Another day on the road.

My brain doesn't always know what to do with Canada, and especially Canadian cities. American cities are characterized by reliance on the car to get around. They have dead downtowns and low density. Simply by virtue of being a foreign country, I reflexively assume Canada to be much more enlightened. But the reality is more complicated than that. Simply put, Canadian cities struggle with much of the same issues and the same planning history that have ruined many central places in the US.

Regina is a nice enough city, fairly compact with more attention paid to its downtown than relevant US comparisons (Raleigh, N.C. was what I came up with). But there were plenty of issues that lingered. The lovely Victoria Park in the city center was begging to be surrounded by restaurants and cafes that could spill out into the street. Instead, it was all sucked into a nearby mall, where I found food and OJ at a Starbucks knockoff called Second Cup. Saskatchewan's assembly building and major cultural institutions were also quite separate from the downtown. Another big mistake and not one easily undone.

I bid Regina farewell after snacking on a truly disgusting gas station sandwich. South of the city, I picked up the thread of Canada's Route #1, which would take me all the way to Calgary. I was still musing the possibilities for urban revival in Regina when a deer bolted out of a field on the side of the highway. My brain calculated the trigonometry instantly; his speed, my speed, our possible points of contact. I gunned it, and the deer decided today was not the day to die, and cut away from the road at the last second. By the time my heart stopped beating out of my chest, I was in Moose Jaw.

Route #1 winds through some of the best/strangest named towns in the English world. Exhibit A, Moose Jaw. As I trawled Saskatchewan radio stations, I heard a good news item about the town. In Victoria B.C., to quell public anger about a new parking scheme, a business association started a marketing campaign with the slogan "Chill, you could live in Moose Jaw". The story was accompanied by a terse statement from Moose Jaw's vice-mayor and a passive aggressive sorry-not-sorry from someone responsible for the ads. It was fantastic.

Exhibit B. Medicine Hat. One of my thoughts on the road was that these town names may not be quite as bizarre as we make them out to be. Plenty of places in the US retain their original American Indian names. Plenty of these names are literal descriptions of a characteristic of the place. Perhaps names like Moose Jaw and Medicine Hat are no different than many American place names, except they've just been translated?

Either way, the road approximately between these cities is an entirely redundant area, who's purpose appears to primarily be to take up space. That's what's there anyway, space. The weather seemed equally uninspired. There was rain, but there was no passion behind it. It simply was, and I switched on my wipers and ignored it. At some point I passed into Alberta ("Wild Rose Country" — I've yet to see one) which could've happened anywhere, since the border is an arbitrary straight line anyway. You do notice the switch though, because the area on the Alberta side is occupied by a huge wheat field, and a wider-than normal dirt road. It's striking for a moment. The trans-province region appears to have been branded as the "Canadian Badlands". From the limited vantage point afforded by the highway, the area has none of the eerie landforms and topography that the real Badlands in South Dakota. Sorry Canada, you lose this round.

At some point, the weather cleared up, and it took me at least ten minutes before I remembered to turn off the wipers.

You see Calgary ("Heart of the New West" — meh) from over 20km away, just about as the outer fringes of urban area start to materialize along the sides of the highway. At that point, it's just the faraway silhouettes of the CBD though. There's a big reveal, and it comes as you drive down Centre Street. You've rolled through a few minutes of medium-density terrain, shopping plazas on either side, when you dip into a trench and are surrounded by green earthen walls. Ahead, you can see a sliver of downtown. Suddenly, the walls drop off, and you're crossing a stone bridge adorned with lions. Below, the Bow river, and ahead, the city. It's triple the size you assumed the first time you saw the skyscrapers. Before, you only were seeing the downtown in profile. Now it's a full broadside of towers and glassy condos and parks. Beautiful, my favorite city "reveals" after New York City.

This photo is not unique. It comes via McHugh's Bluff, which is the place where everyone who visits Calgary has taken a photo. But hell, it's a damn good place to take a photo. Cities that have a prominent hill to enjoy the skyline from get extra points in my book. Shoutout to Montreal and Oslo.

Cheers to Calgary. Looks like a fun (and diverse!) city. Can't wait to explore tomorrow.

Nereites

Canada102 Posts

August 03 2013 06:12 GMT

Welcome to Calgary! Best city in Canada (in my very biased opinion).

What parts of the city will you be exploring? Anything in particular?

tree.hugger

Philadelphia, PA10406 Posts

August 03 2013 06:25 GMT

On August 03 2013 15:12 Nereites wrote:
Welcome to Calgary! Best city in Canada (in my very biased opinion).

What parts of the city will you be exploring? Anything in particular?

Just planning on walking around. Anything in particular I should see? Touristy things and museums really aren't my style, (although if they're really really interesting...) I'm much more interested in getting a feel of the city, its neighborhoods and people, and its geography.

I studied urban geography and planning in school, so that's really what I do when I visit new cities. I just wander around and have fun trying to read the landscape.

Chairman Ray

United States11903 Posts

August 03 2013 07:44 GMT

On August 03 2013 15:25 tree.hugger wrote:

Show nested quote +

Kensington is a nice street to walk down. There's a lot of cool shops there and live entertainment. A lot of hipsters like to hang out there.

Nereites

Canada102 Posts

August 03 2013 15:39 GMT

On August 03 2013 15:25 tree.hugger wrote:

Show nested quote +

I definitely agree with the post above regarding Kensington - it is a nice area to walk around.

Are you going to walk through the downtown area at all? Since you studied urban geography would that be any interest to you? see how our downtown core is setup? I haven't been to many other major urban centers, so maybe it is similar to other big cities, not sure.

Even though touristy things don't appeal to you, most people I know have enjoyed the Calgary tower, nice place to see. I suppose that the appeal may wear off to some as it is no longer even close to being the highest building in the city.

I have the fortune of working in the biggest tower called "The Bow", if you want want to see something ridiculous, there is giant statue of a head outside the building.... I think its ugly, but maybe my perception of art isn't that great.

Edit: By walking around are you referring to primarily downtown or was there a different part of the city you had in mind? or maybe a few since you have a car?

Myrkskog

Canada481 Posts

August 03 2013 16:51 GMT

Downtown Calgary has some interesting stuff, but unless you know where you are going you can end up wandering around bored. Weekends can be pretty slow downtown as well due to a combination of tons of white collar jobs + urban sprawl. Though we have a few festivals going on atm that will bring more people downtown.

If you're looking for a couple things to check out, the Devonian Gardens are really nice. It's an indoor park on the 4th floor of TD Square (317 7th Ave SW - Calgary is a grid with Streets going N-S and Avenues going W-E). There is also a ton of shopping in this area if you are interested. If you are around the gardens you are close to Stephen Avenue and might as well check that out as well (8 Avenue SW between 4 Street SW and 1 Street SE).

If you like outdoors parks, Princes Island Park is on the northern side of Downtown with access over a few bridges between 2nd St SW and 6th St SW.

Centre St S and 4th Ave SE is relatively close to Princes Island Park is is a good starting point if you want to check out Chinatown.

People already mentioned Kensington as worth checking out, and it normally is. However, Inglewood is another cool community worth checking out (9 Ave SE) and the Calgary Fringe Festival is currently going on there (http://www.calgaryfringe.ca/). Tons of performers across lots of genres do a bunch of stuff down there. I would probably go there instead, maybe take in a performance if any interest you.

Fission

Canada1184 Posts

August 03 2013 19:15 GMT

I second Kensington, it's really cute! I also recommend going to Inglewood and checking out Spolumbos for lunch, it's this big sandwhich/sausage place and they make absolutely fucking delicious sandwiches (reuben is my fav). It's a shame the bird sanctary is still closed due to the flooding, cause it is very pretty

You should also walk down 17th avenue if you get a chance, there's tons of cool stores down there, and lots of places to eat (there's even a poutine store if you're into that).

KingDime

Canada750 Posts

August 03 2013 23:23 GMT

I will second princess Island park or Kensington. If it wasn't so far away and you didn't hate museums I would have recommended the Tyrell museum. But that seems to be out of the question.

TheEmulator

28084 Posts

August 04 2013 07:51 GMT

The only area that is truly badlands is around Drumheller. I'm assuming you didn't take that route so you probably didn't come into contact with the badlands.