Edmonton played host to some world travelers as a crew from the travel guide Lonely Planet paid a visit for an upcoming feature on Canada.
The crew is visiting 7 Canadian cities and has spent the past few days in Edmonton. They went to the Edmonton Oilers game on Sunday, visited West Edmonton Mall, and hiked down the river valley.
“I really leave seeing Edmonton as a place that is far, far more beautiful, frankly, than I would have expected,” says Lonely Planet’s US travel editor, Robert Reid, “so I learned a lot even in just a short time that there is more you can do in a couple of days in Edmonton.”
On Tuesday night, they hung out in the back alley of the 1 hundred bar and kitchen with several other food lovers for the restaurant's famous Alleyburgers. 1 Hundred chef Andrew Cowan was only told of the surprise visit last night.
"I was surprised that they actually asked me to do it,” says Cowan, “I was at home eating dinner with my family they just sent me an email last night, they wanted to do it on a quick turnaround so I got it done."
“What I loved about it mostly is how everyone is so social and mingling. Sitting out here in the alley for 20-30 minutes, people knew each other, people meeting new people,” says Reid of the gathering which doesn’t happen every night, and is only announced via Cowan’s Twitter account.
The group will next head to Saskatoon. The video travelogue will be put up on the Lonely Planet website at a later date.
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