Fred Said: TRAVEL: Our Trip to ALBERTA, CANADA: CALGARY

May 10, 2025

We left the airport in Manila at around 8;30 pm, and touched down in Vancouver (YVR) 22 hours later. Being our port of entry in Canada, we went through the Immigration kiosks there. We then picked up our luggage, and hurried to the West Jet check-in counter to catch our 1-1/2 hour connecting flight to Calgary (YYC). There, our bus driver Aman drove us to our hotel, the Sheraton Suites Calgary Eau Claire, arriving just past midnight of the next day.

First Photo at the YYC Airport

After a long wait for our breakfast orders to be served at the short-staffed cafeteria, our guide Carol brought us on a city tour around Calgary. Our first stop was Fort Calgary, the place where the city originated at the confluence of the Bow and Elbow Rivers, first settled by indigenous tribes. By the 1970s, European traders illegally brought in whisky and rum, which later necessitated the establishment of the Mounted Police to keep peace and order.

Statue of Col. James MacLeod with the Barracks at the back

Statue of the Buffalo

We took photos around the statue of Col. James Macleod who served as Commissioner of the NWMP from 1876 to 1880. We saw the art installation of standing wooden slats representing the outline of the original fort and its palisade walls. We also saw the reconstructed barracks building of the mounted police. The guide also took us to a statue of a Buffalo, the one animal which served the needs of the indigenous natives sufficiently for their survival.

Family of Man

Wonderland Sculpture

Along the way, Carol pointed out some big sculptures in downtown Calgary, like "Family of Man" and "Wonderland Sculpture." Our next stop was the Calgary Tower, a 191-m high tower, built to celebrate Canada's centennial in 1967. The main attraction at the observation deck was the glass floor extension at the north side (opened in 2005), which allowed the more daring of us to take a dizzying look straight down to the street below.

View of Calgary Tower from the Front Door

Standing on the Glass Floor

View of Both the Old and New City Halls

After lunch at the El Furniture Warehouse, we were taken to Stampede Park, site of a major rodeo festival every July. There, we took photos with the horse figures of "By the Banks at the Bow" art installation, one of the largest pieces of art in North America. We also saw the Scotiabank Saddledome, the home of the Calgary Flames ice hockey team, and "Spirit of Water," a big, blue sculpture of a splashing water drop displayed outside the BMO Center.

By the Banks of the Bow, with the Saddledome at the back

Spirit of Water outside the BMO Center

After this, we were taken to Canada Olympic Park, where we were able to enter the Markin MacPhail Center, where young athletes were trained in various sports. Near it, we saw the old ski jump used during the Calgary Olympics. The actual bobsled used in the film "Cool Runnings" was displayed in the courtyard. The rest of the afternoon was spent at the Crossiron Mills for some outlet shopping, before dinner at Old Spaghetti Factory.