Edmonton is the capital of Alberta, Canada and is located on the North Saskatchewan River. Edmonton is Alberta's second-largest city and Canada's fifth-largest municipality. Edmonton is the most northern North American city with a metropolitan population over one million. A resident of Edmonton is known as an Edmontonian.

Edmonton's historic growth has been facilitated through the absorption of five adjacent urban municipalities (Strathcona, North Edmonton, West Edmonton, Beverly and Jasper Place) and a series of annexations ending in 1982. Edmonton serves as the northern anchor of the Calgary–Edmonton Corridor. Known as the "Gateway to the North", the city is a staging point for large-scale oil sands projects occurring in northern Alberta and large-scale diamond mining operations in the Northwest Territories.

Edmonton is a cultural, governmental and educational centre. It hosts a year-round slate of festivals, reflected in the nickname "Canada's Festival City". It is home to North America's largest mall, West Edmonton Mall (the world's largest mall from 1981 until 2004), and Fort Edmonton Park, Canada's largest living history museum.

While driving across a bridge into Edmonton, Karen Duquette noticed the top of a pyramid made of silver balls, so she quickly snapped a picture. She never did find out the purpose of this silver ball pyramid.

The Shaw Convention Center  - 9797 Jasper Ave NW, Edmonton, AB T5J 1N9 - (780) 421-9797 Opened in 1983.

The Shaw Conference Centre (colloquially called The Shaw, or SCC), is a meeting, entertainment, and convention venue located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The doors to the SCC opened in 1983 and since 1993 it has been managed by Edmonton Economic Development Corporation (EEDC), a not-for-profit enterprise owned by the City of Edmonton.

Formerly the Edmonton Convention Centre, its current name comes from a $5.5 million, 20 year corporate partnership between EEDC and Shaw Communications Inc., signed in 1997.

It is reported by EEDC that the SCC boosts Edmonton's economy by an estimated $44 million a year.

The area in Grierson Hill where the Shaw Conference Centre now resides was originally a coal mine in operation from 1892 and 1893, allowing for approximately 70 per cent of the SCC to be located underground. This burrowing conceals the fact that the building is over 10 stories high.

James Wensley, a local Edmontonian, was the architect for the SCC and was awarded the Alberta Association of Architects Citation in 1983 for his work on the facility. Other notable works in the City from this architect include the Manulife, Scotia Place and Sunlife buildings.

Below: Lee Duquette on the escalator inside the Shaw Convention Center

Below: A waterfall as seen from the escalator.

Below: Looking back down the escalator to see how steep it was.

Below: When the two RV Gypsies exited the escalator, they found themselves at the Jasper Avenue entrance which opens onto the centre's glass atrium (and the waterfall they saw while riding the escalator). This also serves as the entrance to the conference level. Nearby are over 2,000 downtown hotel rooms plus shopping, entertainment venues, dining and North America’s largest park system.

Below: Canada Place is a glass-and-steel office building in Edmonton, Alberta. Locally famous for its distinctive pink color and stepped shape, the building towers over the neighboring Shaw Conference Centre and overlooks the North Saskatchewan River valley. The building was built by the Government of Canada and is the main federal government offices for Edmonton and much of Western Canada.

The building opened in 1988 as a replacement for the Federal Public Building, which had been the main federal offices since 1958. The building consists of two stepped office blocks, ranging from 15 to 13 stories in height, connected by an atrium. The total floor space is 85,800 m².  The original design of the building had an additional, taller, third office block at the rear, however this plan was scaled back to two blocks after it was felt office occupancy levels in downtown Edmonton at the time were not low enough to justify the larger building. The pavilion was engineered to accommodation the third tower in the future, should it be desired.

The building is linked to the Shaw Conference Centre and the Citadel Theatre via the Edmonton Pedway. There is a publicly open food court in the lower level of the building, as well as underground parking.

Across the street from the Canada building is the War Memorial, complete with a burning torch.

Below: The War Memorial, complete with a burning torch, honors the memory of those citizens of Edmonton who gave their lives in World War I, and World War II.

Below: This view of the Shaw Conference Center shows the angle on which it is built. Approximately 70 per cent of the SCC is located underground. This burrowing conceals the fact that the building is over 10 stories high.

Below: This is a view of where the two RV Gypsies parked their car to take the Segway tour. Yes, they walked all the way from down there.

Below: The Community Medicine Wheel Garden at the Shaw Conference Center.

Below: A cool bulletin board

Below: The Marriott Hotel

Below: The two RV Gypsies took a stroll through the Marriott Hotel Lobby and courtyard - and took a photo of the Marriott's backside.

Below: Robert Burns  (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known as Rabbie Burns, the Bard of Ayrshire and various other names and epithets,  was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who have written in the Scots language, although much of his writing is also in English and a light Scots dialect, accessible to an audience beyond Scotland. He also wrote in standard English, and in these writings his political or civil commentary is often at its bluntest.

He is regarded as a pioneer of the Romantic movement, and after his death he became a great source of inspiration to the founders of both  liberalism and socialism, and a cultural icon in Scotland and among the Scottish diaspora around the world. Celebration of his life and work became almost a national charismatic cult during the 19th and 20th centuries, and his influence has long been strong on Scottish literature. In 2009 he was chosen as the greatest Scot by the Scottish public in a vote run by Scottish television channel STV.

As well as making original compositions, Burns also collected folk songs from across Scotland, often revising or adapting them. His poem (and song) "Auld Lang Syne" is often sung at Hogmanay (the last day of the year), and "Scots Wha Hae" served for a long time as an unofficial  national anthem of the country. Other poems and songs of Burns that remain well known across the world today include "A Red, Red Rose", "A Man's a Man for A' That", "To a Louse", "To a Mouse", "The Battle of Sherramuir", "Tam o' Shanter" and "Ae Fond Kiss".

Below: The two RV Gypsies ate at Moxie's Classic Grill. The food was OK.

Edmonton Mall: largest shopping mall in North America - 3 pages - an amazing, must-see place

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Return to the Alberta, Canada 2016 menu to continue the adventures of the two RV Gypsies in 2016.

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