Calgary is a citythat’s bustling with arts and festivals, is known for its pioneering history,rodeo and ski-filled winters as the gateway to the CanadianRockies.
Calgary was once afarming town, but went through tremendous growth thanks to discovery of thatblack gold under its crust oil. Today, Calgary isthe third largest city in Canadiaand although it’s a city with a modern urban culture, that pioneer past is notlost, in its penchant for country music and the love of the white Stetson.
It is not difficult to get around Calgary’ssights. The orderly laid streets form a grid pattern, and there is an excellentpublic transport network to boot.
The most famous event in the city is the annual CalgaryStampede, when more than a million people descend on the city for a ten-dayfestival packed with rodeos, music and agricultural exhibits. Sing along duringa wagon race and watch with bated breath as the daring ride bulls.
It’s not only during the Stampede you can seeanimals. At the CalgaryZoo you'll be taken into habitats from across Canada and beyond. Notonly from the present either, but from the past too the zoo has a PrehistoricPark where life-size replicas of dinosaurs roam through ancient landscapes. Inthe DrumhellerValley, about 135 kilometres outside of Calgary,is the RoyalTyrrell Museum, where you’ll find the fossils on which these replicasare based.
If you come here in the winter months then you’llfind plenty of opportunity for skiing, snowboarding, tobogganing and iceskating. But if you’d stay inside away from the cold then you can always go tothe art galleries of Stephen Avenue, just south of downtown Calgary,or visit the GlenbowMuseum in the centre of the city.
One evening, visit the Jubilee Auditorium to watcha Broadway musical, an opera or ballet performance, or dine at one of themulticultural restaurants at “International Avenue”. Here you can enjoy diversecuisines, such as Ethiopian, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Indian, Philippine and Cantonese.If you like good food, this is the place to be!
