MOOD OF THE DAY - 1
When you arrive in a city where you have never been before, it is always a particular moment to live. Excitement often wins over fatigue from the journey and rare are those who stay in the hotel once the baggages are on the floor of the room… Of course there are the joys of the lobby where it is always a pleasure to meet up with the FISE usual characters but also the new heads that we don’t see so often. The waitresses are often getting dizzy — our hotel has a dynamic and panoramic restaurant — and smoke comes out of their heels as they front a unusually denser crowd.
But it can’t be enough and the call of the city often pushes riders and other members of the FISE family to stick their nose outside, without knowing what to expect. As the unknown arises from the air conditioned glass doors ! Here we are, outside, inside, Edmonton.
A one million souls city, set in the middle of Canada, neither in the forest nor the mountains, but surrounded by a huge plain occupied by grain producers and drillings for oil ; Edmonton is not shy and easily opens itself to discovery.
As usual, the city is famous with its team sport. It’s Canada so here it’s Hockey, with the NHL « Oilers » to be precise, and logical. As it seems, they are not very good. That happens.
The city is also famous, as the Alberta capital, for its festivals. For sure the city takes very good care of its inhabitants, with large parks where the folk music stars gather during several days. This weekend, the honors go to the stars of pop, flair, step down or ninja spin. The FISE is in town and chances are that a lot of people got the news.
Everywhere in the city, at the airport, on the elevator doors, on the pyramid shaped city hall, the FISE banners are all over the place, proud to be for the first time in that part of the world. Action sports seem to have found their flag, and the FISE its cocoon for the weekend. Thanks Edmonton for such a warm welcome.
We can now keep wandering around, going over the steel bridge that takes us on the other side of the Saskatchewan river. To say that we feel like pioneers would be a bit too much, however there is like a sweet euphoric vibe in the bus… Victor Pellegrin must still be among us for… Arrived a week earlier to do demos, he is leading the troops with hilarious « too much talk ». Clearly, he already knows the best places. Things are happening is the very hype Whyte Avenue quarter, about 20 minutes from downtown.
The good point with this exodus on the other side of the valley is without a doubt the panoramic view on the lit skyline. We have seen that in every TV series, but it always has its little impact. Only missing is the end credits, a little filter and a beautiful Canadian furtively filmed and it would be a perfect night. Like in the movies.
And when we think that tomorrow is another day, we can’t wait.
