May 10, 2025
Our wake-up call today was at 6 am. After a set breakfast, we checked out of hotel before 8:30 am. Our destination today is Edmonton, the capital city of Alberta province. The long 4-1/2 hour bus ride toward Edmonton was a quiet one, not particularly scenic. We took a short break at a Tim Horton's for snack and refreshments. Aman even played a movie starring Ryan Reynolds entitled "IF" (MY REVIEW) for those who needed entertainment.
When we reached Edmonton, we picked up our new guide Shannon. Our first and only stop that day was the West Edmonton Mall, famous for being the second biggest mall in North America (after the Mall of the Americas in Minnesota, USA). The exterior of the mall was rather drab, nothing too colorful nor memorable. However, when we entered the mall (via Door #32), only then did the full expansive scale of this place truly hit us.
As this was lunchtime, Shannon first took us to a section called BRBN St. (pronounced as "Bourbon St."), a row of fancy-looking restaurants. We had our lunch at a place called Moxies, noted for its upscale casual dining experience. It was only by 3 pm that our meal was concluded and we were finally released to explore the mall on our own to shop in any of their nearly 500 retail stores, for the next two hours (yes, only).
While walking to BRBN, we already saw the Ice Palace, an ice rink used for ice hockey and other ice events. It was also hard to miss the gigantic indoor lake (a record-holder for size in its own category), which contained a seemingly life-sized replica of Christopher Columbus's ship, the Santa Maria. In another section of that same pirate-themed central display was a pool where we saw trained sea lions being rehearsed for their show.
While strolling around the second floor, we chanced upon a viewing deck from which we can see the entire expanse of World Waterpark. Built in 1985, this is now the 4th largest waterpark in the world, and used to be largest in North America, until it was overtaken by DreamWorks Water Park in 2020. Its Blue Thunder is still the largest wave pool in the world. It contained a complex collection of water slides, classified for beginners, all the way to extreme.
When we stepped out of IT'SUGAR candy store on the first floor, that was when I saw the path going towards Galaxyland, the second-largest indoor amusement park in the world (after Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi). Of all the rides in there, the roller-coaster with its long twisting yellow tracks was really hard to miss, especially when you hear screams from its riders as their cars were also spinning around on their own axis while whizzing us by.
For dinner, we were brought to a nearby restaurant, Homefire Grill, where we savored the Thick Cut Chop (10oz boneless pork, honey-sage bannock & goat cheese crust, cranberry sauce). Afterwards, we were brought to check in at our hotel -- the Four Points Sheraton Edmonton. If we had anything left to shop for before flying back home the next day, there was fortunately a Walmart just a five minute walk away for that quick fix.
The next morning, Shannon brought us on a city tour of Edmonton. As the bus maneuvered around numerous construction sites around the city, she identified interesting buildings along its route, like the Rogers Place, Fairmont Hotel Macdonald and the Edmonton Convention Center. She pointed out the 66-story Stantec Tower in the distance as the tallest building in the city, but I was not sure if I saw the right building. (To be completely honest, I was following the live coverage of the new Pope online at that time, so I was not paying complete attention to the tour.)
We spent a couple of hours for lunch and more last-minute shopping at the Premium Outlet Malls. This was already right there at the Edmonton International Airport (YEG), where we would take our domestic flight to Vancouver en route to home. One final interesting thing we noted in YEG was this room called the Pet Relief Room. Curiosity led us to peek inside, and we chuckled to see this patch of faux grass with a replica of a fire hydrant.
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