Whimsical, intriguing and amusement head sculpture in front of the Bow skyscraper in downtown…read moreCalgary. 39 ft tall steel wire structure by famous Spanish artist depicts the head of a young girl. Walk around and go inside. View, age and perspective change with where you look at. Should not be missed if you're strolling downtown Calgary

While strolling through downtown Calgary, we came upon the Wonderland Sculpture. It's a pretty…read moreamazing piece in its simplicity and beauty. It's intricate but also impressive up close.

Women Are Persons! These 5 bronze sculptures are of the Famous Five in a circle with some sitting…read moreon chairs & others standing. It is at Olympic Park & was created in 2000 by the artist Barbara Paterson of Edmonton, The monument is of Irene Parlby, Louise McKinney, Nellie McClung, Emily Murphy and Henrietta Muir Edwards, all from Alberta. They appealed a 1928 decision by the Supreme Court of Canada ruling that women could not be appointed to the Senate, because they were not "qualified persons." In 1929, the Privy Council reversed this decision. This sculpture was also featured on the back of the $50 bill. Unfortunately there was garbage & men passed out here so we rushed past reading the information later in the day.

Situated in the SW corner of Olympic Plaza is a large work of art that is an ode to women's right…read morein Canada. In 1927, Canada's famous five women Emily Murphy, Louise McKinney, Henrietta Edwards, Irene Parlby and Nellie McClung challenged the courts interpretation of the British North America Act that did not recognize women as persons and thus they could not serve in the senate. The size of the piece is meant to represent the size of the moment. Indeed this is huge, perhaps not large enough. I like walking up to this piece one a week during lunch. It's a reminder that sometimes what you achieve you might never see. None of the famous five became senators until October 8, 2009 when the senate voted to make the five the first "honorary senators." 18/30 Yelp 30 Day Challenge

Calgary's Chinatown was such an unexpected surprise! It runs right alongside a lot of Calgary's…read moremain tourist area and is very vibrant and lively with lots to see and do. It's concentrated along Centre St and is adjacent to the beautiful Bow River and Calgary's most famous skyscraper, The Bow. Calgary's first Chinatown dates all the way back to around 1890! I would argue that the heart of Calgary's Chinatown is it's Chinese Cultural Center - it has a beautiful plaza at the entrance and a wonderful museum in the basement full of interesting historical information and artifacts, making it an excellent place to start when exploring this fun part of downtown. There are tons of shops, several lovely parks with historical info signs, and nice restaurants. It's extremely walkable and easy to fit in to a lot of the other sightseeing activities in the downtown core. Even the street signs are fun! I'd definitely say it's a must see part of Calgary. Our only complaint is that we didn't have enough time to explore further and try some of the highly rated restaurants and other shops!

Downtown Calgary is full of sculptures. "The Conversation" was created in 1981 by William Hodd…read moreMcElcheran. You'll find a series of these bronze sculptures across three continents. These guys in particular amuse me. Plump fellows with old-school hats, I'd like to think they represent a lot of what happens on Stephen Ave, business people meeting each other. When was the last time you saw someone stopping to say hello to one another in the street? These guys remind me to pay a little more attention to who I'm passing by instead of being too lost in thought to notice. They're also fun for a photo opp! Daytime or nighttime, peek your head between theirs and smile! Don't forget a hat of your own.

Ah, Bronze statues - A Calgary Classic. What you'll immediately notice about this particular…read morebronze statue is it is neither depicting horses, nor cowboys. I like The Conversation because it's simple yet recognizable. It blends into the crowd and can be a source of its very own conversation. You can't help but wonder what their close talking story is all about. They sure look like businessmen, but are they talking business? I've always imagined them talking full garbled jibberish, or things like "I says to you, I says" or a "'mornin' Sam", "'mornin' Ralph" like the coyote and sheepdog in Looney Toons. Thanks to vigilante artists that make me smile, I've often seen them with specially knitted mitts and scarves in the winter to keep them warm.

Walking down Stephen Avenue for lunch I stopped on the southwest corner of Stephen Avenue and…read moreCentre for a do-not-walk sign. Bored with the wait and spinning around like a ten year old at a bus stop, I turned behind me to see someone whom I have seen many times, but never taken the opportunity to talk to. I turned around to see the famous Mechanical House starring at me as if to say "how are you doing?" in a brutally faked Brooklyn accent. I never really took a long look at the sculpture before which seems to made of junk mechanical parts. A younger Arc would look at this piece and scheme of ways to ride this steed for stress relief after a night of semi-sophisticated inebriation. However, as a more mature Arc, my thoughts were one of admiration. Though I am no artist myself, I could appreciate the work that went into this piece. It's gorgeous. It made me think about how a pile of junk and useless parts can be made into something beautiful, relevant to its environment (the stampede symbolizing the wild spirit that is Calgary) and just plain productive. I guess with enough work you can make and shape anything into something beautiful and value to its community. Good lesson to take back to work, great lesson to carry with me for the rest of my life. 3/30

Mechanical parts and other scraps. Who knew you could make a horse out of that? The mechanical…read morehorse is just off Stephen Ave. And it's a piece that makes just about every person stop to take a look at it. It certainly is unusual... and life size! If ever there were a sci-fi movie made about Calgary, I would expect someone to bring the mechanical horse to life. What does it signify? Why's it there? I haven't the foggiest idea. Maybe it's the industrialization of the west. Maybe it's meant for nothing more than to remind me of Will Smith in Wild Wild West. The photo snapper in me wants to get up-close and personal with this horse. There's all manner of weird angles and spaces to get a shot from. And then I'll hop on, and we'll ride off into the sunset, me and my trusty steed... or maybe I'll bring my hobby horse along instead. We might get a little farther!

We all know those two iconic red and yellow nuts and bolts figurines in front of Bow Valley Square…read more You know, the large, red painted piece of public art that seems to have managed to slipped that unyielding, artsy erection past corporate Calgary for all of these years? I don't know the history of these two. I don't know if it ever was a conversation piece. Was it ever controversial? Or did this public artwork walk the line that classic, cowboy Calgary was just a little conservative to admit that all they really saw was a nuts and bolts version of a hefty piece of metal man meat staring back at them. And then you start thinking about the symbolism of nuts and bolts. And then you never tell everyone that your mind went down this rabbit hole. Guess what, y'all? We all see it. We've all thought it. This piece spark internal conversations among every viewer, namely "is that a penis? I mean, I get the resemblance to hardware here, but that artsy humanoid figurine really looks like it's got a massive erection!" I'm sure Kabuki and Sadko have a brilliant, historic and artistic significance I could very easily learn about. But as a born and raised, and artistically ignorant Calgarian onlooker, I want to believe you have a deeper, artistic meaning. But then again it could be a total "phallicy."

Calgary is swimming in public art pieces - and Family of Man (as this set of sculptures is more…read morecommonly known) was probably my fave one! Very unassuming from a distance, the statues are massive as you get close and evoke a sense of tenderness and connection. The figures loom over you at 21 feet tall but are very jolly and serene. Designed by beloved Spanish sculptor, Mario Armengol, they were originally installed as part of the British Pavilion's exhibit titled "Britain in the World," for Montreal's Expo '67. A local Calgary businessman bought them after the expo and they were given to the city in 1968. The instillation drew a lot of controversy at first bc the figures are indeed naked and anatomically correct in an abstract sort of way - and they're sitting on the site of the "board of education" though it's since been abandoned lol. But I quite like their presentation- the sculptures are faceless, raceless, and so much is left open to interpretation here that it leaves lots of space for one's own imagination. But the sense of gentle connection between the statues was unmistakable (to me anyway) and definitely something we could all use a little more of nowadays imho. One fun fact that I really loved about these sculptures is that no instructions were given on how to install the art and Calgary didn't consult the sculptor - so the staff placed them in the big circle we see today. But at the expo back in 1967, they were all separated and scattered about lol. I really think the tenderness and connection would've been lost if they had been installed any other way!

Mario Armengol's "The Brotherhood of Mankind" sculpture is on the lawn of the now abandoned Calgary…read moreBoard of Education Building, at the corner of 1st St and 6th Ave S.E.. The 10 sculptures are over 20 feet tall & were installed in 1968. To me the faceless sculptures represent the connections & relationships between people. Their positions & gestures demonstrated a tenderness that exists between the figures. The interplay of the figures, creates narratives the more I studied them.

Definitely gotta make a stop in this district if you're exploring Calgary....there are TONS of…read morerestaurants, shops, clubs and bars here - even a comedy club! There's a college nearby and the vibe is trendy and hip in this area so it's a great spot for nightlife. It's quite a ways away from the downtown core so a bit of a trek on foot but flat, paved and doable. It's located on 17th Ave SW between 2nd Street SW and 16th Ave SW. Their website lists all businesses in the area. One thing I really love is they have a TON of awesome street art and lots of locally owned small businesses (where's my YES folks at??!! Lol). There are also quite a few nice green spaces with historical info and it's super walkable. It was a very hot day and we had time constraints so didn't get to explore as much as I wanted. Would definitely like to come back! Parking looked like it was all metered street parking and there are some public garages nearby. Lots of bus stops too. The area is mostly clean and felt relatively safe but there's one park right in the heart of the district that had a lot of transients set up there on the benches and tables and some were aggressive. One of them jumped out of some bushes around a tree, rushing towards me screaming....but he left us alone when we ran off. So just keep your wits about you and be aware. Other than that one weird encounter, the area seemed fine.

CANMORE - one hour out of Calgary…read more Am posting some pictures of the foothills of the Rockies. This is a must-do when visiting Calgary.

We had the opportunity to spend a night and half day here but we really enjoyed Calgary or Cowtown…read moreas it is known. The population of this city as of 2021 is 1,306,784. Calgary is located in the Canadian province of Alberta which is the home of nine national parks and ten provincial parks. Wow! We came to visit Banff and Jasper National Parks. Calgary Tower is a great way to see the city from above. There is the beautiful Bow River that flows through the city and the 1988 Winter Olympics were held in this city. This city is the home of 240 different ethnic origins. We saw so many unique restaurants serving Malaysian, Chinese, Korean, Indian, Vietnamese food and that was just in the downtown area. I found the Canadian people to be very friendly and welcoming. I felt extremely safe here and did not worry about being shot! Lots of public art on display and they have an arts district, shopping district, strictly business district and some cool places we don't have in the USA. It's not a perfect city. They have issues with homelessness and mentally challenged people but that exists in most large cities. I look forward to returning and getting to know more of this western city.