With all the snow around, it’s been my first actual weekend I’ve got to stay in Calgary. Next week I’m off to Vancouver so I thought it was about time to head off to the Calgary Farmer’s Markets. Located out of downtown, it was the first time I had to actually use the public transport. Other than a website that wasn’t working, the whole system seems pretty efficient with more buses than trains covering greater areas. All stops even have a service number you can call that will tell you exactly how many minutes away the next bus will be. It only cost CAN$2.50 for a ticket and a transfer gives you 90 minutes to hop on and off, or return in that period.
To say that the markets were crowded would’ve been an understatement and even though it’s in a large warehouse, they could definitely use some more space. It’s nice to see local and, some organic, produce. I really enjoyed seeing the different types of Canadian products, including lots of items involving maple syrup, lots of local pork and beef, and bison of all things! I couldn’t resist and buy some bison sausages for later in the week. Asking the chap for any specific instructions, he just said avoid poking them like normal sausages as bison is naturally lean and would end up all dry. I’ll definitely report on it when I get a chance to grill them on my BBQ outside.
Other than that, I wandered around even more around town, heading out to Kensington for a brunch on Sunday and taking my new inline skates for a spin on Prince’s Island paths, where the last remaining snow continued to melt away. Calgary definitely has an out door lifestyle and I continue to be impressed by how much sunlight you get.