West Edmonton Mall

The entry today is probably going to be quite dull.
Besides the game in the evening, nothing was planned. And after yesterday's economics class, that was completely okay. I also slept in a bit longer.

Edmonton is, as everyone told me beforehand, really boring. In winter, there's nothing to do here except for ice hockey, ice skating, and economics class. In summer, there are a few activities that immediately came to mind like hiking through River Valley or Elk Island National Park, but now? Well, there’s still the West Edmonton Mall. The largest mall in North America. Tons of shops, several food courts, a fun water park, and an amusement park. Well then, let’s check it out. Ordered an Uber and off we went. Upon arriving at the mall, a Beaver Tail 🥰.
And before I just walked past like I did in Ottawa, fully stuffed, I went straight in and got myself a little breakfast 🤤
The mall also has several ice rinks. I think it was the largest one, which is quite central, where an official game between two girls' teams was taking place. While I was eating my Beaver Tail, we watched there. Pretty cool. They just play in the mall. On the smaller rinks, kids of various age groups were practicing. We pushed our way towards Victoria through various comic and manga shops. Unfortunately, there were again 'only' Pokémon cards for Mücke (which he, foreseeably, had already ordered last night, as if he had predicted that he and Andi would need a rest day today), no tokidoki unicorns. I did find an Advent calendar from tokidoki that had several unicorns, but also other collectibles from them. And I only like the unicorns 🤷🏼‍♀️ The risk was just too high that I might find something else I like and end up collecting more junk. After all, there was that Pokémon collectible unicorn yesterday 😅. Luckily there’s only this one, otherwise ... 🤷🏼‍♀️
To Victoria, I have no idea what's going on with them right now. Who on earth likes brown underwear? 🙄 Other than that, the shop was really cool. Since they are currently under renovation and had to move temporarily, everything was really bright, everything on one level, and super organized. I’ve never had such a quick overview there. Except for the brown color, which is not at all my style, so I left empty-handed.
Slowly, hunger began to creep in ➡️ Food court. We found what we were looking for at Taco Time. Finally had a cold chocolate milk and Jörg got a crispy chicken burrito bowl while I had a ranch chicken burrito. Mine was good while Jörg’s bowl wasn’t as great.
We rummaged through all the sports stores in the mall but didn’t find anything extraordinary. One shop had Draisaitl Germany jerseys. At first, they said customization wasn’t an issue, and when Andi asked if he could take one, they suddenly said customization wasn’t possible anymore. They said it took too long, I think the guy just didn’t feel like it. Back in NY, we didn’t have to wait half an hour. But well, if he doesn’t want our dollars.
So Jörg and I strolled around the mall for a few hours, past the pirate ship and the sea lion show, took another short break and enjoyed a really good lemonade in between, but eventually, it got boring. I think I’m more of an outlet type. The mall didn’t really blow me away. The water park seemed appealing, but as mentioned before, we will definitely be back someday.
Took the Uber back to the hotel, I picked up Raph’s desired pin in the fanshop, then we just got lazy in the room or I used the time to start packing my suitcase a bit. We briefly worried because we hadn’t heard anything from the other two for a while, but eventually, we received a sign of life and arranged to meet in the lobby at 5:30 PM. Our first attempt to get some food was at the Canadian Icehouse. A huge line outside 🙄 So we moved on to The Whiskey Barn - Honky Tonk and Smok BBQ. You don’t have a reservation? Sorry, game day, so we have no space. Before we walked further through the cold, we went to Bosten Pizza. A quiet table in the side room, voila. Here we could finally unpack the new Pokémon cards with excitement again. But unfortunately again, nothing decent in there. After eating, we managed to find the right pedway in the meantime and made our way back to the hotel and further to the stadium. The guys went straight to their seats, I explored the lower level a bit. Someone was walking around in complete hockey gear. No idea if he does that all the time or if it was for promotion, anyway, it was funny. As for the game, the first period was still quite okay and the Oilers took the lead 1:0 against Tampa Bay due to Straubinger Samanski. His first NHL goal, by the way. In the first break, I also had to celebrate the annoying band here. They played Tequila behind our section 😂😂😂
Starting from the second period, I have no idea what was going on with Edmonton, it was almost worse than Thursday. Nothing was working anymore. A 5:3 power play and besides two shots hitting the crossbar, nothing happened. A counter from Florida and they scored in UZ. Well... I have to think about whether I’ll become an Oilers fan 😂 At least there were a few fights and for a while, the penalty box for the Oilers was nicely filled.
There were also two highlights: During the second period break, we were allowed to go into the Oiler Hockey Hall of Fame. That was pretty cool. Wayne’s locker was there, a part of his equipment, one or the other Stanley Cup, and what was really great was that since no one else could go there, there was also no line at the restrooms 😅 And the second highlight: Andi and Mücke made it onto the video cube at Rogers Place. The game ended 5:2 for Tampa Bay.
After the game, we went straight back to the hotel. I would have liked to go somewhere, but for some reason, the guys weren’t motivated 🤭 Back at the hotel, the guys went out for a quick smoke, and I waited in the lobby. And as I was standing there, someone from the side started chatting with me. German?
I love it when someone comes up to me and chats, but the guy had a friendly, open demeanor.
Do I look that German? -No, but the way you tied your scarf, no Canadian would do that, that’s something only you Germans do. Sorry, my wife is from Germany. Where are you from?
And that’s how we ended up talking. He mentioned that he and his wife immigrated to Canada 12 years ago after he ended his football career at 1860 Munich 🤔 Jörg joined us, and we had a really nice conversation. Tomasz also mentioned that he watched the game from a box with clients.
Wait, you have a box? Yeah, well, the company and blah blah blah. And I wouldn’t be me if I hadn’t said: So, when we’re back in Edmonton, can I contact you and you take us to the box?
- Yeah, sure. Here’s my card, get in touch when you’re back here.
Tomasz Machul, he said that, you can hold him to it.
And, he confirmed it. Edmonton is really boring. You can earn good money here, but otherwise... That’s why he also has a house in Canmore. I could boast a bit. That’s where the Engine Bridge is, right? -Oh, you know that? -Of course 🤷🏼‍♀️😂
Back in the room, of course, I first checked Tomasz’s information 😂
And he wasn’t lying. He played at 1860 and even in the Polish U19 national team. Well, that’s all nice and good, but it’s still just fringe sports.
There’s nothing more to report about today.
Good night.