July 2022
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July 2022
March 2020
March 2020
July 2022
We were a bit peckish so we popped in to the bar shown above called "The Local". We went in here in 2020 and it was really homely pub with all dark wood and a fireplace that sold many variants of chicken wings, what a shock we had. It was now a modern open plan light and clinical bar with numerous tv's and loads of waitresses, obviously due to the Stampede being in town, i didn't like the change but we had some burgers and a beer and made our way around town and back to apartment.
Every evening before we went home we'd always stop off at Fionns for a pint and a shot, it became our local watering hole. Cheers.
July 9th
Now not every day was full on, after all this is a holiday but we would always walk a minimum of 6 miles a day into, around and out of Downtown. We never just rest, it's not in our nature as we make the most of every minute of the day wherever we go on holiday, did you ever see me sit down in Oceanic?
During this holiday i think we only had 1 lay in when Sian had a terrible migraine, we were up and out most mornings by 8.30am for our usually coffee start to the day.
Today was a lets a have zig zag walk up and down avenues and streets and go to The Core shopping mall and see what's going on around town as during stampede there is always something going on around town.
The view from our starting point at apartment. In the very middle of the picture in the distance you can see the Calgary Tower which is the very centre of Downtown, that was where we headed for every day.
Outside the The Core they had the floats from the parade on display and allot of effort had gone in the floats and very impressive they were too. They even had the cowboy ghostbusters.
There are quite a few small park areas around the city which is good see which take you away from the busy streets and give a place to rest and relax. In one of those parks was a sculpture of wild horses but if you look within that sculture you can see other little figures incorporated. Very clever work.
After hours of walking here, there and everywhere it's time to head back, Fionns anybody?
The inside of Fionn McCools.
Today was 17th Avenue day. An avenue that stretches the whole width of Calgary full of coffee shops, bars and eateries. Luckily for us it started where our apartment was.
We decided to walk down the avenue and at the halfway point there have a coffee, continue to the end and walk back stopping off for a beer or four.
this avenue had been given extra walk ways in to the road for the Stampede as all the business needed extra seating on the pavements due to the volume of visitors for the 10 day Stampede event.
It was amazing to see places packed out at 10am in the morning, i've never seen so many cowboy hats and double denim in all my life but even with all these bodies and beers it was a really nice calm atmosphere, if this was in the UK you'd be looking over your shoulder all the time for the first fight and drunk idiot throwing up on the street.
It was a real joy just to see a happy pleasant mass of people of all ages.
We dropped in to a coffee shop called the Ground Bean. It was lovely and cool inside as it was 28deg at 10am in the morning outside.
WE ordered 2 frappes, mocha for Sian and Vanilla flavoured for me.
Their frappes are completed different to what we're used to, mine was just a vanilla thick shake which gave me brain freeze. We miss Zakynthos frappes.
And off we go again.
As we walk down 17th Ave every bar is lively and busy with cowboys and cowgirls, lots of checked shirts, double denim and Smithbilt cowboy hats.
All around Calgary are huge letters with the word "Yahoo", its not "Yeehaa" here it's "Yahoo" so we tried to track them all down and we found the first.
Lets see how many more we can find over the next couple of days.
As we walk and walk we didn't realise how far we've walked and it's now 1.30pm, we set out at 10am, think we deserve a drink.
The bars were packed and we just wanted somewhere to sit in the shade and have a beer.
We spotted a bar across the road which had a large outdoor seating area that was playing hard/thrash metal, that'll do, no wonder the seating is empty, the bar was called Pin-Bar and this is why.
So many classic pinball machines including Alien, Terminator and Guns n Roses.
2 pints of Raspberry beer later and it's time to head home for our tea and what a tea it was, PIZZA HUT!
Now i know what your thinking "You can get Pizza Hut anywhere" yes your right but where else can you get a pizza meal deal......wait for it......that comes in a set of drawers.......what the.........
Broken from 10 mile walk, full with beer and stuffed with pizza extravaganza it's time to chill out and nod off.
July 11th
Sian woke up with a serious migraine which wiped her out all day so there was nothing for me to do except go out, get wasted and party, yay!
Nah, only joking, when have you every seen me drunk?
I stayed in by Sians side and made sure she was ok, when she gets laid up with this severe migraine it isn't nice so i always make sure she's looked after and to be honest we both needed a break as we'd been full on since day one. I'm more than happy for a day in.
July 12th
Sian is fully recovered and raring to go, that's good.
Today it's time to go and visit the scene of Olympic history, the making of an Olympic legend, the site where a hero was born....yes it's the Calgary winter Olympics 1988 and that hero and legend is Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards.
We had this as one of our planned days. Go to winter Olympics 1988 site, stand at the top of the 90m jump and try to find his 71m landing.
A quick bus journey over and we were at the Winsport site and the first thing we saw as soon as we stepped off the bus was the actual bobsleigh that was used in the film "Cool Running" as that was also the 1988 Calgary winter Olympics.
I thought i'd give the bobsleigh run a go, after all i have short fast legs and my stumpy body has good wind resistance.
Ah well, onward and upwards to Eddies leap. 90m jump is the middle one.
Hmm, its a bit of a walk up to it, i know lets get the ski lift, that's much easier.
What you mean we can't get off at the top only mountain bike riders can take their bikes up on it and get off at the top, how stupid, oh well, a round trip ski lift it is. It was very high up off the ground but what a view.
Sian would have been quite happy to go round again but we were told it was just the once around, boooooooooooo!
It was a great place to visit for a few hours just because of the history that the Calgary 1988 winter Olympics produced.
So we didn't get to go to the top of the ski jump or where Eddie landed due to the stupid rule you can't get off the ski lift at the top.
Although we could have got off at the top if we had paid $65 to go down the 90m ski jump in a Zip line chair. Now Sian and i would have loved to have done that but $65 for a zip line ride of 1 minute we thought was crap value for money and no one did it while we were there.
Never mind, it was a great day. To McCools we go.
Shots, shots, shots, shots. Oh no, we've tried all the shots......bombers, bombers, bombers, bombers.
A few pints and bombers later and we're all chilled out ready for home, tomorrow we explore Princes Island and do some sunbathing just for a change of pace.
July 13th
Princes island is open, HOORAH!
It wasn't open when we first went in 2020 and it wasn't open when we first arrived in 2022 but today it's open.
With a picnic in my rucksack and towels it's a day in the park and a dip in the lagoon of Bow River on the one side of Princes island.
It's a lovely place to have a walk around, very peaceful and quiet away from the rush of the traffic and the crowds of the Stampede.
As we were walking along we could see a picnic area in the middle of the trees and the tables had so many squizzles around them, we like the squizzles. So we went over to feed them a few snacks.
Within seconds the Squizzles were there and so were the mozzies, as soon as we got to the picnic area i got bitten 7 times straight away so unfortunately the squizzles didn't get their treats.
I've never been bitten so much in all my years of holidaying and living abroad, they were itching like mad straight away but i'm pretty good at resisting scratching them so we walked out and decided to take a walk down to the lagoon.
The ducks got fed instead.
After sitting with the ducks we decided to go and look for a sunbathing spot. We found a spot on a grass bank facing the sun laid down the towels and as soon as the towels went down the mozzies came up from the grass, time to go.
We went back down to the lagoon and went for a little paddle, it was bloody freezing. I was in the water so long that my feet went numb but being as it was 37deg i would have stood on an ice block if it was there. Sian was loving it and didn't think it was that cold.
Time to take a wander and have a drink of anything cold.
The great adventurer exploring new lands......it took me ages to cross the lagoon. Me being a man decided to cross barefoot, big mistake. the stones were small, pointed and sharp, so along with the freezing water it was such a joyous crossing.
Trying to be brave, stupid stones!
There was a little hot dog and drinks stall on the river side called the Pit Stop, we were so thirsty and it was quiet, that's our place.
We both noticed they did ice cream floats, thank god for that, Sian had a 7up float and i had a cream soda float. Never seen purple cream soda before but it was so good, cheers.
It's been a good day and still the walk back to do, i think we deserve a special treat for tea, POUTINE!
The Big Cheese Poutinerie on 17th Avenue has been voted the best place for poutine in Calgary and it did not disappoint at all, mmmmmmmmm.
I always have the Canadian poutine just chips covered in cheese curd and beef gravy, so simple, so good, oh, and a side order of deep fried cheese curd.
July 14th
Its our first rodeo, YAHOO!
Today we visit the Stampede for our first of 2 trips, today is a daytime visit for the rodeo where there is barrel racing, bareback horse rodeo, bull riding, steer wrestling and junior rodeo.
The rodeo started at 1.30pm so we left home about 10.30am to take a nice walk down to the Stampede and then have a walk around the stampede as it's huge, lots to do outdoor and indoor with so much going on.
We had a walk around after the rodeo and there were so many food and drink stalls, fun fair rides, stalls and exhibitions that it would have taken another blog update just for those.
I will save more pictures for the final night event as we went twice that day once in morning for food and then again in evening for the event itself.
Time for a hot and sweaty walk home and nip in for a few beers along the way.
We decided to go back to the Pin Bar and as i entered to buy the drinks i was asked for ID, i kid you not. I sniggered and said "Are you kidding, i'm 54". At the age of 54 you stop carrying round ID showing your date of birth. The owner wasn't kidding, he said it was some licence law but we hadn't been ID'd before anywhere and we weren't ID'd the first time we went in there. The owner gave in and let me buy some drinks. Won't be going there again.
After a short walk we were thirsty again, it was very hot this day, we're not alcoholics.
We've seen the bar Jamesons every day as it was just around the corner from us and it was happy hour, we love a happy hour.
What a great bar. Good music, nice and clean and lots of tv's showing the rodeo we had been to earlier in the day.
July 15th
Today is a lets go on a shopping trip for cowgirl boots day. I had promised Sian we would get a her a proper pair of cowgirl boots from Calgary during the Stampede.
It's another lovely day in the neighbourhood and we also decided we wanted to take in a movie, we knew we had seen a cinema in Downtown Calgary burt didn't know what they were showing so we had a wander to see what in there that day.
As we approached the cinema i thought we had stepped through as time traveling portal along the way.
By the looks of it the cinema only had one screen and there on the display outside were the 2 movies that will be showing.
The first movie was "First Blood" from 1982 and "Universal Soldier" from 1992.
What type of parallel universe have we stepped in to? This world shows movies with some of the worst actors in history and were stuck in it. Good god, what have we done. Time travel isn't all it's made up to be, this version of Calgary is not where i want to be, Sian find that portal and quick.
Phew, we're back. perhaps just that one Avenue is a portal to the past and the rest of Downtown is still 2022, don't experiment with multiverses, you may end up in one with dodgy movies.
We found our cowboy shop, it's called Lammles. For a city that has such a huge connection to the cowboy scene what with the Stampede it only has one cowboy shop.
We stepped in and the first smell that hit's you is leather due to the amount of boots and belts they have.
Then it's the usual check shirts and masses of cowboy hats,
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Its been another hot day in the city and we'd seen a bar we wanted to try called "Social" it was a sports bar that was home of the Calgary Flames or so it said outside. This bar was full outside every single day at any time of day whenever we walked past it, lets give it a go.
As we walked it it was a nicely spaced out bar with a vast selection of beers.
Because Sian likes raspberry she went with a raspberry beer again, i went for a blood orange beer.
Now this place was a good looking bar but it's the only bar i've known with individual urinal cubical toilets with a locking door and a sink.
I didn't take a picture of the cubicle inside as a gents toilet is never that pleasing on the eye but basiccally you walk through the door and in the little cubicle was your urinal and a sink, never seen that before.
So here's a pic of the door anyway.
Social bar drew me in because from outside i could see a wall full of Calgary Flame shirts and helmets which was a great display.
If this bar was in the UK those helmets would no longer be there as someone would have swiped them.
Still feeling a little thirsty we have seen another bar across the road that we liked the look of it was called "The Unicorn" and had three levels to it. I asked which level played the best music and the host said the ground level as it was rock. That'll do us.
As we sat down the music was not rock, it was country & western, good grief, please no, not more of this music. We stayed for a drink anyway.
In Calgary when they have a change in beer on the pump they don't have beer clips with the name on like in the UK have the complete pump handle with the name on and in The Unicorn bar they had all their old pump handles on display, what a great idea.
It's been another great day of walking, shopping and drinking but what about the food, grilled cheese sandwich anyone? Wow, yes please.
Sian went for the Philly cheese steak sandwich i went for the original grilled cheese sandwich with them came a fresh green slaw, it was amazing and of course we had to have tater-tots, why is the food over here so good. It's not fair.
July 16th
Oh my god! Its a grey day, the first since being here, we hadn't even seen a cloud up until today.
We were quite relieved it was as we have done so much and walked so far it was nice to be able to walk around without having to find places with shade to walk in.
We found a proper cinema complex and thought today is a cinema day. The cinema was the other side of Downtown from where we were staying, thank god its cloudy.
As we walked along the street i saw a rabbit. Now over here you always see hares hopping around the city, its a common sight but this looked like a domesticated rabbit. As we approached it it stayed completely still. Sian went to feed it some grass as as she got so close it it hopped off and in to its house. Strange to see a rabbit so relaxed alongside a main avenue in a city.
A stop off at McCools on the way back from the cinema and i'm making tea tonight, nice to relax all day to recharge ready for a full on day at the Stampede tomorrow but we did go to a pub that night for a bit of laugh on Karaoke.
The pub was called Watchman's. As we were about to enter we were ID'd again by someone who i can only describe as a relative of Waynetta Slob. What is up with getting ID'd over here?
I showed her my reverend identification card and that was enough, may god be with you poor girl.
As we entered there was one gent sat in a really dark and dodgy looking bar, it was about 9.45pm and Karaoke had started at 9pm. We made our way to the tables outside at the front of bar on the main road. This bar was on 17th Ave, the main bar street and it was the only bar that wasn't packed out, it was Saturday night and the Stampede is in town yet it was empty, it had at the most 10 people in it and that includes the one guy sat inside. We ordered our beers, drank them within 5 minutes and headed back.
July 17th
IT'S THE CALGARY STAMPEDE FINAL NIGHT EXTRAVAGANZA!
The day has come.
We decided to go in to the Stampe3de in the morning to go on the seat lift over the Stampede area and then have a light lunch.
Firstly we found a denim YAHOO! Tick, another off the list.
Then we went to a see a dog display of rescue dogs who do skills and tricks. This group of people and dogs were on Americas got talent.
What next, ah yes the seat lift ride over the Stampede.
Hmm, it's now 1pm, we've been here 2 hours and feel a bit peckish, what shall we have Sian? Hot Dogs you say, good idea.
And what's this, Cricket Hot Dogs, interesting.
You don't believe we ate it...........
Oh yes we did and Sian also has a video of herself eating it that she posted on her facebook.
Now we have had our high protein hot dog we have enough energy to walk back, have a little chill out before coming back 3 hours later for the evening event and a big surprise.
And we're back in the Stampede ready for the show to start at 7.45pm.
Hmm still a little bit peckish, alligator tail anyone?
Now we've been fed it's time to make our way to the same seats we had for the rodeo.
Night time show began with chuckwagon racing and a bareback horse relay race which was great to watch.
The view out over the fun fair from our seat level.
Then a whole stage was moved in to place for the main grandstand show. Never seen anything like it, its was a moveable, complete fold out stage.
Firstly we had a multi platinum selling, country and western award winning singer called Dean Brody.
Now i have no time at all for country and western music. I don't have even one country and western song on my playlist. Sorry, i lie, i have Johnny Cash but they are cover versions he sang called "Hurt" and "Personal Jesus".
Now the first song Dean Brody sang i really like which i was amazed at but it sounded much better live, when i found a video of the song to upload on here it didn't sound as good.
It made No.1 in the country and music charts.
After Dean there was a full on all singing, all dancing show which went through the years of the Stampede with songs from the 50's to present day. It was a really entertaining polished show i was very impressed. It had the lot, even a cowboy using whips which were on fire and jumping a lasso rope that was also set on fire, very impressive.
Now it was almost 11pm, time for the huge firework display, i'm very excited and looking forward to this as this is going to be the best night of my life, so far that is, they may be better to come.
The clock hits 11pm and the firework display begins with the cast of the show singing Coldplays "Sky full of stars".
I take Sian by the hand and lead her down to the walkway in front of about 500 spectators. Sian thought we were leaving early to avoid the crowds.
As the fireworks are going off behind us, i get down on one knee, pull a ring box from my pocket and ask Sian will she marry me.
Sian started jumping up and down, crying and laughing at the same time and said yes.
As i put the ring on her finger and then got up off my knee and kissed her all the spectators in the stand stood and clapped and cheered. It was the perfect moment, fireworks, a lovely song and people applauding our special moment. Quite a few came to us to congratulate us and one gentleman said "That's the best thing i've seen all night". I couldn't have grinned any wider even if i wanted to.
As we went back to our seats the fireworks were still going off, so we sat hugging each other and watched the end of the display.
And here's Sians ring. A solitare diamond, surrounded by diamonds with a band of diamonds set in white gold.
Sparkly, OOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooo!
I had the ring down my sock as we walked from our apartment to the Stampede, 3 miles in total. I had it down my sock as i was wearing skinny jeans and the ring box was quite big, i waited until 10pm when it was dark to change it over from my sock to my pocket. While the ring was in my sock i had to keep knocking my ankles together whenever we stopped walking to make sure it was still there.
Now then. That all sounds like it was perfectly planned, well it was sort of but that was the plan B.
Remember that earlier in the blog we went to where Eddie The Eagle did that famous jump, well, one of Sian's favourite films is "Eddie the Eagle" so i had the ring with me that day to propose at the top of the 90m ski jump BUT as you've read we couldn't get to it, so plan B was the final night of the Stampede which in fact was more perfect than plan A. I also had a plan C in place which was the Penguin enclosure at Calgary Zoo which wasn't needed as plan B worked. Knowing my luck with it being in the Penguin enclosure i would have walked in slipped on some ice or fish, fallen and lost the ring only for a Penguin to find it and swallow it and i ain't waiting for a Penguin to poop it out.
Anyway, it was the best moment of my life so i'm glad it worked out the way it did.
We left the Stampede area and walked up 17th Ave and decided to celebrate with a drink on the way home.
That plan didn't work out, it was Sunday and all the bars were closed as it was by now gone Midnight, bugger!
July 18th
Just a quiet day to celebrate our engagement , PUB, PUB, PUB, PUBS!
Why the hell not, the suns out, we're in an amazing mood, well, we're always in a good mood whenever but this was an even better mood.
The plan is a fresh pretzel from Mr. Pretzel in Downtown for breakfast, buy cowgirl boots for Sian, have a walk in the sun and then a pub crawl. Can't fault it.
Sian had a fresh Pretzel in 2020 and it was so good so we both had one this time. You can watch it being made from dough till cooked till dipped in liquid butter and covered in sea salt, it was amazing.
Pretzel eaten and over to the Cowboy store. The Canadian women must have huge feet as there were lots of different style boots if your a size 6 or above anything below that was slim pickings and that's not a country & western singer. After a mooch around the shop Sian found a pair she liked and they were a good price, all leather boots and reduced from $296 to $159, bargain. See, i said early there may be a sale on, KERCHING!
We decided to take a walk over to where the Stampede was the night before to see if we could pick up a horseshoe for our new home we're moving in to in Cardiff but it was like a ghost town, so weird after being so packed the night before.
Ah well even though it looked sad and empty it gave me a chance to have a pic next to the Calgary Flames sign.
The sun is getting stronger so lets start our walk back and pop in to a few pubs to celebrate.
In jamesons we both had Tangerine beer which was so good a flavour and saw a game of shuffle board in the corner, winner pays for round, LETS DO THIS! i'm gonna beat ya!
Sian's turn.
I lost! Not one red stone on the board.
After a few rounds of Tangerine beer and my eyesight getting worse through wearing contacts hence the loss of the shuffle board competition it's off to McCools.
ENGAGMENT BOMBERS, BOMBERS, BOMBERS, BOMBERS!
July 19th
A sombre day as it's our last full day as our flight tomorrow is 6.30pm.
What shall we do. Well, it was meant to be up early for Calgary Zoo but due to an early morning and a late night the day before we had a little lay in, i think the first of the whole holiday to not be up before 8am.
Shower, dressed and off we go for our usual Tim Hortons and walk back in to Downtown as tomorrow we're just staying locally.
We just walked along the river, up and down the streets and avenues, took in all the places we loved to visit and enjoyed and take a few pictures for our blog.
Like this one of a wall decoration.
Found a cowhide yahoo!
A nice but unusual sculpture.
I bought some beans to take back to the UK as can't get these flavours there.
And we promised ourselves the monster sandwich we had on our first visit in 2020, 8 meats and 4 cheeses.
We are exhausted, between, walking again around 8 miles, afternoon drinkies, evening drinkies and lovely food i think it's time to settle down and chill out for the night.
July 20th
Our last Tim Hortons for breakfast, a little walk out locally and then off to the bus to head to the airport for 2pm.
A very sad day indeed, good job we have the executive lounge and business class seats waiting for us to take the edge off going back to the UK.
More food, more drink and on to the plane we go.
When we first visited in 2020 i was gutted when i got back to UK that i hadn't bought a bear i had seen in the airport that had a Calgary Flames hoody on.....this time i got it.
I've named him Calbeary, Calbeary the Calgary bear, he's sat alongside my Signed Heritage Calgary Flames jersey of Mikkelson an Ex Cardiff Devils player.
Even the plush adjustable comfy bed seats can't take away the sting of returning to the UK.
From the start of journey until landing back in the UK we had no delays at all of anything to mention i think we had 15 min delay in Toronto that was it.
As soon as we land back in UK our first mode of transport to the hotel was late, the second mode of transport the day after to the train station didn't arrive. Yep, we're definitely back.
So i will sum up.
We've been to Calgary twice now, -24Deg the first time 36Deg the second time and we loved both the total opposites.
We had walked through desirable Downtown and through less desirable areas on the outskirts, at all times no matter whether it was day or night and we felt safe and at ease.
There is a peaceful friendly feeling throughout Calgary from all walks of life whoever we met in businesses or on the streets.
We never look at vacations with rose tinted glasses. We've lived abroad before, it's not a dream, it's been reality so we don't have to imagine what it would be like.
We've looked in to a move to Calgary, house prices, rental prices, job opportunities and it's all there for us without any sticking points as our paperwork accepted for our 5 year visas .
Of course the move isn't on the cards straight away, we're realistic but it's there.
We both agreed we would prefer to work there 7 days a week, 8-6 every day in Calgary than stay in the UK and work 3 days a week (Mon-Wed) with weekends off like i do.
Calgary as a whole has a vibe about the the place from locals and immigrants that makes you feel like your a part of the community.
Oh.......and we can walk miles, our average daily mileage was 10 miles. No wonder we're broken, even after all that eating and drinking we both came home lighter than when we left, result!
We have already got our accommodation sorted for Canada Day 2024 but flights aren't available yet.
We will be back!
WAKE UP! I'VE FINISHED!
So where to next? Well we did have tickets for Freddie Mercury's birthday party in Queens recording studio, Montreux start of Sept BUT i was also lucky enough to get tickets for the Foo Fighters one off Taylor Hawkins Tribute concert in Wembley, unfortunately they are on the same day.
Sometimes Brian May and Roger Taylor attend Freddies Party but they are playing at the concert this year so we have made the decision that the party happens every year and this concert is a one off, London it is and this time a stay near Camden and Hampstead which will be a nice change as we've pretty much exhausted London Centre.
Thank you for taking hours out of your day to read the ramblings of an idiot.
Until the Foo Fighters concert..........
Serve All, Love All, Peace All, Kevlar Out!
