Calgary

Calgary is a flat city. Although there are several high rise buildings, there are no hills. The bus from Banff to Calgary followed the Bow river valley through the foothills of the Rockies. We arrived at the hotel hot and sticky to learn that Germany had won the World Cup. Lothan must have been pleased.
Sunday was the last night of the Stampede and we ummed and ahhed about going just for the experience but in the end we decided that we could survive without it. We had seen quite a bit on TV and it would have been quite a long walk to get there and we hadn't worked out their transport system at that time. We settled for a few beers instead.
Monday
Having worked out the transport system on the c train, we went to Calgary's Heritage Museum. It was similar to St Fagans near Cardiff. Replica buildings had been made into a small pioneer town with a train taking you around if you wanted. There was also a native Indian camp on the site. Every building was 'manned' by someone who acted out the part of whoever had lived in it during the pioneer time. It seemed very authentic. We also went for a 'cruise' on the lake in an ols paddle steam ship. The bakers also sold some lovely pies. It took a good 4 hours to do the whole museum and we were very hot and dry by the time we caught the train back to the hotel.
Tuesday
Had arranged to meet Monica, my cousin, and her partner Michael for lunch in the CN Tower. Had time to walk around around the city and get a coffee first. The CN tower used to be the tallest building in Calgary but it is now surrounded by much taller office blocks and hotels. The restaurant at the top revolved around slowly so we could see all the sights of Calgary and surrounding district. On a clear day it is possible to see the Rockies but apparently there were some forest fires creating smoke in the distance so we didn't get to see that view.
It was good to meet Michael and to catch up with Monica other than at a family funeral After leaving them to travel back to their small holding somewhere out in the sticks, we went to Calgary museum expecting to spend our usual amount of time in a museum - an hour or so. However the museum was on 3 floors and before we knew it we were being asked to leave as they were closing at 5. We had been there nearly 3 hours and had only done the art gallery and half of the 1st Nations gallery. We had a few hours to spare on Wednesday morning before flying back to Vancouver so asked if we could return the next day. They very kindly agreed to allow us back in for nothing. Bargain. Though not as good as the bargain getting into the Heritage museum where we got 2 for 1 with a voucher and we got in as seniors. We chose not to look insulted at being considered over 65!
Wednesday
Finished the museum, caught bus to airport which looked quite close from the CN tower but in actual fact took us 45 minutes. Our flight to Vancouver went via Edmonton - this had been my mistake when booking as I hadn't read that the flight was not direct. It was a bit of a palaver but all went quite smoothly. The hotel in Vancouver was a short train ride and a short walk from the airport.