CouchSurfing is the way to go. I'm so super glad I got the courage to email a random person on the Internet to crash on their couch. As it turns out I get to crash in a basement that had its own bathroom, kitchen and bedroom so it was really BasementSurfing. Gina, Jacky & Becca were especially awesome for allowing me to bug them with stupid questions and taking me out to experience a Saskatonian good-time. I also ended up with a ride straight to Fernie because of my new connections. Horray for the random.
Shopping:
Saskatoon has about 200,000 people in it so the shopping is probably less than exciting to most. However, how could you pass up these babies...
That's right peoples they are some genuine, furry-lined Crocs. I don't think I could have made that up! I love bagging out these silly Canadians who think Crocs and Ugg boots are the height of fashion. Speaking of Uggs - the proper brand ones that is - they are 300 bucks here! Madness. I should get someone to send over a crate of them and I'll be a millionaire in a week.
Sights:
This is one of the only things LP got right. The river is spectacularly beautiful and kind of reminds me a little of the Brisbane river with its mashup of bridges. After a few days of below 20 the river got all icy. I tried to get a video of the sound that huge pieces of ice floating down a river sound like. Also, the university is something straight out of a movie. Especially when those big, stone buildings are covered in snow.
Sights and Goings on in Saskatoon
Activities & Events:
Every knows I was hitting Saskatoon for Tool, so obviously that deserves a mention. Now, I was speechless at the end of their Big Day Out set, but this concert was nothing like it. It was the Cirque du Soleil of concerts. The ticket should have warned people about the possibility of going into a trance-like state with the amount of lasers and flashing images that were going on. And I only just found out today that they had a terminally ill man come out and play the guitar for "46 and 2" - goes to show how awesome he was because I didn't even notice Jones had left the stage. And Maynard was dancing and chatty the whole way through. Which was very surreal considering from a few reports he spent the entire Calgary gig sitting on a crate with his back to the audience. And I've just filled in more about the concert than anything else in the city. My bad.
SaskaToolaPalooza
Other than Tool, for those not in Canada it will be news to you that the Saskatchewan Roughriders (yes that's the name of their football team - no joke, Google it) won the Grey Cup (some important football trophy thing) so the Provence spent the whole time I was there wearing green and drinking and hooting about it. Although I unfortunately didn't get the riot I was hoping for like the last time the team won in 1989.
Also, I got to attend my first hockey match for this extended stay in this Frozen Wonderland. Australians over here are well known for enjoying this Canadian pass-time because of its promise of constant violence. Unknown to me however, there is an actual rule where if one player challenges another (by throwing down his stick and gloves) and the other responds accordingly - the rink is cleared and the 2 players duke it out with proper fisty cuffs until one of them falls down or starts to bleed. Totally barbaric and highly entertaining. Obviously.
Fisty Cuffs on Ice
