Calgary, en route to Banff, Alberta.
I’m staying in Cochrane, about 35 minutes west of Calgary and an hour east of Banff and the national park. I arrived mid-afternoon, and thought about heading to Banff to check out the town, but decided to go the other way, into Calgary, after first driving through and checking out this nice little town of Cochrane.
I really hadn’t thought about rush hour traffic, but definitely hit it as I neared and then entered Calgary, which after all is a thriving city with a busy downtown section, and many skyscraper office buildings. It’s a nice looking city, and reminded me of a smaller version of Toronto and Montreal, although it’s not that much smaller than Montreal, population-wise.
Although there are many great features of cities, like the architecture, the different sections and districts, the stores, restaurants, and bars, etc., I’m really not that interested in the hustle and bustle of cities, unless they’re small cities like Boulder, which have very little city-like hustle and bustle, and don’t have the feel or look of a big city. Calgary is big city like, however, or at least the downtown section. After driving around through the heavy traffic, in the very busy and big city-like streets, I found parking and then made my way to the Stephen Avenue Walk, which is a closed to traffic and is a pedestrian mall of about three or four blocks, loaded with restaurants and bars, and many stores, and pretty busy, especially for a Tuesday. The weather was nice, right around 80 degrees, so walking was nice, and I wished I had my shorts and tank top on.
The mall starts with some interesting sculptures that frame Stephen’s Avenue, but although a nice and trendy kind of place, it didn’t have the same ambiance, feel, and interesting features of the Pearl Street pedestrian mall in Boulder, for instance, or the State Street mall in Santa Barbara, or the Church Street Marketplace mall in Burlington, Vermont, which I haven’t visited in a few years.
I probably walked about 3 miles, heading away from Stephens Avenue and out of the busy skyscraper-defined downtown, and out toward the east village section, where many homeless folks are noticeable, some looking to be in terrible shape, and where groups seem to gather in some of the urban park spaces. No shops or busy pedestrian malls in this area, and a lot quieter than the more city-like downtown area. The light rail also runs through the city, with rails and stations plonk in the middle of city streets.
After getting back to my car, I drove to the Peace Bridge, which connects the downtown area to NW Calgary, and the Sunnyside district. Sunnyside is a lovely part of town, and quite the juxtaposition to the busy downtown area on the other side of the Bow River, which the Peace Bridge, opened n 2012, crosses. Here, the streets are tree-lined, with none of the feel of big city life, with old and new houses and apartments sharing the streets, but with the feel of a small town residential neighborhood.
This section of the Bow River has bike and walking trails running along both sides, with the Peace Bridge making it easy to cross, and more bridges further east. On the downtown side of the bridge is Prince’s Island Park, developed in the early 1950s, and a very nice city park, quiet, nice looking, children and pedestrian friendly, and busy on this lovely 80 degree afternoon. It’s also a good sized park, at almost 50 acres.
Then I drove back to Cochrane for the night. Tomorrow I visit Banff and Banff National Park.