Author: bbpeck

Over the past week, Bob and I have logged many miles and hours exploring Calgary — much of it along the lovely Bow and Elbow River pathways.  Beth will get one more chance to intimately connect with one or more parts of the trail during a 25 mile training run (It’s going to be chilly!) on Friday morning. Here is our Ode to the Bow — mostly through photos with minimal text.

On Saturday, we walked east on the south side of the Bow (having previously explored the north side) through Inglewood to the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary (where we saw one small bird, heard some others, and met up with a coed young Explorer group.  The walk was along the river but also through some residential areas before heading out of town near the sanctuary.

On Sunday, we went west (young man) against a chilly head wind on the north shore of the bow all the way to Edworthy Park before crossing over to the south side for the walk back.  As some of the trail was closed, we ended up detouring onto the Douglas Fir Trail, which was open, but took us up into the hills along the footpath which was still ice and snow covered in parts.  However, it brought us back to a railroad crossing where Beth had run to on her first long run of the trip.  We continue to be pleasantly surprised by the number of people hiking, biking, and running on the trail.  Most of the runners wearing a lot less clothes than me when I head out!

 

Our next blog will wrap up Calgary with more on our feline friends, gastrointestinal finds, and some fun signs.

We are still loving the high-rise condo life — the views from this place are a nice way to wake up, drink coffee and read the local paper (in the am) and watch the lights in the evening.  We’ll be here until March 18 at which point we’ll be off to explore Edmonton, Jasper and Canmore via (rental) car.  But, before that happens, we have been busy exploring Calgary.

Trails, trails, trails. The Bow River is the main waterway through Calgary and the city was founded on the confluence of that river and the Elbow River. Along the rivers are tons of trails that we are enjoying exploring and running on. A lady told us there were over 300 kilometers (186 miles) of trails in the city. It is not even peak season, and the trails are active with walkers, runners, and bikers.  There are many great views and public art to look at. We think any city is enhanced with a good trail system!

Neighborhoods.  We have been hoofing it all over town to explore various neighborhoods — so far in addition to the greater downtown area, we have poked around the Inglewood and Ramsay neighborhoods to the East, Bridgeland, Kensington, and Nose Hill, and U of Calgary areas to the North, and the Mission area and 17th Avenue areas to the South and West.  All very cute with a good mix of residential and retail.

Flame out. We are not big hockey fans but when in Rome…. So, we went to a hockey match the other night in the Scotiabank Saddledome (a 10 minute walk away). It was a fine facility and very iconic, but we have heard talk of the possible building of a new stadium. While we enjoyed our cheap seats and watching the match, the Calgary Flames ultimately lost to the San Jose Sharks in OT.  The Flames are not having a great season, but they still drew a good-sized crowd with nearly all of the attendees in Flames jerseys.  Prices were reasonable for a sporting event with beers costing C$9 for 18oz (US$6.75).

Fort Calgary. This fort is located at the intersection of the Bow and Elbow rivers–near the location of the original fort which marked the founding of Calgary.  The fort was established by the North West Mounted Police (under the direction of Lt. Gen. James McCleod) in 1875. Later the CPR, Canadian Pacific Railway, would buy the land and build the train line into town which ensured the city’s growth. The Fort is now a museum and interpretive center with some nice videos and exhibits that explain the history of the city.

Poutine. I started loving a dish called poutine when Beth and I first visited Montreal a few years ago. It is a nutritional power house of French fries covered with gravy and then topped with melted cheese curds. Beth googled “best Calgary poutine” before we left Austin, and one of the top restaurants cited was Brasserie Kensington, so for Christmas, she bought me a gift certificate to the restaurant as a gift. We had a great time at the restaurant on Saturday night!  The food was good, and we sat at the bar overlooking the kitchen, so we got to watch all the action and talk with with the chef.  We also struck up a conversation with a couple next to us when we noticed their baby was wrapped in a Dallas Cowboy blanket.  The husband was originally from Iran, but had lived for a number of years in the Dallas area and still has family there.  She was originally from the Quebec area, but they all live in Calgary now.

That’s all I have for now — hope you are enjoying your own adventures!

I can’t believe Bob and I have only been here a little more than a week, as it already feels like home!  The condo is great — awesome, central location with great views.  Bob was always the high-rise guy, but I’m beginning to get persuaded – especially when you live over a market, wine store, and coffee shop.  We also are caring for some great cats.  Squeak, is female, inky black, and actually squeaks rather than meows.  She is her own individual, and you definitely play by her rules.  She takes medicine every other day which was a bit of an effort the first couple of times, but we have managed as she is beginning to accept us.  Purrcy is a ginger-colored male.  He is more outwardly affectionate and likes his tummy rubs.

This week was interesting in terms of weather and health.  Wednesday was pretty chilly and threatened rain all day, so we took advantage of the iffy weather to explore Calgary’s extensive indoor skywalk system, called +15.  This walkway links a number of buildings across the downtown area allowing the public to walk for miles regardless of the weather.  We saw a number of workers logging some miles over their lunch break.

Bob started feeling a bit under the weather earlier in the week but really felt bad Wednesday evening and all- day Thursday.  So, I left him to rest on Thursday and headed out to capture some good views of Calgary from atop Nose Hill and the check out some of the University of Calgary.  It was quite an adventure.  It was close to a 5 mile walk to Nose Hill, but the real effort was trying to find how to get into the park (via the parking lot of the Calgary Winter Club).  I thought the views were worth the effort.

After Nose Hill, I attempted to find the UnIversity of Calgary with a fairly user-unfriendly (unless you already know the area) map.  I was most interested in finding the Olympic Oval (speed skating rink) from the Calgary Olympic Games.  After way too much meandering on my own, I found the rink after asking directions from 3 different people.  After all that, I caught the rail line back into town, so Bob and I could take advantage of the free museum night at the Glenbow Museum where we got to see Canadian Art, Asian Art, and exhibits on important Canadiens.

Bob was feeling better by Friday (even after watching most of the 1,000th GOP debate this time featuring an unnecessary back and forth about hand size, etc), so after a good breakfast at a local deli suggested by homeowners we explored the 17th Ave entertainment district, the historic Loughheed House, and bought tickets for Monday night’s Calgary a Flames game.

Saturday I logged a 22 mile run along the Elbow and Bow River Trails in preparation for a marathon in a little over a month in Manchester.

Greetings from Calgary!  Today’s high — 43F/6C.

Almost everyone in the States that we told about coming to Calgary asked if we were going to the Stampede. We are not. It is held in July, and we will not be here then.  While it sounds like a very big, impressive event, we are finding that Calgary has much more to offer.

Calgary has a city population of over 1 million residents and is the largest city in the province of Alberta.  It has a pretty impressive, and architecturally interesting skyline and some fun public art (see below).

Another feature that I like about the City is that it is laid out in a very grid-like manner with streets running north and south and avenues east and west. There are northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest quadrants with Center Street dividing east and west and the Bow River dividing north from south.

Calgary also has lovely outdoor parks and a great network of hiking and biking options including the Bow River Pathway. This is a 30 mile network of hiking and biking trails along the Bow River that connects major parks and green areas in Calgary. Bob and I have walked just a portion of this to date (see below), but I have a 22 mile run this weekend that will allow me to see much more of it.

Today we explored one outdoor park, the Reader Rock, one indoor urban park, Devonian Gardens, and, in a nod to the Calgary Stampede, did the Art Walk on the Stampede grounds.

Reader Rock Garden is named for Mr. Reader a former long-time director of parks for the City of Calgary. The garden is on the grounds of his former house which came with the position. It also abuts a couple of large cemeteries. Mr. Reader’s former home is now a cafe (open May through January). It was a lovely stroll around the grounds though we had to watch our footing a bit on the stone steps as they are still a bit ice and snow covered.

The Reader Rock garden lies just to the south of Stampede Park, home of the Calgary Stampede (For my fellow Texans I find Calgary quite reminiscent of Ft. Worth.). We explored the grounds, outside of the buildings, to view the artwork — everything from sculptures to murals to carved stone and metalwork. Each piece depicting some aspect of the Stampede and it’s history. I don’t know if we’ll ever get back for the Stampede, but the grounds are very close to the Saddledome where the Calgary Flames play, and we are hoping to get to one of their games before we leave.

The indoor park, the Devonian Gardens, is a lovely garden oasis in The Core, Calgary’s downtown mall. When you first enter them on the third floor, you almost immediately relax due to the quieter ambiance and gorgeous greenery. The larger portion of the gardens is on the fourth floor and the various green spaces and ponds (along with a live piano player) eventually give way to a children’s play area and food court.

Bob and I have landed in Calgary to officially begin our 12 month adventure! It feels great. We met the human couple we are sitting for yesterday afternoon and spent about an hour with them getting acquainted with the particulars of their condo (23rd floor unit in downtown high rise) and meeting their cats — Squeak (female) and Purrcy (male). We’ll share more about our Canadian adventures and the AWESOME hike and bike path along the Bow and Elbow Rivers in our next blogs.

This blog is to recognize — once again — the many friends and family who helped facilitate this little adventure. Bob and I had lovely send-offs from Austin with farewell breakfasts, lunches, and happy hours with friends. We even had a strong 35 mph wind at our back pushing us out of Texas, so I guess the state was ready to see us off. To the extent that we can express our thanks (and at risk of forgetting people), please see below —

• Thanks to Virginia E. For one last lunch at Magnolia Cafe. I will miss our “Here’s How the World Should be Run” talks, but I hope that we can pick up where we left off when I return. I am certain that the world will need our sage advice even more in a year’s time.
• Thanks to the best group of women that I know — the three Ss and a J — Sally, Sandy, Stacy, and Jane for a great happy hour (Wink, Wink) and some fun Texas mementos — already put to use (see below).

• Many thanks to the downtown Trader Joe’s team for rehiring Bob and putting up with his jokes.
• A shout out to Bob A for providing us space to store our touring bikes and cedar chest until our storage room at the condo is rehabbed for use.
• A shout out to our neighbor Bud and Madelyn for helping to load and haul the aforementioned items to Bob As’ and also for offering some garage space for our remaining items until the completed rehab of our storage units.
• Thanks to our niece Amanda for taking time off work to meet us for coffee at a great coffee and chocolate shop in Wichita on our way north. It was a great visit and helped to provide a much-needed break on a long driving day.

• Thanks also to Shelli & John for being the usual awesome hosts — great room, great food, fun cocktails. Also a Big thanks for noticing that I had left my brand new waterproof hiking shoes at their house in time for us to turn and head back before going onto Des Moines.

• In Des Moines, our nephew Zack provided great lodging and munchies and continued to tolerate his uncle’s jokes and harassment as did friends Picker, Doug, and Steph while watching the UT men’s basketball team lose big to Baylor.
• There really aren’t enough words to thank Bob’s sister Cheryl and husband Jody for all that they did, and are doing, for us. In addition to hosting and feeding us for 2 nights (along with joke tolerance referenced above), they are keeping the remainder of our belongings (mostly Beth’s clothes and our car) and getting our mail while we’re away.  Jody also drove us 3 hours to Iowa City (and then back) to rendezvous with Beth’s sister for transport to Illinois and Wisconsin.
• Before heading out of Iowa, we had a great visit with Bob’s parents. They treated us to lunch, and Mrs. Peck gave Beth a great new maroon sweatshirt that has already come handy. Warmth is good!

• Hugs to my sister Brenda for being a great hostess!! She should work for the Rockford tourism bureau because she always takes us to the yummiest places to eat and acquaints us with the best hiking/biking/running possibilities. Knowing her sister’s lack of directionality, she even drew me a map to the nearby bike path, through the jog through a neighborhood, and back onto a larger, longer path with cool artwork in and along the river. She provided us a travel gift set — collapsible, reusable shopping bags, hand warmers, and adult coloring books with colored pencils. I now have my creative outlet since I couldn’t bring my big cross stitch project. The time there allowed us a visit to Janesville to see my mom and aunt, uncle, and cousin as well as run errands to finalize travel plans before our flight to Calgary.

NOTE:  Apologies to all who with whom we neglected to get a photo.  We need to become more photo obsessed.

I always thought I was such an independent little thing, but the older I get the more I realize how any success I’ve had has been the effort of a pretty amazing “village.” Thanks and love to all our friends and family!

Our Kifisia House Sit has ended. It’s been unique (as they all are) and is ended a bit uniquely as well. First, the new part of this house sit for us has been working with a puppy. She (still unnamed) is a charmer if you aren’t amused and taken in with this sweet little creature, there just isn’t enough human blood in you. That being said, she takes more work in terms of consistent activities, ensuring she doesn’t pee when and where you don’t want her too, and watching the interactions with the other pets who are still adjusting to the new inhabitant of “their” territory. We have been retrained in puppy training — so who says you can’t teach old dogs new tricks?

Second, we transitioned the care of the home and pets not back to the home owners as expected but to another house sitting couple. It is, however, for a very happy reason. The home owners, who are doing a house sit in the UK, have decided to get a marriage license there, and the required paperwork, etc. has them extending their stay.  Since we couldn’t easily (nor affordably) change our flight, they contacted another couple, already in Greece, to stay from Sunday night (1/31) until they return on Tuesday.

In terms of recent non-pet related activities we have continued to walk a bit around the local area and finally feel like we are getting a good sense of how to get around (no parallel streets here) just in time to head home. . .

Also, Beth did an 18 mile run last Friday to continue her marathon training. (Side note: 18 mile run done on treadmill at gym so Beth wasn’t forever lost in Kifisia and/or hit by a car on a “sidewalk” or street. No idea what the locals at the gym thought. She did put her big girl pants on Sunday morning, however, to beat most traffic and do an hour run around the neighborhood and down to the metro and back, so she can officially say she ran in Greece.)

The night of the long run, we went out for seafood which we hadn’t yet had (lots of chicken and pork for meat eaters).  We found a cute restaurant not too far from the house and had a lovely dinner AND got to hear some Greek folk music which Beth had been interested in doing.  We had wine with dinner, but it was served in a different manner than we have previously experienced. The waiter encouraged us to get a 1/2 “kilo” of wine. We learned that this is 500 ml which is less than a bottle (750 ml). The wine was served in a small carafe and then poured into glasses which seemed to be a tad larger than a shot glass. It all worked fine and seemed like a great way to control how much you drink. The cost of the 1/2 kilo (and this was good wine) was 3€ (about $3 since the exchange rate between the euro and American $ is pretty close). Bob ended up buying one more glass (still the small size), and it was .60€. Amazing!

For the seafood, I had a great piece of grilled octopus, and Bob got to select his fish to be grilled and filleted (but served with the head on).  Unfortunately, even with the small amount of wine we had, neither of us managed to see the dressing for the fish which was served in a separate dish so he didn’t really get the full experience of what his dish was suppose to taste like.

The Greek folk music was also good. There were 3 individuals — 2 men and a woman — who started singing about 9:30. They sat on stools on a raised platform in the corner. One gentlman played a guitar and the other a mandolin. The female just seemed to have a handheld microphone, so we thought for sure she was going to sing. However, when they started playing she continued to hold the mike in her lap and then we saw her start to shake what looked to be a smooth stone near the mike — either drawing it away from the mike or moving it up and down.

 

We are interrupting our normally-scheduled (well maybe not really that scheduled) blogs about Greece to share some sad news. Bob and I learned the other day about the passing of our (at least for a short time) beloved Jess. She was one of the dogs that we cared for in New Plymouth, New Zealand while her human parents were away. She was older and having some troubles with arthritis while we were there, but nothing too severe. However, her issues apparently became steadily worse until she was in quite a lot of pain. Her human parents and canine companion, Baz, are missing their beloved Jessie Lou, and Bob and I were saddened to learn of her death. She was a very special dog. The following is from our blog last fall as we were getting ready to end our stay in New Plymouth —

And we will definitely miss the beautiful dogs. Jess is the sweetest girl ever. She is impossible not to like. She loves to eat and likes to have her belly rubbed. She doesn’t get around as well as Baz due to her age, but she likes to try to hang with him as much as possible — joining in on barking at the neighborhood cat and starting out her walks with her version of a jog.

We miss you Jess — you were a very special part of our New Plymouth experience last fall and a very lovely soul!

 

It has been interesting getting to see a tiny portion of Greece.  While we can’t generalize to the whole country (mainland and multiple islands), we have found it to be study in contrasts.

People — all of the people with whom we have interacted with have been really, really nice. They have been very patient and helpful with us as we didn’t have time to try to master their language before we came.  Almost all Greeks, at least in the urban and suburban areas we have been in, speak English. One of the retailers in the local bakeries has taken to teaching the Texans a couple of words — Yeia soy! (Hello — sounds like achoo but is said Yasoo) and Kalimera (Good Morning — pronounced a bit like the English word for squid — calimeray).  On the other hand, Greeks drive like bats out of hell — zipping down main thoroughfares as well as through neighborhoods at ungodly speeds. They will also nearly drive up on you on the sidewalks if they need a parking place.

Infrastructure — They have it all. They have old buildings, embassies, shiny new homes shops, as well as shells of buildings that have been abandoned or never got to be used (some resulting from the financial crisis impact).  These are often found right next to each other.

Even the Olympic Stadium from 2004 is a study in contrasts. You can see the amazing architecture, and some buildings are apparently still being used, but the grounds are unkempt and some of the facades are peeling and rusting. When we visited yesterday, it felt a bit like walking through a modern sports ghost town. On the otherhand, we checked out a huge mega mall (creatively called “The Mall”) one metro stop away from the stadium, and it was shiny, airy, and quite busy.

On another fun note about little everyday differences, in doing the laundry at the house the other day we were charmed to hear the lovely little song that is played at the end of the cycle.  So much nicer than our American buzzer on our machine.  The house we are caring for is also right across the street from a school, and the “bells” used to indicate transition between class sessions sounds like a very loud doorbell.  (We had originally assumed one of the neighbors must be hard of hearing.)

The weather is finally turning in our favor, so we’re hoping to explore a bit more of the area. Two recent fun finds — the local market and finally getting to see some of the surrounding mountains.

Kifisia, Greece House Sit

After sight seeing in Athens, we headed by metro to Kifisia, a northern suburb of Athens, to start our 10 day house sit with three pets — Lily, an 11 year old cocker spaniel, June, a mostly outdoor cat and X (a yet-to-be-named) mix puppy. All three are so cute and really easy to care for, though the puppy does take a little extra work, as was expected.

We had initially talked with this homeowner couple for a house sit in the October/November timeframe, but the dates didn’t work out for us. In late December, we received an email from them asking if we could do a house sit in January. We were skeptical that we could get affordable-enough air tickets to make it work, but we lucked out and found reasonable airfare on Turkish Airlines from Houston (rather than Austin) via Istanbul. Flying from Houston reduced the per person cost by $500.

With our second day in the home, we are establishing a routine for the 3x/day dog walks, the frequent yard visits with the puppy, and inside/outside time for the cat. June, the cat, is an adept climber and neighborhood explorer. She usually accompanies us (doing her own thing) while we walk Lily. When inside, she is loving and purrs contentedly, but it isn’t long before she’s ready to head back out.

In other “getting into a routine” news, Beth is currently training to hopefully run the Manchester Marathon when we are in England this spring. Luckily, we found a gym less than a mile away that she can use to continue her training while here as there is no ability to run on the local sidewalks or streets. The sidewalks here appear to be for the planting of trees and the parking of motorbikes, if they exist at all. And the car traffic here is crazy.

In terms of local food, we have had some great cheese, local bread, and sweets. Bob has also enjoyed some gyros (made differently than in the States) and souvlaki while Beth has been into the grilled veggies and just discovered a lovely Sonia salad (carrots, beets, kidney beans, onions, dill, and parsley).

The house is just off the main avenue with many shops and markets. And we have enjoyed poking into local markets (seafood, regular, produce) and various bakeries.

The costs here are really good (cheap). The owners pointed us to a great coffee shop where we had two coffees and four pastries for about US$8. The Metro cost us US$1.25 a piece (going from central Athens to Kifisia, the last stop, approximately 15 miles). Greek wine is very tasty and really cheap — about $6 – $8 for a good bottle of red, white, or rose. We have also sampled local liquors — ouzo (anise-flavored and often mixed with water) and mastika (slightly sweet).

The weather has been chilly. In fact, it snowed all day and overnight last night with some snow accumulation on cars. But, it is likely warmer than our next house sit locale in Calgary, Canada. (At 5:20 pm Athens time on Sunday the 24th, it is 43 in Athens, 43 in Austin (but much earlier in the day), and 27 in Calgary (ditto about time difference).

Day 2 in Athens started with sunshine, and a note from our house sit couple. While the girlfriend/fiance was already in England for their house sit, he was here finishing work but was ill and needed us to wait to come until 7 instead of the planned 4 pm arrival time. We had a few more hours to enjoy Athens.

We started at the Acropolis after our “free” meal at Niki Hotel.  Bob had found us a great hotel in the Placa section of Athens — near the Parliament House for $43 US a night with breakfast.  The area was great — with lots of local restaurants and shops but without the high tourist section annoyances of workers hollering at you to get you to go inside.

The Acropolis is amazing!  It sits on a hill far higher than any other in town, so you see it a lot and are reminded of the long, long history of this amazing city and country.  Due to its age, it is in a continual state of restoration.  The Acropolis is a section of Athens consisting of various temples, theaters, stadium, etc.  However, it is most well-known for the largest building set on the highest part of the hill — the Parthenon.  I have to say as amazing as it is to stand near structures that have survived (at least partially) for so long, the view of Athens from the hilltop is just as impressive.  See below for some highlights with evidence of the restoration work underway.

We then wound our way back down the hill to see the ancient Agora (market/meeting place — think of Socrates and Plato leading their discussions).  Again, an area and group of structures rather than a building.  We spent most time at the Temple of Hephaestus and the Stoa of Attalos.

From the Acropolis we wandered over to the City’s Central Market where the crowds were busy shopping for the freshest fish and meat (including skinned goat’s heads with eyes intact).  We just tried to hang onto our bags in the throng and didn’t buy anything.  We had an interesting bathroom experience on the way to our next stop.  We had stopped at a public toilet in a little square but we’re waiting patiently (and then beginning to be not so patiently) since the red light indicated that it was in use.  Finally, a nice little older Greek gentleman came over and told us to go into a nearby building where we could use the facilities for free.  We took his advice.  Bob had no problem, but the men sitting in the room near the restroom kept trying to tell me something in Greek.  I finally figured out that I needed a key for my door.  Turns out it was a veterans hall and apparently they don’t have many female members.

We decided to check out what are known as the Trilogy of Neoclassical architecture in Athens — The Academy, The University of Athens, and The National Library.  The exist side-by-side on a Main Street. The Academy was the most attractive from the outside, but the English nerd in me loved seeing the old card catalogs and spiral staircases in the National Library.

Probably the two of the most intriguing sites we saw on Thursday were a social protest (never did learn what exactly it was about) and the changing of the guard near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier outside of Parliament House.  We heard warnings about the protests, but it didn’t seem terribly large and was certainly completely non-violent from what we saw.  The changing of the guard ceremony, however, was something like no other guard ceremony we have ever seen.  Picture grown military men wearing what appears to be Catholic school girl uniforms with stockings, garters, a little beanie with a long tassel, and clog style shoes with fluffy balls on them doing some type of weird high kick ( front, back, side) march and then getting their outfits restyled by the head guy in camouflage.  And then they have to stand at attention while tourists pose with them!  I couldn’t do it, they had already sufficiently made my day.  All military should be required to dress and act in this manner to limit actual fighting.  See below.