Calgary part II

today, I headed out to explore the University of Calgary campus which is just across the road from our hotel. It's a huge, sprawling place, at least 1/2 filled with athletic buildings and fields. Everywhere I looked was a building or field devoted to soccer,football, baseball, skating, hockey, etc. There was also a large emphasis on engineering. After roaming campus for an hour, I could not find one humanities building. I'm sure they must be there somewhere. the campus is a standard 1970's campus with lots of ugly poured concrete structures without any architectural interest. There are a few more contemporary buildings but they don't fit with the other structures. One thing about the campus is how green everything is. so far, all of Canada has been startlingly green. I don't know what the rain fall up here is, but if this is a normal year, they must get considerable amounts.
The Union was huge. At least 10-12 food purveyors ranging from DQ to Sushi. the Calgary stampeders are the athletic team. I wanted to get Kesh one of those shirts. they are bright red and look great, but I couldn't find an open store at 7;30. However, students were clearly going to classes at this early hour, which surprised me (given that my school can't even get students to attend 8am classes).

Notes on Calgary:
Great train system for the few places the train goes ($2.50 adult, $1.50 child)
Great city parks system with trails that run along the Bow River connecting the parks
Every parking space in Calgary is metered (perhaps not in people's drive ways). On campus, the parking was $16-20 a day. And, a day is not until 6 or even 9pm but 24/7. Even the handicapped spaces are metered! I would love to know if this system has increased the use of public transportation or walking or biking. Darn inconvenient for tourists.
Apparently, Calgary has problems with theft from autos. All over the city, you see these signs warning you about securing your valuables.

Notes on canada:
So far, I have been amazed at what seems to be the Canadian love of sugar. In Hood River, there was one, tiny chocolate shop (that was excellent). In Banff there were at least five chocolate shops and 5 additional candy shops (these are something else--shelves and shelves lined with starburst, gum, candy bars, etc and then all that candy you can buy by the pound. Literally, hundreds of choices. In Calgary, even the union has one of these shops (the union also had a DQ and an AW and a Tim Horton's).