City of champions (Edmonton)

Member Name: jamesontheroad

Product:	Edmonton
Date:	08/01/09 (22 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Friendly, many cultural attractions, especially summertime festvials, parks

Disadvantages: Designed around the car, inhospitable winters

It amuses some of my Canadian friends that my first experience of their country was Edmonton. Not the metropolitan Toronto or vibrant Montréal, nor the multicultural Vancouver. Just little old Edmonton, the boom town under the vast prairie sky.

Edmonton is one of two cities in the western Canadian province of Alberta. As with most other provinces, it is the capital of the province despite being smaller than its big brother Calgary, three hours drive to the south. While Edmonton is a major business hub, compared to Calgary it is the more cultural and more personable Albertan city.

My visits to Edmonton have been because of people: close friendships established while at university in the UK. And it is always the people who linger in my memory of the place. The city is very young (established in 1795 and incorporated in 1892) but growing fast (approximately 750,000 over some 275 square miles). The city has a sizeable multi-ethnic population, and even those born here will only have to look back a few generations to find parents or grandparents who arrived here as settlers from other parts of the world. Their stories are just waiting to be told; I've found Edmontonians to be - without exception - friendly and talkative, and delighted to meet visitors.

Perhaps this has something to do with Edmonton's climate. Despite being further north, the winters here are not as bad as other prairie cities such as Winnipeg, but they're still something. Expect temperatures as low as -30ºC for a sizeable proportion of the winter, with heavy snow and generally unfriendly conditions. This has nurtured a very strong sense of local community, even in Edmonton's newer neighbourhoods. By the time beautifully hot, dry summer comes around, the city flourishes into life with festivals and events that crowd the attractive streets of Old Strathcona. No summer time visit would be complete without a visit to the immense North Saskatchewan River Valley Park that snakes through the city, dividing the downtown district from the southern suburbs with a deep and verdant gorge. To give you some idea of its scale, it's more than twenty times the size of New York City's Central Park and offers about 15 miles of continuous parkland alongside the river.

Personal recommendations include the excellent collection of the Art Gallery of Alberta (currently in temporary accommodation awaiting a new museum, due to open in 2009) and Fort Edmonton Park, which recreates the city between the years of 1795, 1885, 1905, 1920. As with many such Canadian attractions, educational interpreters are on hand (and in costume) to make this a memorable experience for the whole family.

Edmonton's downside for visitors is its very shape and size. Without absolutely no geographical obstruction in any direction, the city has sprawled to become the biggest city in Canada by area. It can take an hour to drive from one side of the city to another, and despite an excellent and well supported public transport system of buses and a short north-south light rail line, this is a city that has regrettably shaped itself around the car.

Travel to and from the city is possible by road, rail or air. Calgary is three hours away by car, as are the nearest resorts of the Rockies. VIA Rail Canada's flagship 'Canadian' calls in the city three times a week in each direction, en route from Vancouver to Toronto. The modern and efficient International Airport (IATA code: YEG) is south of the city and has multiple daily departures to most major Canadian & American cities, as well as a handful of international destinations, including London Heathrow.

I don't recommend Edmonton as a destination, but it is certainly a fantastic stop on a longer trip: either as you cross Canada from coast to coast, or as you travel to and from the mountains. Alternatively, if you have time to spare, rent a car and start exploring. Within an hour or two the less attractive suburban sprawl becomes a distant memory, and the stunningly open rural landscape of Alberta opens up. Beneath the deepest of blue prairie skies, you'll discover the warm heart of western Canada.

Summary: An alternative insight into the heart of Canada.