Canada day

Canada day fell on a Sunday this year, meaning that the public holiday was scheduled for the Monday 2 July 2007. On Sunday Laura and I went to a traditional pancake breakfast to kick off our day. The pancake makers had tried to colour the mix a patrotic red, which resulted in pink pancakes. They tasted the same so maybe that will be an idea for future girls' birthday parties.

The West Edmonton Mall is the 2nd or 3rd largest mall in North America. I have never packed both my swimsuit and my iceskates for the same day's outing but I did that day. The mall has an open ice skating rink and the world's largest indoor waterpark. My idea that we could wear our swimmers whilst iceskating for a lark was not well-received by Laura. I think I need to get a grip that there are some silly things I am getting too old to do.

The Mall was pretty impressive, I immediately fell in love with H&M, the British clothing store that we don't have in Australia, where I picked up some nice deals. Then it was off to Boston Pizza for lunch, located unbelievably near Hooters (the survival of this franchise I still find offensive).

Off to the waterpark for the afternoon- a sub-tropical atmosphere, with a wave pool, a baby pool and about 13 different waterslides. I didn't know that Laura had never been to a waterpark of any sort and some of the slides were massive. Texans are odd. The idea of people carrying guns or climbing up a mountain did not faze her but going down a waterslide initially did. My summer childhood days at the Wagga Wagga Olympic pool served me well. By the end of the day we were both going down the 2nd-hardest tandem slide- neither of us were about to go down the giant red vertical slide. The waterpark is hideously expensive- approximately $40 entry each and then exorbitant locker charges. However the kids of Edmonton can pretend they are at the beach when it is minus 30 degrees outside in winter and there is snow on the clear glass ceiling. That is marketing gold.

At the end of the day it was time for our cultural adventure- Shakespeare in the Park to see A Winter's Tale. I had spotted a good-looking Thai restaurant on Whyte Ave the day before so we bought some take away and took it with us for dinner. We were the only people who took a picnic dinner that night and the organisers were fine with it, though we would forbidden to crack open our bottle of wine we'd brought with us. The drinkers were corraled by wire fence in another part of the grassed audience area near the licensed bar away from the families, like criminals. In silent protest against the injustice, we didn't join them.

The set was great for this outdoor performance, good use of space, the weather was lovely and the performances variable. A Winter's Tale to me is one of Shakespeare's practice works and needs strong acting. Overall, I was disappointed with the quality of the performances, especially those most highly-rated in the program.

After the performance we knew that the Canada Day fireworks would be shot over the river and the parliamentary buildings so we headed down to the river to watch them from the Whyte Ave side. Cars and people were lined up everywhere, so we found ourselves on a bluff on the banks of the river, peering between the gap in the thick brush with a few Muslim families waiting for the fireworks. The women were so heavily covered up, it was hard to spot them and not bump into them in the dark but everyone was nice about it.

The fireworks were worth waiting for. Edmonton put on it's national pride and then we went back to our digs for a good night's sleep.