Edmonton is not a very walkable city. One of the negative things about this city, especially in this age of buck and a quarter gasoline, is that driving is more or less inevitable.
While the Edmonton Transit System (ETS) does a pretty good job of servicing the city, they have had trouble keeping pace with the growth of the city, so there are some parts of town where taking the bus is, at best, incredibly inconvenient.
Essentially, even if you’re taking ETS, it is relatively difficult to get around Edmonton without using some form of automobile.
However, it is still possible to explore some parts of the city on foot. Perhaps predictably, the most walkable parts of the city are generally the most historic. The most walkable parts of the city are, generally, the parts most worth wandering around and exploring.
While I like to take walks in and around downtown, most of them are relatively boring jaunts around the inner core. A few of them take in the view from the top of the river valley, but even these pale in comparison to the walking tours that Sharon over at Optimistically Cautious has put together.
I’m planning on taking in all 3 of her tours—or some variation of each—as soon as possible, and I highly recommend that each of you do the same. Better still, use Sharon’s tours as inspiration to explore your own little corner of Edmonton. Put together a walking tour of some part of the city, and then share it on your blog, or in the comments section of this post.
I’ve got a couple of little mini-walks (though, nothing close to the half-day tours Sharon has put together) that I’ll share in a future blog post. But, for now, I leave you to explore Sharon’s Edmonton Rediscovered tours.
Thanks to Mack for pointing me toward Sharon’s post.
April, that sultry bitch, has decided to play the cocktease. Just as she was beginning to show a little leg, to flash a little cleavage, she’s pulled it all back and thrown on the over-sized nightgown. She’s blanketed us with a blinding white dressing gown, and we are none to pleased. But, that is her wish, and we can do nothing to change her mind. All we can do is wait, tell her we love her, and hope that she will bare all in the coming days.
Edmonton, like all cosmopolitan cities, has cigar shops. While there are a number of shops that sell cigars in River City—ranging from newsstands to convenience stores to hotel gift shops—there are only a few that can truly be called cigar shops. There are only a few stores that are operated by true tobacconists.
To my knowledge, there are only 3 such shops in Edmonton There are at least 5 such shops in Edmonton (thanks to Greg for reminding me about a few of them): La Tienda, Humo, Burlington, River City Cigar, and Hav-a-Cigar.
I am most familiar with Burlington. Burlington is my favourite cigar shop in the city. I go there often and always get good advice from Chris and Aaron (or is it Eric? I can never seem to get his name right). Whether you’re looking for cigars, cigarillos, pipes or pipe tobacco, or even “all natural” cigarettes, Burlington can provide.
They’re also stocked with all of the accessories you’ll ever need—cutters, humidors, ashtrays, and more. Though, to be honest, I find that I can get most accessories a lot cheaper online, and so I tend to buy these things through eBay or other sources.
La Tienda is a nice little shop, but I can’t really comment much on it. I’ve only been inside once or twice, and that was back before I really got into cigars. I went in not really knowing anything, but Curtis managed to help my friend K and I pick out a few decent cigars to celebrate becoming university graduates.
While I can’t say much about La Tienda, I can definitely say that Curtis is a helpful guy who knows his shit.
Humo is a place I’ve been hearing more and more about lately. It’s the one place I’ve never been inside. Ironically, it’s also the closest place to my apartment. I’ll definitely have to go in and check it out one day soon. Until then, I can’t really comment on the place.
But, I know that at least one of my readers is a cigar enthusiast. I’m sure there are others out there who might be reading this blog. So, tell me which of Edmonton’s cigar shops is your favourite, and why. And, if it’s La Tienda or Humo, please feel free to go into great detail, since I’m not familiar enough with either of these establishments to fairly recommend (or not recommend) them to my readers.
I haven’t really pimped the Raving Poets as much as I usually do this season, but attendance has been a bit slim compared to past seasons, so I figured I’d dedicate some words to my boys and girls down at the Kasbar.
First, the W5 on the Raving Poets:
Who: Anyone and everyone. If you want to read a poem, just show up and add your name to the list. 16 readers are drawn from the hat. If your name is pulled, you are now a Raving Poet for the night. There are, of course, regulars, but everyone is welcome.
What: An open mic poetry night with live improvised music.
Where: Kasbar Lounge, in the basement of Yianni’s Taverna (10444 Whyte Avenue).
When: Every Wednesday until the end of May. Sign-up is at 7:30pm, readings start at 8pm.
Why: Because words matter, and they’re worth sharing. And because Edmonton has an incredible poetry scene. Even if you aren’t interested in sharing your work, there is always something worth watching.
And, on top of that, the Raving Poets will be selling “heart beat” pins this Wednesday—$5 for a pack of 4—with the proceeds going to the Heart and Stroke Foundation. Not only will you get to hear some great music, some great poetry, and drink a lot of good booze, you’ll also be able to donate money to a worthy charity and get some cool buttons in return.
As a dude with a heart condition, the Heart and Stroke Foundation is one of my favoured charities, so you can bet I’ll be shelling out my $5. Plus, I love buttons and pins, so it’s a win-win situation.
I haven’t been posting much here recently. Partly, this is because of my own laziness. I have no good excuse for this. I will do my best to start posting regularly again, soon. However, I am wondering if people would like to write guest posts for River City Writer.
This is a blog about Edmonton, but it’s really only about my experience of Edmonton. I’d like it to be a blog about how other people experience Edmonton, as well.
If you’re interested in writing a guest post here, either as a one-off thing, or as a regular column, let me know.