Walk This Way: Exploring Calgary on Foot, Part 3

“Alberta’s Dream” aka TreeHugger, "Wonderland," and the Calgary Tower ends our walking tour of this beautiful city.

Friday, August 4, 2023 ~ Our walking tour ended at Calgary’s second tallest skyscraper, The Bow.

“Alberta’s Dream” by Jaume Plensa sits in Bow Plaza. Last year the tree in the middle appeared dead so people brought flowers to lay around the base of it.

This year the tree came back to life.

Known locally as “TreeHugger,” the words on the artist’s self-cast body are the hometowns of the laborers that worked on The Bow Plaza. This was our favorite art in Calgary because it was so personal and living.

Downtown developers are required to set aside a chunk of change for public art. No wonder it’s everywhere.

Our walking tour ended on the other side of The Bow with “Wonderland.” The 39-foot-high mesh metal sculpture of a girl’s face was also designed by artist Jaume Plensa.

After the tour, we ate lunch in one of the many food courts in the elevated walkways that connect the city. Then we visited a “must see” when in town, the Calgary Tower. After buying a ticket, we boarded an elevator to the Observation Deck.

Originally built in 1968 to commemorate Canada’s Centennial, the Calgary Tower was retrofitted with a gas burning caldron to become the World’s Tallest Olympic Torch. The cauldron was first lit on February 13, 1988, when the Calgary Olympic games opened and stayed lit 24/7 until the games closed. Now it’s lit on special occasions.

A photo of the video that plays during the elevator ride to the Observation Deck

The Observation Deck offers a stunning 360-degree view of the city.

Standing on the glass floor, ~600-feet above the ground…

and a view looking down through the glass floor to the street below.

We were so impressed with how clean the city is, how public art is a priority, and how safe we felt walking the streets. Below is another tribute to the Calgary Stampede.

We thoroughly enjoyed Calgary, but feel we only scratched the surface. We hope to return to explore more of the city and surrounding area in the years to come.

We attended a Caravan meeting in the evening to meet our fellow travelers and hear a briefing from our guide and bus driver. Many of the folks we met had traveled multiple times with Caravan and we all had high hopes for an awesome trip.