Walking to Prince’s Island
On my way back to my hotel after my long and productive morning walk, I was pleased to be able to jump on the light rail and get back to my accommodation for a rest. As I got out of the train over the road from the hotel, I noticed there was a curious looking statue in the park that was opposite the hotel so I decided I needed to have a quick look at it. It seemed to be an image of two parents whirling their child around in mid-air. I hoped the original child survived the experience because it looked like there was a lot of vigour in the efforts of the parents. If they had accidently let him/her go, he would have landed in the middle of the basketball court next to the statue where the local kids played their after school games.
I had a solid couple of hours rest before deciding I needed to get back out into the open air of Calgary. I hadn’t yet seen the Bow River up close and I noticed that there was a bike path on the road that was one street down from the hotel that would take me straight through to the river. I also noticed on the map that there was a pedestrian Bridge over the river that I suspected might be worth having a good look at. At the end of 7St SW, I came across a curiously attractive house that appeared to be completely made with small round stones, both the fences and the house walls. I decided the builder must have spent a lot of time building it, one stone at a time. This stone house couldn’t have provided a more contrasting appearance to the Peace bridge over the road from it.
This beautiful, streamlined bridge opened for use in March of 2012. The structure of the bridge is a helical steel structure that shoots straight across the river with no pylons going down to the river to reduce its ecological footprint. One of the requirements for the build was that it could withstand the one in a hundred year flood cycle. I decided I needed to try out this bridge over the snow filled Bow River and I could see there was another pedestrian bridge coming back across the river down near the train bridge coming from Sunnyside LRT. On the way back over the bridge further down the river, I was impressed by the painting under the bridge that promoted the age-old fairy tale of the troll that lived under bridges.
My next target for this afternoon’s walk was to walk back past the beautiful red bridge and check out Prince’s Island which was just on the other side of the Peace Bridge. One of the things I noticed at this time of day (a little after 4pm) was that there were a lot of walkers, Joggers and bikers out and about, enjoying the facilities that the city provided for them. It was one aspect of Calgary that I decided was very ‘livable’!
I was able to walk onto Prince’s Island and a path took me back to the end of the island with a great view back to the Peace Bridge. The photo on the left below is of the end of Prince’s Island from the end of the peace bridge. When I got to this point on the island, there were some significant posters. One of these posters told the story of two Calgarians who promoted the construction of trails for citizens. The image on the right above is of a poster about the issues involved in the Indigenous Children’s schools that I had read about out the front of the Calgary Town Hall earlier this morning.
The photo below of the Peace Bridge taken from the end of Prince’s Island illustrates that despite the declining of the afternoon light, the bridge still looks like a marvel. I was a little surprised to see under the bridge two teenagers walking out on the ice that covered the river. I wondered how many folk like this disappeared through shallow ice in Calgary’s winter.
Rather than completing the full walk through Prince’s Island, I only walked as far as the stage area that has been set up for public events on the Island. I walked back the way I came, over the small bridge that leads to this little oasis. Before I left the Bow River area, I walked across the road towards some high-rise residential blocks to establish what the colourful reflections were that were starting to shine in the late afternoon sun. What I was looking at was an art piece that was strung over the entrance to the gardens of a particular block. I am sure the local children would have been almost as fascinated as I was.
FOGTRAVEL 