On Tuesday, we rented a car (upgraded to Hyundai Sonata FYI) and went on a drive up to Banff. The weather was supposed to be clear and warm for Tuesday and Wednesday, so we booked a night at the Fairmont Banff Springs resort so we could have enough time for sightseeing and what not (no skiing though). The driver certainly was nice up and until we reached Banff National Park where it started to snow quite consistently (60% chance of flurries my ass).

Anyways, we pushed on ahead and proceeded to Lake Louise first. The Trans-Canada highway was fortunately well traversed by the plows and sanders; so while the visibility was poor, the roads were adequately clear and I could drive at 90km/h. We reached Lake Louise, walked around the Chateau and took some photos. The lake had frozen over so I don’t have any of the typical shots, although there was an ice castle and kids playing hockey on the pond. We also got stuck (in the snow) several times while parking and exiting; and I swear that random Canadians RAN up to us as we were pushing, to help us move the cars!! Go Canada!

We made our way back to Banff and parked so we could walk along the main street. I’ve been to Banff before, and so I knew what to expect — one street of tourist-targeting stores. I was however, impressed by the design of a lot of the Canadian and Rockies themed souvenirs; they were much cuter and neater than the usual fare from Niagara Falls. I didn’t buy anything though.

Pretty soon it was dark, and we checked into Banff Springs. It had been snowing all day, and still was so there was little opportunity for photos. I brought my new lens specifically because it was fast and would be useful for taking photos in the dark interiors of the castle, but guess what; it broke! I’m not exactly sure what happened, because I took a few photos with it before it started to report an error, so I need to get it exchanged or something before I head back to Toronto; it’s too much of a hassle to send it in for warranty replacement. Anyways, that was a bummer; although even a castle isn’t really big enough for 75mm full-body shots.

The next morning, we went down early for a swim. I haven’t swam for 10 years at least, but I am fortunate to report that I didn’t drown. They had an outdoor pool which was fun, I guess that’s what it feels like to goto a Hot Springs. The only qualm I have about that was that the deep end went to my chest, and the shallow end went to my waist. It was more like a wading pool than swimming. Later on, while we were in other sections of resort taking pictures, we noticed that two elk had wandered into the outdoor pool area!

We did some more photo-taking including a quick visit to Bow Falls and Surprise Corner, then headed back to Calgary. Since there was some time left in the day, we stopped off at the University of Calgary for some random walking. We were 10 minutes late to our car and we got a meter-expired warning from four minutes prior…I hope the next person that rents this car doesn’t goto U of C.

Posted by Kevin in Blogs Tags: banff, calgary, diary, travelling