Calgary- Day 4

I woke before my alarm this morning to this face.

It’s Canada Day so we decided to do a ride along both sides of the Bow River through the City thinking there might be Canada Day events happening along the river.

We took the bus from the apartment to Outlaw Sports to pick up the bikes.

Ready to ride.

There was a multiuse path from the store to 5 St SW, a quiet, residential street, that we followed back north, past the apartment, and into downtown Calgary, where there is an excellent network of separated, cycling infrastructure.

We passed the east west spine of the LRT at 7 Ave SW. There is a fare free zone through the downtown area. We plan to try it in the upcoming days.

Prince’s Island Park is on an island in the Bow River where our ride connected with the river path. There are three active transportation bridges that connect to the island and no motor vehicle access. It reminds me of the Toronto islands, but it’s just parkland with no residential areas.

We had planned to circumnavigate the island, but there were so many pedestrians we decided to leave exploring the island until later in the week.

This is the Peace Bridge, an active transportation bridge just west of the island, designed by Santiago Calatrava, which opened in 2012. He seems to specialize in bridges and has designed over 20 of them around the world. In Toronto he designed the Mimico Creek pedestrian bridge just south of the Waterfront Trail. He also designed the Allan Lampert Galleria in Brookfield Place.

This is the view from Prince’s Island park to the south side of the Bow River.

The infrastructure along the Bow River, through the city, is excellent, with separate infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians through the busier areas.

We saw this bike rental place on the river, and I checked when I got home and they were charging almost double the daily rate that we’re paying at Outlaw Sports.

It is very impressive how many river crossings there are that have active transportation infrastructure. Or, are for active transportation only.

There were thousands of people using the Bow River today. We saw people in kayaks, canoes, rafts, all manner of inflatables, and on standup paddle boards.

This piece of public art in Parkdale is called Outflow by New York artist Brian Tolle. It functions as part of the storm water system, channeling rain water from the streets, back into the river.

Poppy Plaza Park, commemorates citizens who have served to protect Canada’s freedom and security. It is an expansive two level park with very poignant quotations cut into the Cortland steel walls.

Here’s another picture of the Peace Bridge.

We had lunch at And Some Flower Café. It was a flower shop and Korean food café. Our meal was delicious.

We cycled 12 km on each side of the river and were never out of sight of many people using the river.

I used to whitewater kayak on the Ottawa river, and it would take me five hours to get there. Those were the nearest class three rapids to Brampton. This class three rapid is right within the city limits.

And on the other side of the river, they’ve created class two rapids for people to tube, swim through, and practice white water skills.

This is Fort Calgary, which has the first and oldest building in Calgary built in 1875.

The crowds had intensified, even on the mainland, in the central part of the city to the point where we left the path early because it was getting difficult to ride.

These yahoo signs are scattered around town for the stampede. Apparently yahoo is what cowboys in Calgary say.

We got back to the bike store at 4:30. They closed at five today. Then we bussed back to the apartment for much-needed showers. The high was 29° today and it was somewhat humid. We are under a thunderstorm warning again and the heat wave is supposed to break today. It’s already dropped 7° as I write this.

We ate dinner at home then went out for our evening walk a little later than usual, stopping for a gelato. 17 St SW was heaving with people with overflowing restaurants.

We climbed the stairs again to M’ont Royal to watch the fireworks set off at the Saddledome at 11 PM.


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