america's attic

I had not been to Canada before in my adult life, so I was thrilled that my work took me to Calgary so that I could see what all the fuss was about. My opinion of the city might have been swayed by the fact that I was about to rendezvous with Carol, but I'll try to keep her out of things. (Like that is even possible. I enjoy traveling so much more when I can meet up with friends who live there and can take me out of the hotel. My personal tour of the city amazing and I hope I enjoy Calgary even half as much as I did with Carol.)

Carol took me to do what any good American does in Canada--buy chocolate (shhhh, don't tell Somebody.) The store was a lot like Walmart, only not, and with these awesome shoes. My big regret was that they didn't have any of the green ones in my size. Dang.
Oh! How could I forget? Before the big store we stopped for the best french fries ever. EVER. I can't believe I didn't take a picture because, honestly, I could have eaten them all night. And after the store we went for dinner, and then, get ready for it, we got the best hot chocolate ever. Ever! Can you even imagine it? The best french fries and the best hot chocolate in the same city? I know. Crazy.
Seriously. Best. Hot chocolate. Ever. Ever. We had to cool it down a little by holding it outside the car, but once it reached drinkable temperature I was in heaven. Or Canada.

And Canada has these:Maybe they have them in other big cities--the footprints so that you have somewhere to step so that your heel doesn't go through the grate. Awesome. Other things I loved about Calgary:

• Every flight I took had empty seats, left on time, and arrived at my destination a little early. I could not have been more pleased.
• Did you know that you have to pay for plastic bags at the grocery store? I think it is a great way to encourage bringing re-usable, canvas bags.
• Everyone I met was so polite--the taxi drivers, hotel staff, people in restaurants and walking around.
• As I was walking around the downtown area by myself in the morning, I passed a city worker cleaning some outdoor benches. There weren't other people on the street and so I could hear him very clearly singing in Italian. It was almost like a whole other world there listening to him sing.
• The weather was perfectly cold. I prefer weather to be a little on the chilly side and was comfortably cool the whole time.

The one thing I didn't like about going into Canada was going through customs. I knew that I wasn't doing anything wrong, but the inquisition was a little too thorough and the customs official actually said, "You know, we can't let just anyone in to Canada." Well, thanks for that. Also, my laptop is heavy. It was never meant to be carried around the Denver airport or anywhere else.