Meh to Calgary!!
So today started with us finishing the drive into Calgary...so far so good. Then as we got into the outskirts of town we found out the Canadians can't design roads that make any sense at all and we got lost!! :( We drove around and about, into the olympic village (ski jumps, slaloms and bob sled run!!) past the brightly coloured children's hospital, by Ronald MacDonald's house (private property apparently...no nuggets here!) and god knows where else until we found a proper MD's and stopped outside to use the wifi. We found out where we were, got a town map from nearby petrol station and directions to costco as we needed food and redbull as well as petrol. We eventually found our way there and set about trying all the free foods that are dotted about the store to sustain you while you shop only to go through the checkout and find that they wouldn't accept any of our cards!! Not the mastercard cash card, the visa debit cards or the visa debit card!! Not only this but the cash machine also refused even though it said mastercard on it and the bank across the street was the same!!! So feeling very pissed off we left our trolley of delights behind and went to try our luck elsewhere! We trawled through loads of shops trying to find a portable speaker for the laptop so we could listen to music from it whilst driving and it seemd we were asking the impossible from the incredulous looks we got from people...honestly, and they say the UK is backwards!! We eventually got usefull information from an elderlyish gentleman in a computer store who told us to go to deerfoot mall a couple of miles away if canada tyres across the street couldnt help. canada tyres it seems is kind of like a cross between a large halfords and maybe woolworths...very strange, but got a few bits we needed, although not the speaker, so off to Deerfoot we went. It started raining then, with thunder and lightning too...have a feeling by now that Calgary dislikes us...eventually made it ti the mall, found the shop we needed, bought the damn speaker and didnt have time to go to the walmart that was there to shop as we were by this time already late to meet Marc, our couchsurfing host for the night. Again, we got lost, again we sat outside somewhere to get wifi and eventually found our way to Marc's place where his housemates let us in as he'd gone to the shop. When we met Marc, things definately improved...he is an ace guy, good fun, wry sense of humour and really friendly and welcoming :) We helped him make dinner for us and the 2 other couchsurfer's who had been staying but were leaving later that evening and got to know each other a bit. I was in charge of making the crepes...making the batter was no problem but i was quite dubious about my cooking ability as I know what happens when I make pancakes...! However, Marc and myself were both very impressed with the outcome and we all helped ourselves to them and the vegetable filling he had made. After the mammoth task of washing up, it was time to go dancing!!! :) Unfortunately Marc wasn't joining us as he had loads of work to catch up on, but gave us directions to 'Don Quixote's' where he sometimes goes on a Thursday. After leaving the house calgary's prejudice against us started again when we couldn't find the place and ended up driving through the Red Light district!! Grrr, eventually parked and crossed the road to find the place closed for the night with no explanation and nothing to do :( Fed up, but not yet ready to give up for the night we went for a wander round the city, definately best seen at night, but it was completely dead, not even drunken youths loitering about!!! After taking a few pictures and not finding anywhere interesting to go we headed back towards home, we had however found a BOGOF big mac voucher and thought a midnight (well 1 o'clock) snack would be a good idea until Calgary once again screwed us over with its road system and took us nearly 45 minutes to get to one of the 40!! MacDonald's in the city. On the plus side, they were tasty burgers :) Back to Marc's then and to bed hoping for better luck in the morning! Meh to Calgary!!