Unfortunately the train from Vancouver does not go to Calgary. The nearest station would be Edmonton and then I would have to catch a bus. There seem to be two bus companies operating in western Canada, Red Arrow and eBus, both out of the same office. The Red Arrow is the more luxurious coach, an express with more room etc. but it’s twice the price of eBus at $76CAD one way from Edmonton to Calgary, a journey of around 4 hours. I opted for the eBus and got a return from Edmonton to Calgary for $68CAD and it was a good and prompt service. One of the big differences is that the eBus stopped a handful of times along the way rather than going direct but I was in no hurry. They were new coaches, you could smell the fabrics inside just like it was a new car and there were USB charging ports at the seats, plenty of room and it was a smooth, comfortable journey.
In my mind I had imagined Calgary to be a picturesque town with a stunning mountain backdrop. Turns out it’s a town built on the oil and gas industry, banking too, so there are a lot of high rise buildings build in blocks with quite industrial outskirts. Also as it gets super cold here (-30 with added windchill), there are heated walkways on the 2nd or 3rd floors, linking buildings. It’s possible to walk from one side of the city to the other without going outside.
The reason I stopped in Calgary was 10 years ago when I travelled and was in Australia, I met Kat who was from Calgary and on the same tour as me around Uluru.
Over the years we have stayed in touch through social media and as I was passing by I messaged Kat and she arranged a couple of excellent activities for us. First she picked me up from the apart-hotel I was staying in and we went to a pub for dinner where we met up with her husband Phil and friend Christina. The food and beer was excellent and although it’s been a while since we last met, it seemed like it was only last week.
Dinner was followed a Canadian institution, a hockey game. Kat managed to get some tickets through work and the seats were excellent and close to the ice. We got a really good, close up view of the action. It was a lower league game rather than NHL but I think this was better for my first hockey experience.
The atmosphere was really nice, warm and friendly, plenty of beer flowing and the game was fun to watch. The guys were explaining the rules of the game to me as it went on so I could at least try and understand what was happening. I was very happy as had bought myself a giant foam finger and we were cheering for the local team, Calgary Hitmen but the game went to extra time / golden goal. Fortunately after about 8mins of extra time the Calgary Hitmen hit one into the back of the goal and won 3:2.
After the hockey game we headed off to a pub called Bottlescrew Bills. The volume and variety of beers (local and international) on choice here is mind blowing. The micro brewing industry is in full swing all over Canada. Here, they have these passports called Around the world in 80 beers.
You start off with a red passport which tends to be lagers and IPA’s. You need to have 80 of them, all different, collected and drunk before moving on to the black passport which is 80 more ales and stouts. I should point out that there is no time limit to completing the passports, you are not expected to complete it in one or two sittings. Nor would that be possible. I started my red passport but Kat and Phil were on their black passports and were making good progress completing their second lot of 80. However, Christina was on her green passport and had her name on the wall of fame having completed this back in 2015 and who judges in beer tasting events similar to CAMRA back home.
I slept pretty well that night but had a stinking headache the next morning. That was soon sorted out with a hearty breakfast, some decent coffee and a brisk walk outside in -24. Later that afternoon and back at Bottlescrew Bills, there was a beer festival on from 14.00 – 17.00hrs. This was part of the reason we went there the previous night, to get tickets to the beer festival. It wasn’t like any other beer festival I had been to. It was nice that it was on only for a few hours and good job too as I had another bus to catch the following morning.
Dotted around the pub and outside on the heated patio, were about 50 local brewery tables, each with bottles and cans of their products ranging from sours, to heavy porters and stouts, as well as red and amber ales. The pub was packed and the beer festival tickets were sold out, I think we caught the last few. Instead of pints or half pints, we had tiny little glasses that probably hold 150ml. Obviously still a little delicate from the previous evening, it was much nicer drinking a smaller quantity of beer but being able to sample a huge variety without any ill effects. I am very impressed with the Canadian beer scene. I thought we had some good beers in England, but Canada is in a different league.
After the beer festival and within 5mins walking distance (outside of the heated walkways!) was a restaurant call Briggs. Canadians do like their food and they do like their steaks too. One of the things on the menu that caught our eye was something called the Tomahawk steak. It’s a 48oz steak on the bone with about 6 side dishes too which serve 3 – 4 people. Just our luck that there were 3 of us now so that’s what we ordered. It reminded me of the film The Great Outdoors where John Candy ate a 98oz steak.
It was huge, perfectly cooked and tasted absolutely wonderful. How steak should taste. The staff cut it up for us but as I was the guest, I had the privilege of gnawing the bone which was almost the size of my mountain bike handlebars.
It was an absolutely fabulous weekend. Catching up with friends, hockey, beer, a foam finger, more beer and of course steak. Canada is definitely my favourite country I have visited so far by miles and I still have so much more of it to see. The next morning, I had another bus booked to Banff where I would be for a few days.