A Sunday Stroll

With Ryan’s new work schedule and both of us having been sick recently we haven’t had the chance to go out very much. Even before we were sick it rained for almost 2 weeks straight.

Yesterday the sun was shining and we decided to go for a walk through the river valley. We were out for over 5 hours and walked about 13km while stopping at several different places.

To start the day we drove to the Muttart Conservatory. It was finally the day we were going to go inside but it wasn’t open so we had to move on. The area around the pyramids is really nice as well, lush green hills and a great view of Edmonton’s skyline.



From there we walked through the park, across the bridge, through another park near the river and up to Jasper Ave. I had the great idea to walk from the Muttart to the Legislature grounds just for fun, so that’s what we did.

The scorching heat had us thinking about swimming and I was really looking forward to walking through the wading pools in front of the legislature. That would not be so because the pools were empty for “emergency repairs.” Since those plans went out the window we had to improvise new ones.

Neither of us has been inside the building before and an escape from the sun seemed like a good idea. Guided tours are offered every hour but you can also just go inside the main rotunda to look around or take pictures. We had just missed the previous tour when we arrived so settled for a walk around while waiting for the next one. I guess the main reason I’ve never been inside was because I have absolutely no interest in politics, but beyond that I assumed the inside would be plain and unexciting. I was quite wrong. Straight inside the doors you are immediately greeted by (security,) marble floors and columns as well as a large fountain installed to commemorate the first official visit of Queen Elizabeth II (in a year I can’t remember.)

Eventually we went on our tour and it was pretty good! The girl guiding us was quite amusing and told us a lot of cheeky stories about the people who have occupied the building over time. Mostly we both really enjoyed looking at the portraits on the walls. It’s worth taking the tour just to look at the architecture and art throughout the building.

Upon leaving we decide to start making our way back to the car. Little do we know that the walk will take almost 2 hours in the scorching sun. I could have been less, but we took the long way and then unknowingly went the wrong way... I'm just going to go ahead and say I was getting the Vitamin D my doctor is always telling me I need and call it a day.