Calgary

An early morning walk this morning to the base of Sulphur Mountain where the hot springs and the gondola station are located. Whilst we didn't avail ourselves of the hot springs, it was good to see it in use, and put a context to the pictures that Brendan sent us while he was here.

Down the mountain back into town, marveling at the amazing views around every bend, and trying to imprint them in our minds. Got back to the unit to find that Cajun, the wonder dog, had gone on a rampage while we were out and strewn things out of the rubbish bin all around the unit. Woops. Perhaps we should have stuck her back in her cage when we went out, but we weren't given any instructions about it. Oh well. I'm sure that it isn't the first time.

Dragged our cases across town to the bus centre and waited for the Brewster bus bound for Calgary to arrive. Said goodbye to Banff, and watched the Rockies recede into the rear view mirror as we headed down the highway.

Arrived at the new unit to find that the owner wasn't there, but the other couple who were staying had just arrived, and they let us in and told us the codes. They were a young French couple who had just flown in this morning from France via Amsterdam (as you do), so they were jetlagged and out on their feet like we all are on the first day. After agreeing on the respective bedrooms, we wandered up to the local Safeway to get provisions for lunch and breakfast, only to find when we got back that the unit has no microwave. We were nonplussed. It never entered our minds that a kitchen for tourists wouldn't have one, so we had to hunt through the kitchen for utensils and pans to cook the things we'd bought conventionally.

Then it was a long walk retracing our earlier steps all the way back into town for an explore. Saw the Calgary Tower, Chinatown (every city has one), and the outdoor eating precinct which was buzzing. To add to our impressive list of Olympic venues we have visited, we also wandered through the Olympic Plaza where the medals were presented at the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, and Juan Antonio Samaranch no doubt proclaimed them "the best Winter Olympics ever". It was the games of the Jamaican bobsled team, and Katrina Witt's legs if you are reminiscing.

Thai take away for tea whilst we tried unsuccessfully to watch the first game of the soccer world cup in Brazil. We made it a bit hard for ourselves - the game had finished.