On to Banff

This day also began differently. We had an excursion and we had to be ready to board the bus at ten O;clock. That should have made for a relaxing start to the day. As usual I checked the e-mail and the bank notified me that $947.00 had been added to my credit card.
So instead of having a relaxing start to our day I hurried and got dressed. We were told that business could be handled in that GOLD lounge where we were supposed to have breakfast.
The first thing I did was inquire about the charge.
Again I was reassured that the charge was just a formality. She then offered to print out our bill. To my great relief those charges were not there. The total bill was less than a 100.00 dollars.

I really enjoyed my breakfast and I was so pleased to see lots of fresh fruit.

We had lots of time before our bus would arrive so we spent our time people watching. We made certain our luggage was on the bus and then we boarded our transport to begin our Lake Louise to Banff sightseeing.

Some of the incredible sights were Victoria glacier,Moraine Lake, and the magnificent Takakkaw Falls, the great divide, Yoho National Park, Spiral tunnels, the natural bridge, and Emeral Lake.

Natural bridge:

Moraine Lake:

Emerald Lake

Takakkaw Falls;

At the end of the tour our driver and guide served us a treat of hot coffee and butter tarts...yummy

Our final stop was at the Fairmont Banff Springs . I was so relieved to find that we were expected and all was in order. Our new room is VERY nice. So much better and much more like what we expect from The Fairmont chain.

We had our supper by getting a take out from a place called Stock. It is a very nice place. Their specialty is fresh produce. Never have we had such a chicken BLT. I could not finish mine. We ate them in our room and enjoyed a nice hot coffee. Soon we were off to bed and we were serenaded with the sights and sounds of a major thunder and lightning storm.


Tomorrow we are off to the Banff gondola and other attractions around the area.
It will be nice to have a carefree sleep.

August 8th

We got to our room and it was smaller than we expected. But we did have a great view.

We were told to leave our suitcases packed in our room and they would be collected. So we did that and then went for breakfast. We went to Poppy for a good breakfast. Ken got the regular buffet and I got the continental breakfast. Ken enjoyed his but I could not say the same. I had Greek Yogurt  and lots of fresh fruit. Unfortunately the fruit was not all that good.
After breakfast I checked the e-mail and we had good and bad e-mail. The good was the fact that Ryan was going to check into the mix up about our room.
The bad was that the hotel had put a charge of over 750.00 on our credit card. I had been told we would not be charged more for our rooms because we had already paid for them.
Well I went to the main desk and I was assured that it was only a routine hold and we would not have to pay that.
We were assured that the new room would be Premium gold so we should go up to the seventh floor and enjoy the benefit of coffee and pastries at no cost. We should wait there until our new room was available. It was supposed to be ready at noon but it was not ready until three.

One of the Gold benefits is canapes etc from 4 until six. So we went for those and of course that meant we did not need any dinner.

We relaxed watched TV and I blogged for the rest of the evening.This was a free day with no excursions planned.
Off to bed because we have an all day excursion tomorrow.

FIRST ROOM

Me in line trying to get things straightened out.

New Room, ( no big deal)

Gold Room and canapes.

Sign and autographs

On To Lake Louise!

We set the clock and this time it worked.
It was not raining but there was a heavy dense fog. The beautiful mountain was shrouded.
But mid morning the fog lifted and we had a wonderful day

We had to be at the bus for our tour at 8:25, so we had our suitcases packed and waiting at the door by 7:20. We went to Fitzhugh where we could get a muffin and a coffee. While waiting in line we chatted with other train passengers.

The tour was with SUN DOG and much to our pleasure and surprise there were only 6 of us in a 20 seater van.Wonderful
Our guides name was Norman and he was fantastic. We have never met someone with so a varied life and such an extensive career. He knew the area so well. He had stories and antidotes for every stop.
The bus supplied us with drinks and snacks and we also had an excellent boxed lunch.

We went many places among them Athabaska Falls, Columbia ice fields, skywalk and he told us tales of all of these locations.
The day was full and we arrived in Lake Louise about six o'clock.

We made certain that we had our luggage and then I went to the desk to register and get our room key.

Much to my horror I was told that we were not registered. As you can imagine those were not the words I wanted to hear.
During the next hour I presented our confirmations and all of the paperwork, our clerk discovered that our reservation was for one day on August 27th instead of 2 days, August 7th and 8th. To make a long story short the hotel managed to find us a room . It is not as good as the one we paid for and we will be moved to a different room tomorrow.

When we finally got settled we went for dinner. After all this was my birthday and we had to at least have a birthday dinner.The chateau treated us to a birthday dessert!!!

When we finished eating we returned to our room and fell into bed. This day was too long and too stress filled.

.Rainy Jasper,

Basically it rained almost all day with just a few sunny breaks.
The excursion today was one we took just 2 years ago so because of the rain we decided not to do it today. So we went to the desk and asked that they inform the tour driver that they should not wait for us.
We went to the main lodge building and had their buffet breakfast. Ken had the full breakfast and I had the continental. There was plenty of food and it was good but the prices are scary. Breakfast for the 2 of us came to about 75.00. When I see the prices of accommodations and of food a cruise looks like the bargain of the century.

The rain stopped at one point and we hurriedly got ready and went for a walk. The grounds are really beautiful. Our lake view also gave us a wonderful view of Mount Edith Clavelle. There are dozens and dozens of Canada geese on the property. One man goes around with a bucket and a scooper trying to clean up behind them.

Mainly we spent the day relaxing and napping. We were going to do the Jasper Gondola ride but again when it is raining and the clouds are hanging low on the mountains there is nothing much to see so we passed.

We had a light dinner at the lodge, watched some TV. and got our things ready for the morning.
We have an all day tour which will end at Lake Louise.