The magic spot is an acoustic quirk of the Alberta legislative building. it is a spot on the floor of the 2nd floor inside circular balcony. When you stand on this spot and the fountain is turned on the ground floor, the sound of the water is exactly the same as if you were standing in a shower. It is bizarre and if you are not standing on the exact spot you will not hear it. It was first discovered by a technician who was changing a lightbulb.
We had a terrific time at the parliamentary buildings. The only problem was trying to leave. The roads leading to the parliament building are all circular and after spending 5 minutes driving away from the building towards the river, we found ourselves coming back !! This happened more than once and we determined that Edmonton has the Bermuda triangle of road systems.
We were both very tired so went back to the hostel to change for our Saturday night on Whyte Ave. I had been hearing about this famous street from my Canadian friends and it being a warm, early summer night we were looking forward to being cool on the cool street in Edmonton.
We soon found that Whyte Ave was a strange mix. A combination of trademens' pubs, grunge-artsy cafes and bars, and a few nightclubs. There was not a good restaurant to speak of. Laura and I settled into a corner pub right next to the major train line. We had the unique experience of watching a Canada-Pacific train pull into the intersection and, for inexplicable reasons, back up out of it. Very odd.
After an ordinary pub dinner we improved things markedly with a stop at the Italian Gellateria, where I got (and did not complete) a ginormous icecream in a waffle cone before we headed into an upstairs "hip" bar. We were surprised at the reception we got. The bar staff were indifferent and the general atmosphere was unwelcoming. We got the impression that Whyte Ave was too cool for itself and that we did not belong. It was a disappointing end to the evening, but at least we had Canada Day Sunday, the next day to look forward to.
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