Calgary | DAY 2: (Pt. 2) Exploring Downtown

Read Part 1 HERE !

It was around 1 PM when we departed the gift shop.

"What's next?" asked the sleepy polar bear, who had been ravenous enough to devour a mini KitKat from my bag while I browsed the gift shop.
I admitted that I didn't have a plan for the few hours to follow. The purpose was to explore the vicinity, obtaining sustenance wherever convenient.

We quickly learned of the limited pathways permitting access North/South over the CN tracks, the closest being either 1 St or Macleod Trail via a pedestrian underpass. The former led us underneath the tracks through a dim corridor devoid of illumination, natural or artificial. Frankly, the Bay and Yonge Street underpasses are often no better in terms of visuals, but the 1st Ave one was horribly eerie even during daytime hours.

Our steps led us past a number of eateries, none piquing my interest. With every stride southward, the sleepy polar bear urged for a decision to combat hangriness. Bistros with high Google Review ratings did not entice me, nor did the bustling crowds spotted within.

Just when our options along the stretch seemed to diminish into commercial territory, First Street Food Hall emerged as a pleasant surprise.

Its concept was akin to Assembly Chef's Hall, offering a range of various independent kiosks with a communal dining environment. The cuisine assortment included Indian, Vietnamese, burgers, tacos, pizza, local coffee, and beer on tap.

Seating was found at both ends of the building: tables at its dimly lit southeast corner and bar stools at its comparatively grander west. These accommodations were in closer proximity to the bar, bathrooms, and large LED screens suitable for catching game nights.

In contrast to my sheer delight, the sleepy polar bear griped about the facility being a "food court" without table service. Immediately retorting that table service equated to a slower meal, prolonged hunger, and reduction in exploration time, I also defended the establishment for its avant-garde presentation. Furthermore, neither of us would need to concede to the culinary wishes of the other. The Food Hall was, instinctively, the ideal choice for swift execution of a late lunch.

We placed our respective orders at Hi5 Burger and Moose and Poncho, then took our beepers to the bar seating overlooking the snowy grounds of Haultain Park.

​A Taco Trio of Birria (braised beef), Cochinita Pibil (citrus marinated pork), and Campechano (confit pork and beef) was plated in a white ceramic dish for maximum saturation contrast. I was advised of a particularly spicy one, which I regarded fearfully before avoiding altogether. It was later confirmed, in a somewhat anticlimactic manner, that the sauce was the culprit, and that the remainder was stomachable.

I sampled a forkful of the braised beef - sans sauce of course - as well as a hint of salsa. There was little depth to be tasted, especially considering the salsa's closeness to jarred Tostitos. According to Moose and Poncho's customer, Mount Sinai continued to reign superior.

​My Hi5 with Cheese entailed a slightly longer wait, despite having been placed first. I suppose the slower order completion had resulted from the difference in staff count. At the burger counter, one member of staff undertook several roles: operating the cashier, handling the grill, and tending to any customer service requests - with a notable speed and impressive ease, I must add.

The $11.99 signature burger included two smashed Alberta Beef Patties, the typical burger constituents of lettuce, pickles, and cheese, and choice of "Yellow", "Red", or "White" sauce between a toasted potato roll. These colours would correspond to Dill and Mustard, Tomato, or Hi5 Ranch; I took to "Yellow", for dill and mustard sounded like an innovative combination.

​Exemplary was the creation: the patties were flavourful with charred edges and plentiful texture, and not greasy at all! Ketchup was a nice, tart addition, while the Yellow sauce was creamy without the sometimes overbearing pungency of mustard. Between awed expressions and delighted chews, I continued munching away until no more remained of the burger. At seeing my reaction, the sleepy polar bear knowingly did not bother to ask for a bite.

Not normally a burger person, Alberta beef is, undeniably, in a league of its own, contributing complexity while remaining exceptionally affordable.

​Before departing the food hall, I took to the corridor behind the bar area. Individual unisex stalls offered privacy, albeit not being the cleanest. The outside bore visual similarities to the UO fitting rooms, while the inside congruency with Spoon and Fork Oakville.

​Descending back onto street level through a short flight of stairs around the 2 PM mark, an initially leisurely trek commenced. Every few steps, I would pause and turn back to the sleepy polar bear, questioning our difference in sluggishness. Eventually, it was agreed upon that we would walk at our own paces: me speedily breezing through areas without POIs and pausing only for photo-taking, while the other maintaining a consistently slow path.

​Eventually, we would realign walking speeds at H Mart.

​An unconventional destination for Calgary explorations, grocery stores and markets actually prevailed as the most useful stops of the trip. The province's 5% tax persuaded us into a number of purchases, ranging from jumbo Chocolate Churro Turtle Chips to Korean skincare.

While examining the houseware aisle for travel-sized laundry hanger replacements, I came across cast iron takoyaki and taiyaki pans, though refrained from acquiring them on the basis of low usage.

​Across the street was an inconspicuous chocolate shop, camouflaged behind a brick exterior with peculiar, almost teardrop-shaped windows and minimal signage. I had spotted Cococo Chocolaterie Bernard Callebaut while scanning the map during the research phase, though didn't bother to grant it an official slot on our itinerary. Seeing as we had found it by chance, I led the way back across the street and into the boutique.

Valentine's themed decorations and gift boxes were distributed throughout the store, but my items of interest were primarily the handheld bars and couverture selection. When asked whether the product stemmed from Belgian or Swiss origins, the lady behind the counter pondered the question for a moment before giving her answer: "I think Africa."
Oh. I expressed, bewildered by the unexpected response.

But Cococo wasn't merely a producer of sustainable couverture, for along the perimeter we found truffles of various styles and even chocolate letters, similar to Nadège.

​A 250 g bag of ruby couverture was brought to the cashier first, for small formats of couverture - especially ruby - are hard to come by. Chocolate-covered almond biscuits and a twelve-piece truffle set were also chosen for taking back home.
While I splurged, the sleepy polar bear simply observed my meticulous examination of the assortment, refraining from any purchases personally. 

Crossing back over to the east side of the street, we located Shoppers, where Dove bars were procured to relieve my cracking, parched hands from the hotel's dehydrating monstrosity.

One wrong turn led us east along 15 Ave to the Victoria Park/Stampede LRT station instead of towards Rosso. Instead of detouring for further exploration, the sleepy polar bear immediately resorted to Google Maps, cranking the volume to high, as if we didn't appear touristy enough.

With a homeless man slowly meandering in our direction, I advised either quickening or halting our steps. Our opponent seemed to be swerving towards us, thus I acted quickly and dashed to the southeast corner of Macleod Trail and 15 Ave. Continuing along Macleod towards Notre Dame Rd would lead us to Rosso, along with a handful of homeless sightings.
As Notre Dame Rd bore no obvious signage, I had speedily trekked past, almost arriving at the Elbow River crossing before realizing my mistake. We retraced our steps and anxiously waited to cross westward, me making great attempts to ignore the displaced souls positioned before the Elbow River Casino entrance.

It was here that we suffered a full-body shower of dirt water while awaiting the signal change. My immediate reaction had been to turn away, which would have saved me had the sleepy polar bear not spun in the opposite direction, causing grimy fluid to launch from a depressed slot on a waterproof backpack to my face. Grimacing at the situation, I announced that, with the tremendous pooling at the curb, "We should have known!" and stepped back from accordingly. Thankfully, my chocolates had been doubly bagged in a plastic BTrust bag, preventing infiltration of street water into the paper bag in which Cococo purchased were placed.

Unlike my progressive approach, which involved wiping down both my face and bag and mentally noting tips for next time, the sleepy polar bear angrily insisted that the driver had swerved to "intentionally" splash us.
"What difference would it make, intentional or not?" My brows furrowed in disbelief at the oddity of this declaration. "Would you have been fine with getting splashed if it was an accident?" I already knew the answer.
"No but -" The sentence was never finished. "Let's just go in and clean off."

The reaction was highly immature in my eyes, specifically taking time for the purposes of "spacing out" and "being angry". Emotional responses such as anger and sadness can take place quickly, internally, and are capable of being expressed while concurrently initiating the next decision. There was no reason to deplete our trip's worth of wet wipes instead of using a café bathroom, and hardly any more reason to sabotage both of our dispositions any further. As if lecturing a child, I noted the impact of this attitude on others, its inability to be tolerated, and further compared the scenario to the more humourous - yet equally dire - experiences I had shared with others.

While one of us moped and sat in silence, I wasted no time and maneuvered over to the menu.​

​The barista, a young man with sweat droplets forming along his hairline, was busily zipping between order-taking and latte-pouring. I gazed about for another member of staff, assuming he or she would assist in lessening the load, but there was no one else in the vicinity.

​When he finally had a free moment, I took to my order of a Vegan Chocolate Sea Salt Cookie and Nanaimo Cream. The latter was Rosso's contest entry into Calgary's upcoming Hot Chocolate Festival. It was likely the priciest pick off the menu, ringing it at $6.25 before tax; adding a shot increased the total cost by one dollar more. As the creation involved whipped cream, the barista informed me of an approximate ten-minute wait, for he would need to make (aerate?) the cream first. Though, when the beverage finally emerged ten-ish minutes later, the surface sported no whipped cream whatsoever. Instead was a Rosetta, topped with an elongated heart. There would be no complaints from me. The drink was lovely and impressively aromatic, exuding the cozy essences of hot chocolate as well as the rejuvenating qualities of freshly brewed java.

​The cookies embraced lightly crisp edges, minimal ripples, caramel-like tones, and soft centre. Approximately half was devoured before it was sealed tight and slipped next to my new black Rosso tote, a Ram Canyon product that had set me back thirty-four dollars.

​Prior to our departure, I undertook a water bottle refill, bathroom visit, and wet wipe disposal procedure, for the sleepy polar bear had merely piled the tissues on the counter without remorse.

​We then began our trek back to the parking garage, stopping briefly at the very picturesque Rouleauville Square to gaze upon the snow-covered grounds.

​Along the way, we would find two more shops of interest: a bookstore by the name of Shelf Life Books and a women's clothing retailer that forbid backpacks called 27 Boutique.

A number of infrastructure observations were also noted:

• Lime green fire hydrants are used instead of the classic red with blue ring.
• Not all crossings have depressed curbs, but have depressed asphalt sections where precipitation pools; the issue intensifies as ploughing lacks thoroughness and often leads to ice formation and slushy sections, rendering them entirely inaccessible
• Areas of newer development have yellow tactile strips, though the strips are generally narrow and not as wide as in Ontario
• Cycling infrastructure has been implemented in several downtown sections, often next to boulevard on one side of road; two unidirectional lanes positioned side by side is an interesting choice indeed
• CTrain LRT sightings were certainly more frequent than the previous night

​Arriving back at the parking garage, we slumped into our respective seats with relief. The lot had not witnessed any increase in vehicular traffic during our time away.

Descending down five levels of horrifically dizzying loops, we eventually landed back on 10 Avenue.

Read Part 3 HERE !