Corinne, Rae, Malcolm & Tony at Banff
Cathedral, Banff,
Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel, Banff
Avenue leading to Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel, Banff
Balustrade at Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel, Banff
Lake Minnewanka, Banff
We were pleased to see that overnight the snow had eased and that the roads were clear although everything else was as white as a Christmas card picture.
We drove the 22 km into Banff and made a special point to find the AVIS centre which in itself turned out to an issue. A sign for the return point for cars was non-existent and only after some chasing around and asking locals did we eventually find the location we need for early tomorrow morning.
Meanwhile a message had arrived from Rae and Malcolm saying that they would meet us in Banff at 1130 in a near centre town coffee shop. When they arrived together with their travelling friends Warren and Anne, there were lots of hugs and warm greetings together with much excited discussion in comparing notes on all our adventures.
After an hour or more, Malcolm’s team had to head off as they’d planned to get to Jasper tonight with a couple of detours such as to Lake Louise along the way north.
After they’d left, we strolled from the centre down to the railway station just to check details for our Rocky Mountaineer trip tomorrow.
At this stage there was no snow or rain although the snow from trees and buildings was starting to melt and fall in blobs onto the footpaths below making walking a little interesting.
We then drove around to see the town’s most famous landmark, that being the Fairmont Banff Springs historic hotel. This massive hotel looms up beside the Bow River and resembles a cross between a Scottish baronial castle and a fairytale French chateau.
The turret topped ten storey stone walled building is extravagant in the extreme in its internal décor. Originally built in 1888 and then remodelled in 1928 it was designed to offer the last word in luxury for its guests. The hotel has a selection of lounges and dining rooms all very tastefully and expensively decorated with elegant furniture and fittings. Although we didn’t venture upstairs we could see wide balustrade staircases and landings with chandeliers aplenty.
Highlights include an Arthurian/Gothic great hall, a wood panelled gentleman’s bar and an evening ballroom.
Needless to say the plush bedrooms are eye-wateringly expensive although there seemed to be plenty of guests present as we wandered around ogling at the opulence and grandeur.
On our return to Canmore we visited Lake Minnewanka which is cradled high above Banff between the Palliser and Fairholme Ranges. This is the largest body of water in the Banff National Park being 24 km long and now 142 m deep. Known to the local indigenous Stoney people as minn-waki (“the lake of the spirits”) they believed it to be haunted by the spirits of the dead. Europeans called it Devil’s Lake.
The lake has been dammed three times at its western end and the final time in 1941 raised the level by around 30 m completely submerging the summer settlement of Minnewanka Landing. Scuba divers now can explore the drowned town at 40 m visiting the remains of hotels, shops and saloon bars.
The forest we drove through to get to Lake Minnewanka was a dense spruce and birch forest loaded with snow and we even had an occasional moment of sunshine to add to the fairytale setting.
Tomorrow we give the car back at Banff and commence the penultimate part of our wondrous journey through north west America by boarding the Rocky Mountaineer train that will eventually take us through to Vancouver.