A few of my favourite things in downtown Calgary, Alberta

I haven't mentioned my trip to Calgary on the blog yet and it's been almost a year since my time there!  Shame, shame!  I looked after a friend's granddog Molly for just short of two weeks in late February into early March of last year.  Yes, it was my last pre-Covid trip...Luckily Molly was used to being left for several hours a day so I was able to get out and about most days. (like a good dog sitter I did stay in some days with her and I was never gone for longer than six hours or so...)  I stayed in the SE of Calgary so had to take a bus (the bus stop was just out the front door) to the C train but once on the train, I could go pretty much anywhere my little heart desired.  

I love exploring a city's downtown area.  To me, if you've been in one North American suburb you've been to them all...Downtown is where the heartbeat and the history is. I am so happy to see so many city centres being revitalized after the race to the suburbs in the sixties and seventies decimated city centres. 

Central Library

I LOVE visiting libraries wherever I travel no matter how humble.  When I heard that Calgary Central Library was similar to Oodi in Helsinki I knew I had to visit!  Construction of the library began in 2014 and opened on November 1, 2018.  It houses a collection of 450,000 books over five floors and 240,00 square feet. With around two million visitors a year it provides thirty-plus meeting rooms and public seating for 1,925 people.  

These steps lead to the entrance.  

There was some beautiful artwork in the building as well - fantastic!! 

While in my opinion, Oodi is still a bit more impressive I really enjoyed visiting here and popped in twice during my stay.  (always a good place to use the facilities and have a sit down too!) 

Olympic Plaza

This little park in the middle of downtown was the site of the medal presentations at the 1988 Calgary Olympics.  Now it is a popular place for festivals and outdoor events in the summer and has the only refrigerated winter outdoor skating in the city.  

Cool sculptures

I saw some great sculpture art downtown.  My favourite was the installation on the SW corner of the Olympic Plaza.  This was a salute to the Famous Five, 

Suffragettes that made a huge impact on Women's rights in Canada in the late 19th century.  They were as follows: Nellie McClung, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Emily Murphy, Louise McKinney and Irene Parlby.  There is an identical sculpture in Ottawa at the Parliament Buildings which I have visited as well.  This set of sculptures were created by Barbara Paterson. 

Me with one of the ladies...back in the days when you could swap phones/cameras with a stranger and take pictures of each other...

I thought this sculpture of two Businessmen conversing was fun.  It is called The Conversation and was created by William Hodd McEachern and placed on Stephen Avenue (8th Avenue) in 1981. 

This crazy looking horse is made entirely of old farm machinery parts. It was created by Russell Zeid. 

This beautiful set of horse sculptures is called Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Si Do (each horse has one of those names...) and was created by Joe Fafard.  Joe Fafard was a Saskatchewan sculpture and many of his beautiful creations can be seen right across Canada (including quite a few in my home town of Regina) including a replica of this creation which was presented to Quebec City on the occasion of their 400th anniversary in 2008.  This set was installed in this Calgary park in 2010.  

This is The Family of Man sculpture which was created by Spanish Sculptor Mario Armengol for the British Pavilion at Expo 67 in Montreal.  Apparently, some citizens of Calgary had a meltdown when this was installed in 1968 as the bodies were naked!  Dear dear me! 

I wasn't patient enough to wait for this person to vacate their position in the sculpture though I did mutter a bit.  This sculpture of a young girl's head is called "Wonderland" and was created by Spanish sculpture Jaume Piensa and installed in 2013.  

The Bow River trail 

 I had to go for a bit of a stroll along the river.  I can't resist a walking path!  

I have to say these photos don't do this area justice as it's absolutely beautiful in the summer weather.  I haven't been since 2011 but you can walk over to Princes Island which is delightful.  I definitely recommend a walk along the Bow River trail when you are in Calgary.  

Chinatown

From the riverside I headed over to nearby Chinatown.  Pictured above is "In Search of Gold Mountain" located in Sien Lok Park which was created in 1982.  This was sculpted by Chu Honsun using 15 tonnes of granite from Hopei province in China.  

I love the garbage can lids meant to look like a Chinese hat.   

My destination was the Chinese Cultural Centre which is somewhere I had never been before.  It was completed in 1992.  Visiting is absolutely free (although donations are welcome) and I highly recommend it.  

The ceiling and walls were absolutely stunning.  

In the basement there is a wonderful museum where you could spend hours looking at the displays.  These are replicas of the wonderful Terracotta Warriors. 

This piece called The Roaring Tigers was made entirely of bird feathers. 

The hard-working Chinese were treated terribly in Canada; another shameful part of our history.  

There were so many interesting works of art to see in the museum. I highly recommend a visit here.  

While I didn't have Chinese food in Chinatown I was craving a Vietnamese sub so I staggered around (by this time I was really hungry) stubborn in my determination to find a place that sold them. The place I had wanted was takeout only and I really did not want to sit outside to eat it!  I finally found a place and yum, it was good. Despite having a ton of Vietnamese restaurants in my city there are very very few that sell Vietnamese subs and I love them. (we now have a place close to me and I can't believe I've only been once!) 

The Glenbow Museum 

What a gem this place is!!  It covers the history of Alberta as well as some World history.  It also features beautiful artwork.  I could have spent a lot longer here than I did.  

While it heavily featured Alberta history it also dabbled in a few other genres as well...

Knights from the middle ages...now that was a surprise! 

Artifacts from Cameroon....why not? 

Calgary is known for its Stampede and cowboys so this wasn't a surprise.  

First Nations teepee. 

Examples of beautiful Inuit handcrafted clothing. 

The Devonian Gardens

There is a lovely oasis in the core of downtown Calgary called the Devonian Gardens.  It is a lovely indoor botanical garden with waterfalls and seating arrangements that is attached to a downtown mall.  It has over 500 trees, 50 varieties of plants, a living wall as well as fish ponds and a child's playground.  It has been around for a while and was renovated in 2012.  It is a wonderful place to sit and relax and perhaps have a coffee or item from the adjoining food court.  

I enjoyed a quiet sit-down with a coffee.  It is accessible from the CORE shopping centre on 7th Avenue SW.  

These are my favourite things downtown.  My next Calgary post will be my favourite things outside of the downtown area.

And okay...here's one for the dog lovers...Molly and me!