Calgary News 2: In and around Calgary

As promised in the first part, I now share a couple of my impressions about Calgary. Before and after the conference, I could look around in the Downtown. On Saturday I enjoyed the company of a couple of guys from the conference so we explored some tourist attractions and bars together. On Sunday, there was a guided tour in the Banff National Park. The scenes were breathtaking and our guide, Petar was really experienced and funny.

The entrance of the campus.

The motto of the university. According to the university website, "'Mo shuile togam suas' – translated from Gaelic to 'I will lift up mine eyes'. The U of C has a rich Scottish history, hence our logo being in Gaelic"

Close to the train station, you can find the 'Magyar Centennial Gateway' which resembles the traditional
Szekler gate and includes Hungarian folk motifs such as the red tulips.

A sign tells that this gateway celebrates those Hungarian / Magyar immigrants who arrived to Canada in the 19th century and contributed to the development of the country. Close to this, there is another table commemorating the martyrs of the 1956 revolution.

In the Downtown stands the Calgary Tower. The view is amazing from there!
Skyscrapers were exotic for me as I got used to Central and Northern European cityscapes.
 

I found this type of advertisement quite practical in the neighborhood of the Tower.

I also liked to look at the many bridges of Calgary from above...
 

In the Chinatown you can find only a couple of keywords or names in English: otherwise, you need to understand Chinese if you want to know more about the details...

In Calgary, you can seldom find a street which has a name other than a number...

Stephen Avenue is a popular shopping street with bars, museums and hundred-year-old buildings.

The downtown is quite crowded and noisy so it was relaxing to take a walk in the Fish Creek park. 

Banff National Park, Moraine Lake.

Banff National Park, Moraine Lake..

Banff National Park. It's not a good idea to take a tour alone in a place where you can meet bears... As you can see, the table is bilingual, I guess because nation-level language policies apply here. In Calgary city, you almost never find French signs. 



Banff National Park, Lake Louise.

Banff National Park, Lake Louise.

Banff National Park, Lake Louise.



Near the town of Banff, we took a gondola and reached a peak. I'm pointing to the sign which shows the direction to my native city Budapest.

A view from the peak.

The last site of our Banff National Park tour was the Hoo Doo's. These are special standing rocks, named after the native mythic heroes of the first nations of Canada.

Especially for my Finnish colleagues and friends, I took a photo on the Olympic Park from the car on my way back to the hotel. In the 1988 Winter Olympics, Finns won three gold medals in ski jumping, thanks to the legendary Matti Nykänen.