So this is gonna be a long read with lots of pictures and with my brain trying to remember everything it may ramble at times but here we go.
Sooooooooo lets start with the most important thing then i will write in chronological order.....WE'RE MARRIED!!!!!!!
We set the date of 3rd July because we didn't want it on Independence Day 4th July as all those aliens would just be a nightmare blowing up buildings and messing up Prince's Island with their green gooo and killing rays and that was even before we knew the date of the lucky dip Prime Minister raffle. We also didn't want it on Canada Day 1st July as everyone is on national holiday and on July 2nd after Canada Day we may be hung over, no, 3rd of July it was.
We had been in Calgary around that date in 2022 and it was scorching so the location was beside the Bow River on Prince's Island at 11am so it would be a bit cooler for us. Unfortunately when we woke up it was solid grey sky with the sun just about peeking through, never mind, it's all about us. We get ourselves all bright eyed and bushy tailed, Sian looking amazing in a lovely flowing summer dress, me looking like i had stolen a private school boys uniform. As we stepped outside the hotel......bugger.....rain drops! That's ok as the minister had messaged me and said it wasn't raining over on Prince's Island, phew! We call a Calgary yellow and black chequered cab and off we go in style.
Our wedding location filmed the day before, you can hear the gooses.
We arrive and as the minister said it wasn't raining and the sun was trying it's hardest to break through. We make our way to the decking area and there was Judy and her witnesses Rose and Deborah waiting for us to begin the ceremony. We didn't write any vows we just wanted a traditional ceremony with the basic vows, short and sweet so we could get off to Jameson's for Blood Orange beer, Poutine and so i can kick Sian's ass at shuffleboard.
Judy, our minister, was absolutely amazing, she was so helpful and always on hand to answer our questions from when we first contacted her until we finished the ceremony, Judy made our wedding experience so much better and we thank her so so much.
I have to say that as we took our vows i did get a bit chocked up towards the end of the vows as we had built up to this day for 2 years since i proposed in Calgary and don't forget the 28 years before that of passing each other at the wrong points in our life. The ceremony went by without a single mistake so maybe that's why in our pics we look like we are concentrating so hard just to make sure we get the vows right and we were then pronounced Mrs. and Mr. Pinnell. So now i would like to present to you the 1st Mrs. Pinnell and her side kick....ME!
Looks like i forgot my school blazer while Sian looks amazing, love that dress and the sun's just peeking through, YAY!
Perfect location, so peaceful, so quiet and lots of gooses.
Awwwww and we're married.
What's that you say, "The 1st Mrs. Pinnell?" YES, the 1st, Sian wanted to take my surname Pinnell so Sian is the 1st Mrs. Pinnell.
And there we go our amazing ceremony was done and now time to celebrate......
Time to show off our rings fingering each other. Dear god, get your minds out of the gutter.
I'd just like to say that if it weren't for that chance meeting with Sian i would never have done or seen half the things i have and that's all down to Sian being as excited as i am to do the things we do, I LOVE YOU xxxxx
At this point we now go back to June 25th and i start the blog again but this time in chronological order, so lets rewind and relive the most amazing 2 weeks of our lives.
June 25th 2024 - Cardiff - Foo Fighters Day
IT'S ACTUALLY HERE! We've been waiting 4 years for this day. We were originally set to see them in 2020 but Covid hit. Then we had tickets to see them in Birmingham and Milan in 2022 but Taylor Hawkins sadly passed away. We were lucky enough to see them in Wembley for Taylors tribute concert and they were amazing but it wasn't the same. Now the time had come to see our rock heroes in all their glory.
We were so excited and we had decided on our outfits for the day as it was a glorious warm sunny day. For Sian i had a custom T-shirt made for her as a surprise that she wanted but couldn't find anywhere on the internet and she wore it with pride.
It's Dave's alter ego band from the video for "Long road to ruin"
And i got a myself a Seattle Kraken NHL jersey custom made which i wore along with my Billabong Foo Fighter board shorts. "Seattle" because Foo Fighters were formed there and "94" is the year they were formed.
We're ready to go!
We make our way in to town and have a wander around, take in a few beers in few bars and just chill as we weren't going in to the stadium until 7pm as we don't like the songs by the support band Wet Leg, BORING! Now the problem i have with Cardiff city center pubs is they were advertising "Foo Fighters playlist all day" but when you went in there was some other crap playing or Euro football. Walkabout bar was the only bar charging to get in, £3, but they did state on a advertising board outside "Non stop Foo Fighters songs all day". We walked towards the entrance and all we could hear was football commentary, no music. Then we walked past the next bar and the tout outside said "Come on in, you'll love it" what a great sales person, great patter, uuuuggghhhhhh! Sian asked "Are you playing Foo Fighters?" he replied "yeah of course we are, all day" only to hear Taylor Shit's nails down a chalk board voice drifting out of the said bar we told we would love.
Time to head to the stadium and take our seats. The concert is a sell out and all are in good spirits. The countdown is on. We had great seats, not that we were sat in them for long as we were jumping about like loons most of the concert and only sat for the slower songs.
The masses gather!
And the Foo's start to play!
Dave loves Cardiff really!
At quite a few points during the concert we both got quite emotional and the odd tear was shed as certain songs took us back to the tribute concert and as i've stated before it's the weirdest thing becoming that emotional over someone you've never met but also a lovely feeling. And one of those songs is Taylors favorite song "Aurora".
As with the Tribute concert Taylors son Shane made a guest appearance and he is a awesome drummer and hits harder than any drummer i've every seen and still only 17, could be the future drummer of the Foo Fighters if they go as long as the Rolling Stones have.
And almost 3 hours later, it's emotionally all over..........
It's a mixture of an amazing high but also a sad low. An amazing high because we saw an awesome concert by a real true rock band but then you get a sad low as it's all over and you don't know if you'll get to see them again.
It's a strange feeling for me as i'm almost like i was never there, i'm the same at every concert i go to, i'm so wrapped up in the moment i don't know whether to just sit and watch to take it all in or get up and go bat shit crazy but miss allot of the gig and then it's all over and i'm like "Was i just at that gig?". Very strange.
There were 2 negative points for me though. 1/ They didn't sing one of my favorite songs, my release all you anger song "Run". I love that song as i just rage shouting the lyrics as loud as i can and throw my body about and 2/ Summer gigs are so light so late in to the night that the huge light show of a stadium gig is lost until almost the end of the gig.
We walk out of the city center away from all the crowds, flag down a taxi and make our way home with the sound of the Foo Fighters still ringing in our ears and joy in our hearts, it was just the best.
And in to bed, that's if we can get to sleep as tomorrow we start our journey one step closer to Calgary.
June 26th - Heathrow
Bags are packed and ready to go for 13 days and who says you need checked baggage for a long haul flight, we'll prove you all wrong. Only a cabin bag and a personal bag for us, no waiting at carousels or lugging large heavy cases about. We're pretty good, even though we do say so ourselves.
Our vacations always start as you know with our tradition of a trip to Barkers Cafe Bar for our breakfast.
My usual massive doorsteps of granary toast with heart attack full salted butter and a latte.
We arrive at our hotel an hour before check in but they check us in 30 mins early and then off to the beer garden for a pint and to watch the planes land as the runway is quite close to the hotel which is great.
Our flight isn't until 10.15am the next day so we got all day just to kick back and relax then wake up all fresh and ready to go, we land at Calgary Midday the same day, that just sounds weird after taking an 8 hour flight. And so to bed, will we sleep?
June 27th - Time to start our adventure
We just about slept, we're up and we're so excited to be on our way.
We get our seats close to boarding gates and watch as people gather and queue nearly 30 minutes before boarding time, why? Your seat is booked, your bags are checked, so why rush to get on a flight and sit there for longer than you have to waiting for the others to get on and stow their bags away, just seems pointless. We wait until all have gone through then go through last then its the shortest time we need to wait on the plane. Perfect.
We settle in to our seats, set up our entertainment screens and wait for our food and drink. Chicken teriyaki with rice and a dill pasta salad washed down by a Canadian club and ginger. Nice.
Food eaten, alcohol consumed, movie on entertainment player and time to try to sleep, i doubt we will as way to excited.
"Prepare for landing" YAAAAHOOOOOOO! we're over Calgary. As we get lower and lower the weather gets worse and worse, we're landing during a thunder storm with torrential rain, never mind we're here and that's all that matters. The landing was surprisingly one of the calmest we've had considering the weather conditions. We get through customs so quickly it was brilliant. WE step out from the arrivals building and it's monsoon rain, TAXI!
Get to the hotel and we're tired and i'm not feeling that great as i can feel a temp coming on, that won't stop me. Drop bags through the door and turned straight back around and out. Lets get to the pub for our first drinkies.
We find the closest bar while the rain has eased and duck inside and what a great find with a happy hour all day, one of my pet hates, the saying "Happy Hour" but in fact it's 12 hours but i'll let it slide today. Browns Social Bar.
Someone's sleeping well tonight.
Now the first to 2 pics on this Calgary blog have been of Sian with alcohol, she is not an alcoholic, i just hate my picture being taken so Sian stars in this blog for the both of us, i appear ever now and again, i spare you the sight of my awkward picture smile.
A few rounds later and we need to buy some essentials from the local store "Shop & Save" and what a great store it was. We had a walk round and there was so much food we wanted to buy, always the worst thing to do, go food shopping after alcohol. We were reserved and just bought essentials for now. When we got to the till the till clerk asked us if we had a loyalty discount card, we said no and she replied "That's OK i'll use the stores discount card for you". This is our first night in Calgary, the first time we've been in this store and we're being given discount on a very small amount of shopping. No way on earth would any store in the UK do that for someone whether they be from another country or local. They would just shred your goods over the scanner and let you pack the bag yourself while they scan and dump the next customers shopping on your shopping. Amazing. This won't be the only act of kindness we were shown during our stay.
Our essential shopping. Maple biscuits, Blueberry eggo's, Dill Pickle crisps and Corn Dogs, what more does a couple need.
And so to bed, lets hope jet lag doesn't kick in as we have breakfast included with our room Mon-Fri 6am - 9am, Sat-Sun 7am - 10am. We do like a free breakfast. Nigh Nigh now.
June 28th
PING! Wide awake, what time is it, 4AM! Are you kidding me? We didn't go to sleep until around midnight and with booze in our system. Breakfast isn't for another 2 hours. My temp is higher again today and shivers have started, we keep going, you can do it!
Well it's 6am lets get down to breakfast and see what we got. To our surprise it was quite good, better than allot of hotel breakfast we've had. The hot breakfast alternated every day between maple bacon, omelette and BBQ beans then the next day free formed cumberland sausages, scrambled egg and sauteed potatoes. Along with the hot food you had 6 cereals, bagels, croissants, toast, muffins, parfait yoghurt, fresh berries, fresh melon salad, juices and freshly made waffles that you make yourself in a waffle making iron. It was a good breakfast spread with more than enough choice.
Back to room, shower, dress and out, off to get our marriage license from the licensing office that i had already sorted from the UK but needed to produce our ID and divorce papers.
We find the office, produce all our paperwork and it's done, as simple as that, were ready to officially get married, YAAHOO!
See.....i told you i'm awkward in pictures.
One of our usual not self important selfies.
It is such a peaceful shopping mall, very busy but also very calming unlike UK shopping centers.
What have they done......an Indian restaurant instead of a cool rock bar...Uuuugggghhhhh!
Its been a long full first day and we're starving what shall we have to eat? Well being as we're in Canada and its all about the poutine and meats lets have a.........GREEK!
Just by pure luck 5 doors down from our hotel is a Greek restaurant called Paros and OH MY GOD, what a find. I have not had anything so authentic tasting since we left Zakynthos, we could be in one of our fav Zakynthos tavernas as we were eating it, it was amazing quality and perfect taste.
Proper Greek oven potatoes and a huge slice of Saganaki, it tasted amazing.
June 29th
PING! "WAKE UP! WAKE UP! IT'S YOUR JET LAG EARLY MORNING CALL, COME ON IT'S 4AM!" uuuggghhhhhh! Today i'm on fire and that's not me bragging, i'm literally burning up and my body is soaking from bald patch to my toes. This is not good. We go down to breakfast and Sian tells me i look white as a ghost which is weird as i've actually got a bit of a tan so that shows something ain't right. I eat some breakfast and back to room and back to bed and back to sleep sweating and shivering. I get a few more hours in and there is no way no matter how bad i feel i'm wasting the day away with this virus. Thinking about it, when we were on the flight everyone in front and behind us seemed to be coughing. spluttering and sneezing and the woman who was sat next to me was coughing and blowing her nose allot and she sat the whole 8 hour flight with a big coat on when the cabin temp was quite cozy, bloody diseased ridden public transport users, stay home if your that ill don't pass it on to me in a confined space you idiots!
I get up and shower to try to make myself feel a little better, didn't help much. I hate taking tablets, i hardly ever take them not even paracetamol as i prefer to just let any virus just run it course as that has made my immune system stronger but at this point to save the day from being a wash out i neck paracetamol and ibuprofen and just get on with it as we have a Moose to meet.
Yes, it's my regular photo with Mr. Moose day.
As The Verve song says "The drugs don't work" but we know a thing that does APRICOT BEER.
Off to our central downtown regular "Social bar". It's a great place just to hang out, chill and watch the world go by on Stephen Avenue. In Calgary the local breweries have done a great job incorporating different fruits in to their beers like raspberry, peach, apricot, mandarin and of course our fav blood orange. It makes such a nice change from just plain beer and they do a amazing job of it in Calgary.
Sian with our fruity beers, i think she looks thirsty.
Now along with this we found a new taste sensation, Deep Fried Dill Pickles. Why haven't we tried these before? They are sooooooo good , how did we miss these? We just wanted a small snack to go with the beers so we ordered some and it was a taste sensation.
MMMmmmmmmmmm!
Along with these they give you a choice of hot dipping sauces going from the "Oh thats quite nice" to the "Jesus, bloody Christ" and this was the one we liked i think cause of the name more than the taste.
SLAP YO MAMA!
The beer is now helping with the virus but the singer out on the street is starting to make us want to shoot ourselves as he only knows 2 chords, he's singing Ed Sheeran and he's in a key way to high for him to sing, in fact he sounds better than Ed Sheeran even with being out of key and out of pitch but he's making me want to smash his guitar over his head, time to go.
Even with me feeling like death warmed up we still had a full day out and had a laugh at the shit singer. NOTHING WILL STOP THIS HOLIDAY!
June 30th
I'm feeling so much better this morning, see, i told you beer cures everything, forget the drugs. Unfortunately the dreaded jet lag is still with us but it is getting us up in time for the beginning of breakfast and avoiding the masses so there is the plus point to this jet lag.
Today we're off for a long walk over to Princes Island to view our wedding venue and to just take our time having a stroll and we're going to be cultural visiting the award winning Calgary library before a very special Pre-wedding meal.
Sian's bi-yearly picture just before you hit Princes Island.
The last time we were on Princes Island in 2022 there were lots of black Squizzles so we thought we'd go and feed them today, the only problem is.....we forgot their nuts, BUGGER! Never mind we'll go and see if we can find some.
As we got closer to where our wedding ceremony will be taking place there were loads of Squizzles so i thought i'd try to con one in to thinking i had nuts for them......he was not happy.
Never make a Squizzle annoyed, look at his face!
We find the decking area by the River Cafe Restaurant and then head over in to downtown for a coffee.
Sian sporting her new Foo Fighters hoody from the concert.
I am the un-official world ambassador for the UK Foo Fighters and at the top of that tower this evening we're having our pre-wedding meal, can't wait.
On the outside around the building are moving modern art statues and the building itself looks like something from an Olympic village.
Inside it's all clean lines, white with wooden features, very impressive. It just goes on and on over 4 floors, very peaceful, we like it.
After looking through history sports books about Calgary Flames and finding one of my favorite Calgary Flames/Cardiff Devils players we head back to chill for a little bit before our meal, we are so hungry at this point.
We make our way back in to the center of downtown and to the base of the Calgary Tower, that restaurant looks a long way up.
We step inside the Calgary Tower building and head over to the lift which will take us 200 meters above ground level to where the Sky 360 restaurant is. Its called Sky 360 because the restaurant rotates 360 deg an hour and as soon as you step out of the lift you can see the views slowly changing as it rotates.
The way it works is the floor the tables and seats are located on rotates which is a weird felling but also amazing seeing the whole of Calgary from so high up and of course when the tower was built at the time it was the tallest building in Downtown Calgary but now more modern high rise have popped up so they obscure the views just a tiny bit.
Just a few different pics of all the views you get.
And now on to the food, where do we start, i know we'll just order a load and a bottle of rose to wash it down.
How is it that we find the best tasting Rose wines only when we're away.
Now then, lets try to remember exactly what we had.
Ok, here we go, aged cheddar and black truffle fondue with dipping fries, British Columbia albacore tuna crudo and marinated Alberta cucumbers, dear god i wish i could have that now.
We sit there for 2 1/2 hours just eating and drinking and now have to waddle home stuffed and ready for bed, when will this jet lag be done, hopefully tomorrow as it's Canada Day!
As we slowly shuffle back to our hotel, night draws in and a storm is a brewing, come on stumpy legs, don't fail us now.
And we're in, just in time, it got very stormy. Views from our 2 windows.
Lets close the curtains and leave the storm outside for tomorrow it's celebrations all round.
July 1st
HAPPY CANADA DAY!
Not really got much planned for today as there is so much going on around Downtown Calgary so i think we're just going to take a walk a see what we find and JET LAG IS OVER, YEEEESSSS!
Breakfast and out.
We walk through downtown and there are BBQ's, music and things going on everywhere so we decided to head to head over to east village to The Confluence Historic Site & parkland where there is a rebuilt fort and the statue of Colonel James F. Macleod who was so important in the Mounted Police bringing law and order to Calgary, eliminating the whiskey trade in the area and establishing strong dialogue with the first nations population. The fort was named after him along with a trail.
Me with good old boy James who was also a celt, he was from Scotland.
Even with it being Canada Day we thought it was a bit low key. There was allot of people on the streets but not really much of a celebration atmosphere, maybe we were at the wrong party. Another thing we noticed there are no stands or stalls selling alcohol, only food and soft drinks, you could only get alcohol from the proper bars which we think is a good thing as there were know idiots staggering about. You open a village fete on a sunny day in the UK and by lunchtime the police have been called for drunken behaviour.
We've been walking about now for around 4 hours so we'll head back and go to our second local Browns.
Even though Canada Day wasn't what we had expected it was still good to see and be a part of. CHEERS!
July 2nd
So today was just going to be a chilled day before our wedding BUT on the 5th we were meant to be booked in to Comery BBQ house BUT this is the same day as free entry to the Stampede SO......we've moved Comery BBQ house to today instead so we can go out for one of our daily walks, then have some nice food and relax in the evening.
We head out for our regular early morning coffee and it's a glorious sunny start to the day.
We walk in to the center of downtown have a wander around the streets and shops and pop in to our lovely local supermarket "Safeways", we just want to buy everything in this store as it all looks so good.
We get back to the hotel to drop our shopping off and are told we are getting a change of room to a higher floor, yay! After all i did request a higher floor room 11 months ago when i booked it and they had given us a 2nd floor room, They've given us a suite. Now your talking!
And what a great view.
After packing our small cabin bags and moving up to our new room it was time to go and have our tea. We are so looking forward to this.
Comery BBQ house, we're here to get stuffed.
No more to write today, bellies swelling, eyes closing, can't move one more inch, nigh nigh now!
July 3rd
WE GOT MARRIED! You've already read about that but now we have the wedding reception.....OFF TO JAMESONS! As we arrive the waitress greets us and asks "What you been doing today?" we replied "We, just got married". Now this is the second act of kindness we had. The waitress replied "Wow, that's great, congratulations, let me get your first drinks on the house". Again, you would never get that in a bar in the UK.
Say Cheers!
This is the reception we wanted, just us, blood orange beer, food and shuffleboard.
Who needs the huge wedding day, it's just for show, this is the way forward all of you thinking of getting married!
So usually when we're playing a game in a bar there are shot forfeits, winner gets to choose the losers forfeit of the worst shot they can find, now then....... we played 4 full rounds.
As you can see the scores got worse the more beer and shots we had but not only that.....i lost every single round and trust me i was trying to win. So i had 4 terrible shots and this was the worst.
Sian thinks this is soooooo funny, yeah hilarious!
Now i don't like having my picture taken and now i have to be on video drinking a drink i have never ever tasted. I've stayed away from Campari all my working bars life and i've drank some truly terrible spirits but this was by far the worst, no wonder i've avoided it and Sian hasn't even put life insurance on me yet but she's still trying to kill me.
Quite a few hours later and very merry indeed we leave our brilliant reception and slalom our way home taking double the time it took us to get to Jamesons. Thank you Sian and Jamesons for making our wedding day a brilliant day. OK, where's the bed.
July 4th
What day is it? I drank what last night? What election?
Considering we did do quite a bit of alcohol last night we feel great which is good, nothing worse than a hang over on holiday.
Today was always going to be a quiet day after full on day yesterday. Lets do some Pretzels from Mr. Pretzel in Downtown Calgary. It's a tradition of ours, fully butter soaked and covered in rock salt, mmmmmm.
I can see you!
It's now midday and the day is starting to heat up, thinks it's going to be the hottest day so far. The Stampede today has "Sneak-a-peek" day where you can pay to go in and have a first look at the Stampede area but the Stampede actually starts tomorrow with the parade and if you follow the parade in to the Stampede area the first 2 hours of the day is free entry, we like free entry so we'll wait until tomorrow.
It's getting really warm.....I KNOW.....lets go back to the Moo Shack by Princes Island where we had our ice cream floats in 2022 and thank god it's still there.
And we'll sit by the River Bow to get a breeze while we drink them.
We take a very slow walk back and decide that such a hot day like today needs an ice cold drink "OFF TO JAMESONS".
It is so nice to walk in to our local bar and the air conditioning just washes over you, now what do we drink......OOOooooooo alcoholic vodka ice tea, that'll do the job.
It doesn't take to long until we were back to old ways, beers, cocktails and shots, this could get messy.
Oops, it's now dark outside and we've only had a pretzel all day but lots of drinkies, this post wedding quiet day has turned out to be fun, shuffleboard drinkie day, ah who cares, we're enjoying it and that's all that matters.
Awwww, i've always wanted to see my name in chalk on a blackboard in a bar in Downtown Calgary, who needs to see their name up in lights on Broadway. What makes it even better it's our wedding that's being celebrated in chalk on a blackboard.
The 1st Mrs. Pinnell is as excited as me.
We are now starving and once again the storms have rolled in and it's monsoon rain with thunder and lightning. I know, lets get Popeye's chicken and walk back along a tree lined avenue in the pouring rain with fork lightning back to our hotel. Memories are made of days like these.
We've tried Popeye's in the UK and it is so much better than KFC BUT it is nowhere near as good as Popeye's in Calgary, the textures are flavors are so much better and it tasted exactly the same as the first time we ever tried it in 2022, a year before they expanded in the UK as there were only 2 in London that opened in November 2021.
We needed this, Chicken portions, spicy chicken wings, onion rings, mash with Cajun gravy and cheese biscuits. It is soooooo good.
Time for bed Mrs. P.
July 5th
Calgary Stampede begins today, YAAHOO!
We were here for the full duration of the stampede in 2022 but tis year due to coming a little earlier we're here for the first 5 days and we have tickets for the evening event on the 3rd day but today we're going to follow the parade in and get in to the Stampede area for free.
And what a beautiful day for the beginning of it.
We follow the parade in to the Stampede area for our freebie entry, how busy can it be.........
Oooooh!........
And we're branded and we're in, lets get wandering....
At this point in my blog i'm going to just post lots of pics and then if needed explain what the pic is, is that ok with you as there are quite a few pics, yes? Yes, ok, good.....
A street performer.....
It's been a long day today in a boiling 30 deg with very little shade. Again we found that in the public areas you couldn't get an alcoholic drink, you could only get alcohol from the vendors inside the event buildings which again was great to see, no empty beer cups thrown everywhere and people acting like dickheads.
Here we witnessed our third act of kindness. We wanted Calgary Stampede t-shirts and there were lots of stalls but the main shop was inside the Rodeo arena which you needed tickets to get in to to watch the show. We didn't have tickets that day so we asked the ticket checker on the door if we could go in and go to the shop to get a t-shirt, at first she said "You need tickets for todays show buuuuuut, go on in, hope you find the t-shirt you want". Can you imagine an arena in the UK saying that when there is a paid event on, NO WAY IN HELL! So to show we didn't just blag our way in we went back out past her to show we had the t-shirts and to thank her.
We're shattered and it's now the evening, think we'll have an early night, the one and only of the vacation as it's been a full on day in high temps, also tomorrow we have another full on all day starting with brunch at the top of Calgary Tower and then the Zoo straight after. We like the Zoo.
July 6th
Brunch and Zoo Day, YAAHOO!
Because we enjoyed our evening meal so much at the top of Calgary Tower we booked ourselves in for brunch before we head over to the zoo because the last time we went to the zoo it was -12 deg and all the animals were sheltering keeping warm so it was a bit of a "Spot the animal".
Along the way to the tower we saw few things you don't see every day like a first nation celebration, not sure what they were celebrating but they looked great in all the traditional costume.
And now some more views.
WE'RE GOING TO THE ZOO, ZOO, ZOO!
It's zoo time! We head over on the C-train and got there for about 1pm and golly gosh it's a scorcher again. So first of all lets head to Dinosaur Land as it was closed in 2020.
Oh, Is that it? Basically it was a long walk around uncut land with the odd watering hole and some really badly made dinosaurs, they honestly didn't look good.
A Prairie Dog smelling a flower. We were more excited about seeing these just everywhere around the zoo than the big animals.
I've got loads of animal pics but you have to see them in the flesh to get a sense of how magnificent they are. I think the heat made them a bit lazy so most of them were just laying about, not much movement. Ah well that was a good 4 hours but we are now exhausted, hot and feet starting to ache, we did 22,459 steps, BLIMEY! Lets have a chilled night in the room and rest our poor little feet, tomorrow it's back to the Stampede as we have tickets for the evening show.
A Saskatoon berries & cream pie for supper, god the food over here is so good.
July 7th
WE have a lay in and just chill until the afternoon and get ourselves ready for the Stampede. We are determined to buy some Calgary Flame ice hockey merch and eat some strange weird food like in 2022.
Now we have the 4th act of kindness but i need to tell the whole story.
We get ourselves over to the Stampede area and walk towards the gate to show our tickets....OUR TICKETS!
I had left my phone at the hotel as i didn't think i would need it. Sian opens up the app with the tickets on but they need to verify the user, no problem. "We will now send you a verification code to your phone" AHHhhhhhhhhh! The number for the booking is my phone number, my phone is the hotel, the verification code is on my phone at the hotel. SHIIIIIIIIIIIIT! We go to the box office and explain our situation. They make a call to a site manager. To get in to the Stampede area you need to pay, then the night time show is ticket only entry on top of entry ticket. The lady in the box office comes out of her booth and lets us in to the Stampede area and tells us to go to ticket office next to the rodeo arena and just lets us walk in unaccompanied.....I mean, we may have just been blagging we had tickets just to get in to Stampede area for free. Again can you imagine anywhere in the UK going out of their way for you like that? If it was in the UK we'd still be stood outside now. We get to ticket office and they find my account and print off the tickets for us, PHEW!
Before the evening show we head over to the Calgary Flames shop inside the Saddledome and we splash the cash. Here we have the 5th act of kindness. We get a couple of items and go to the till, total is $85. I go to pay with cash but we're told it's card only, no problem, i get my card out. After we've paid for the items i ask can we have a bag. The girl asks us $1 or $2 bag? I say $2 as i have a $2 coin which i thought she'd take as no change needed. Again she says "Card only sorry" but then, straight away she says to us"It's ok i'll pay for it" and proceeds to get her card out. We stop her and say it's not a problem we'll use our card. Amazing, we were speechless, that was so kind to offer, never known such kindness from people anywhere we've been in the world.
Our bag of goodies!
No, i'm not the size of a netminders mask, the mask is a giant version.
Time for food and drink. We were a bit disappointed this time as no strange foods BUT we found a boa bun stall so bought one made with lobster tail and another with soft shell crab, mmmmmmmm!
Now, as i explained earlier, you can only get alcohol from inside the rodeo arena, you can't get anything in the Stampede area. We're so thirsty, DRINK, DRINK, DRINK, DRINK! Let's get in to the arena as soon as doors open.
Well that's different!
And some local brews.
A few tins later and we head up to our seats. to get settled for the rodeo and then the grandstand show. Because i proposed in front of the stand with all the rodeo fans watching i bought us the same seats that i proposed from for tonight's show.
Almost at our seats.
Same view as in 2022.
YAAHOO! Lets get the chuckwagon racing going!
After chuckwagon racing and bareback relay horse racing it's time for the Grandstand Show which this year is "Rock of Ages" along with a set from Hunter Brothers followed by a drone light show and the firework finale.
Bring on the stage and plug it in!
So here is 2 of the songs they sang that night.
The stage in all it's glory, The hunter Brothers joined the Grandstand Show cast for Footloose.
This blog will only allow a video of about 1 minute to be uploaded direct or a link from Youtube so here is just a glimpse of the 6 1/2 minute drone light show.
And you all saw the firework display from my 2022 blog update so here is the finish to the firework display that went on for again 6 1/2 minutes!!!!!!!!
Another great night over and great memories of the night i proposed to Sian, amazing memories.
The arena is empty with only us left sitting there saying goodbye to the Stampede......for now!!!!!
We take a slow walk home and stop off for a beer in Comery BBQ house and reflect on what a great night we had. We're both hungry, come on, lets go home and make some food.
MMmmmmmm Pierogis with ceaser salad, can't fault it.
Nigh, nigh, Calgary, see you in the morning.
July 8th
Morning Calgary, time to make the most of our last full day, up and out we go for a day of walking and visiting places from our 2020 vacation here.
Firstly memorial park, the first time we visited here the fountain was completely frozen and there was no way Sian would sit on the edge and get a frozen bum.
Not had our morning coffee yet. I know, lets go to the first coffee shop we ever went to when we arrived 2020.
I'm Sure there was a building in front of us with a mural on it when we first sat here.
It's absolutely boiling here today, lets go and sit by Bow River to try to cool off.
Didn't know there was a nature reserve on Princes Island.
Where did you get that? No fair!
After walking all around downtown, then along Bow River and all around Princes Island i think we need a beer and some tasty meat, i fancy ribs. To Comery we go!
Ribs and maple belly pork , can not fault it while sat outside watching the world go by.
Oh boy, we're stuffed. Someone keeps on saying to Sian "Eating again?" when she posts it on her family chat. Doesn't everyone eat every day? In fact we eat less than most people as we eat usually only once a day or maybe cereal or toast in the morning and then only an evening meal, even on holiday we keep to that, can't remember the last time we ate 3 or 4 times in a day, don't think we ever have.
It's been a very long but enjoyable hot day so lets kick back in the room with the air con on as tomorrow we'll make the most of our last couple of ours as soon as we wake up.
Jul 9th, last day, BOOOOOOOOOOO!
We get up have a snack breakfast and head in to Downtown to say goodbye to everywhere.
Goodbye Core shopping mall, Sian looking very sad or she's just spotted a $50 on the floor and acting calm.
The avenue footbridge where the Stampede parade starts.
We stop in to Browns Social, the bar we started our vacation in, to have our last beers in Downtown.
We'll miss this view.
And before we know it it's 3pm and time to get our cab to the airport. Never fear, we have the lounge booked to eat and drink ourselves stupid and have a shower to freshen up.
We take one last look at Downtown as the cab goes through it and we're on our way.
The time has flown and we don't want to leave.
We get to the airport and check in to our lounge to make the most of it until our flight at 8pm.
That's us settled in, lets be piggies!
We wait until the last person boards the plane and we make our way to our sets, extra leg room seats for the home journey, want a bit more comfort and not getting disturbed when need to get up..
Before we know it we're back in the UK and sat in Coffee Nero waiting to get the bus to our hotel in time for check in. As soon as we're in the UK the people are rude, self absorbed, no regard for anyone around them and all on their phones, head down or talking loudly with speaker phone on, WELCOME BACK, FFS! No wonder we hate this country.
WE check in, order a pizza to room and it turns up wrong with a driver who doesn't really care it's wrong and drives off. Such a huge come down from where we've been where people are polite, helpful, respectful to people around them and phones are almost non existent with people actually talking to each other, being social instead of having phones out and ignoring each other. A complete opposite to shitty UK.
So let me sum up. We've now visited Calgary 3 times in 6 years from high temps of 38 deg to the low temp of -24 deg and we loved every single day of all 3 vacations no matter what the weather.
Every year made amazing memories but this year was special, very special, i got married to my soul mate, Sian.
We're realists, we understand we're on vacation but we can both judge on what life we'd prefer and we both agree we would prefer to be in Calgary working 7 days a week than be in the UK retired or working 3 days a week like i do. I've been there and done it, many times, moved abroad and worked so i'm not a dreamer, if i set my mind to it i can do it with ease. Even though Calgary is a business center it feels very homely and welcoming, anyone you meet, not just in the tourist industry are genuinely nice people even the homeless and there are allot of them BUT they don't bother you or beg. There is a huge drug problem there, most definitely but we felt safe even out at night, in fact seeing the drug runners on their e-bikes or e-scooters going around Cardiff and Swansea city centers make us feel more on edge. I walk through Swansea and Cardiff city centers every week and feel like anything could happen at any time. Calgary is multi cultural and exciting. We spoke to many people out there and none of them ever said they hate it there or would like to move where as Sian and i would move out of the UK tomorrow if we could BUT........now we've got married in Calgary, Alberta we are now registered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. We have genuine paperwork there on their system, we have visited 3 times and been allowed 5 year visa's twice, as the Foo Fighters say "Are you thinking, what i'm thinking" I know Sian is. The Vacation was amazing, from the hotel, to the bars, to the scenery, to the food and to the people. There was just no fault at all even with me having a fever and a virus for the first 4 days i still wanted to get out there in to Downtown as it makes me want to go out and i would never let Sian down as we have such great times.
Oh....and remember that delay we had at Heathrow of just over 6 hours at the beginning of this blog....... update.....Air Canada offered us £1040 compensation OR vouchers for 2 return flights to Calgary and guess what we chose........Yep, the flights. The flights cost allot more than £1040 and they're valid for 3 years so Calgary HERE WE COME within the next 3 years but we're looking at November 2025 or Feb/Mar 2026 for 2 weeks to watch the ice hockey or we may even keep them for a much longer stay, we may only need the outbound ticket.......watch this space folks..
Told you we didn't mind delays 😁😆😉
5 weeks today and it's Hello Montreux for Freddie Mercury's birthday party.
Jesus, that was a marathon write. You wouldn't believe how long it's taken even if i told you but it's done.
So until the next update with all the fabulousness of Freddie's bash........
Serve All, Love All, Peace All......Kevlar and Mrs P. Out!
