At this point in time sidewalks are 1/3 snow, 1/3 slush, and 1/3 ice so they're not super great to be out walking on.
- Weather is crazy here and people have a tendency to complain about it a lot, especially in the winter.
- Edmonton is the capital city of its province (Alberta).
- It has one of the lowest population densities of any major North American city. It only has a population of just over a million, yet takes up a greater area than places like Chicago and Detroit.
- Edmonton is Canada's Festival City
- There are over 70 golf courses in the area which I find kind of ironic seeing as they can't be used for over half the year... and now I've just come back to the weather again *sigh* it'll never end will it?
- However one good thing about being so far north is in the summer we get 17 hours of sunshine a day!
Best Place for a Nerdfighter Gathering
West Edmonton Mall. Which was the worlds largest mall, and then Mall of America was built larger and people were sad so WEM expanded and was bigger again and I feel like this back and forth went on for a while but it doesn't matter anymore because there's a mall in China that's bigger than both of them. But anyways it's a big mall with fun stuff to do! Like the water park and amusement park, shopping, skating, movies, oh and there's a big ol' ship in the middle of it.
My Favourite Place to go when it's not so nice out, and even sometimes when it is...
The Art Gallery of Alberta
Architecturally beautiful as well as filled with some fantastic art! I never used to like going to the art gallery because it was, well kind of lame. However a couple years ago they tore it down and built a new o
ne and it's a million times better! Not just the building, but it's been getting a lot better exhibits in it as well. This past year there's been a Matisse exhibit as well as Degas, obviously not their most prominent works were on display since they live in places like the Louve and Tate Modern over in Europe but at least we're getting some bigger names in art coming through at all.
Best Place to Hang Out
Starting by the University and running into the midst of theatre district is a road called Whyte Avenue and it's pretty much the coolest place to go shopping. All along there's everything from used books, records and vintage stores, to stylish boutiques, to stores that just sell fun knick knacks. You can get pretty much anything you need there and can easily pass the time when you have no where to be. It's also has a very active night life because there's a lot of bars and night clubs along it and go one street over and you get about five theatres all within a block or so of each other. All in all quite a fun place to be. Especailly during August when North America's largest Fringe moves in and then you have street performers and buskers gallore! Early in the summer there's also an art walk where local artists set up displays of their work all the way down the avenue for people to see and buy if they want.
Sorry this is so short but I left it kind of late today and now I'm thinking I should get some sleep. A few of the things I was planning on talking about that I just want to mention quick are going for walks in the river valley which is so peacefull and a great escape from the city while still being in the city, skating at this one park in winter, and spending evenings at Folk Fest in the summer (a phenominal music festival featuring both established and up and coming artists).
I hope you enjoyed this little taste of Edmonton! Ooh another fun summer festival is called the Taste of Edmonton where local restruants all have booths set up in the square outside city hall and you can sample some food from each of them :)
You have an amusement park in your mall??? That's so awesomeee.
ReplyDeleteHaha yeah, it's called Galaxyland, it's pretty fun, though it's also pretty expensive so I don't really go that often.
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