Boston Pizza - Edmonton

Boston Pizza, for the second time in Canada. We tried to go to the Russian Tea House, but unfortunately was shut. Shannon had ANOTHER steak sandwich,and I had my first chicken parmie (called a chicken parmesan here). The best bit of the meal? Ask Shannon - he thought it was our waitress' butt!!

Send this one to Rove

In Edmonton!

Out and About in Edmonton

On Sunday, we walked around the town of Edmonton (at about -20 degrees). We doodled around (per Shan). We went to the shops, to the Baccarat Casino (but didn't win any $$$), went inside the Fairmont Hotel to have a bit of a nosey and saw the centential flame (we heard the bangles, eternal flame in the background and thought it was so lame/tacky - but it was a coincidence, that it was playing!)

Jungle Jims - West Edmonton Mall

We went to Jungle Jims for our Valentines Day lunch, in Bourbon Street in the Edmonton Mall. It had the jungle theme, which was pretty cool. We got the three course meal special (why o why did we get a 3 course meal for lunch?!?!)

Shan and I had onion rings (yes, even Shan), followed by steak sandwiches & burger and a vanilla cheesecake covered in cooked pastry with cinnamon, caramel sauce and creeeeeam. phew. a bit excessive (as you can tell by Shannon's face).

West Edmonton Mall

Our first day out in Edmonton, was to the West Edmonton Mall. It is the largest shopping mall in North America and the fifth largest in the world. IN THE WORLD!!

Here are some highlights of this mall:

- There are over 800 stores (ok, so sure a few retail chains were in there a number of times. i.e. La Senza)
- There is an amusement park, called Galaxyland and it is the largest indoor amusement park in the world, with 24 rides and attractions. It has the mindbender rollercoaster, which is the largest indoor triple loop roller coaster! (our tummies were not up for it unfortunately!)
- It has the world waterpark, which is North America's largest indoor waterpark, with the world's largest indoor wave pool
- It has an indoor salt lake, with 3 sea lions and a replica of the Santa Maria
- It has an Ice Palace, which is an ice rink, where you can watch ice hockey
- It has an indoor shooting range! (a bit disturbing)
- It has three theme areas being: chinatown, bourbon street (where we ate lunch) & europa boulevard

Matrix Hotel - Edmonton

Over the family day long weekend, we decided to venture to Edmonton, Alberta. 3 1/2 hours on a greyhound bus from Calgary. We stayed at the Matrix Hotel, which is just off of Jasper Avenue, the main street of Edmonton. Edmonton is the capital city of Alberta - but is smaller than Calgary (1.08M)

The hotel we stayed in was great - very new and modern. Although we had a couple of issues:

- our pass would not work. so we got a new pass. and the new pass wouldn't work. we went up and down the elevator three times!
- they didn't clean our room the first day (and I missed out on a goody bag, which i found out was just filled with a newspaper!). We think this was either because they couldn't get in to our room (issue #1) or it was because we checked in so late the night before (ok, well the same morning really).

BUT the continental breakfasts we got with our stay was fantastic! It had hot food (hmmm... that isn't continental is it?) And Shan had fun with the long pillow on our bed (see the 2nd photo)