The wind whistles through the Calgary night. Sitting on a bench sipping tea, one absorbs the majesty of the surroundings. The homeless shuffle by with their carts full of loot, the drunks stagger home, and the indie kids smoke joints while singing Death Cab for Cutie songs. Yes, it’s a night sitting on the bench at Tomkins Park.

Don’t think of Tomkins Park as a bad place to relax: far from it. In fact, by sitting and people-watching at Tomkins Park, you can get the pulse of the fair city of Calgary. This is where the various subcultures seem to converge, if only incidentally, and you can see how a hipster behaves when confronted with the oil executive set, or how the soccer moms deal with the homeless.

Situated at the intersection of 8th Street and 17th Avenue SW, Tomkins Park has the inner-city grit that many Calgarians have come to enjoy, and is only a skip away from several fine eateries and tea shops.