McPlassmann Honeymoon

Onwards from Kelowna to Banff - a 6.5-7hr drive ahead of us right through the heart of the Rocky Mtns. Yes it was a long drive but WOW the scenery is absolutely spectacular.

I didn't realise that there would still be so much snow around up in the Rockies, but every mountain top was snow capped, and travelling through Rogers Pass we got snow falling!! Now to you lot in Germany, snow might be a bit of a regularity in winter, even a bit boring, but to me, it's just exciting!! Hester thought I was a bit weird that I liked the snow so much - I thought she'd be used to my weirdness by now

We stopped at Lake Louise about 1hr before we got to Banff and despite being tired from the long drive, it was nice to get out of the car and checkout the lake that is up on the wall in Hester's office at Student Flights (that she's been looking at for the last year!!).

The funny thing is, Lake Louise (despite still being spectacular) was FROZEN so we couldn't see the tuquoise blue colour that Hester was so looking forward to seeing - ah well, can't have it all - it was snowing again a bit while we were there, but that just added to the atmosphere. I loved it - the photos really don't do it justice.

Banff is a little tourist/resort town that is apparently absolutely overflowing with tourists in the height of Summer and Winter - we're in the low season at the moment, so it wasn't too busy at all which was actually quite nice. It's a very pretty town, surrounded by spectacular snow-capped peaks everywhere you look.

We stayed in Fairmont Banff Springs - a castle about 2km out of town that the Lonely Planet defines as The Top End of Town - "THE place to stay in Banff" - yep that's where we're staying!! Hester sweet talked the reception lady and we got upgraded to a room with a million dollar view of the valley and we were happy campers!

We went out for dinner that night, and upon coming back to our room, we found the front-desk had left a bottle of champagne in an ice bucket for us on the house! Can't complain about that - the service at the hotel overall was just great and is certainly a special place to stay. I doubt we would ever be able to afford it in the high season tho!

It would have been nice to spend a little bit longer in Banff at the area, but I'm sure we'll come back one day - it's one of those places that just begs to be explored more. In an attempt to make the most of our time in Banff in the full day we had, we checked out the town in the morning and in the afternoon we drove an hour out of town towards Lake Louise and drove part of the "Icefields Parkway" - Lonely Planet says its "the most spectacular road in North America" - big wraps.

We drove out to Lake Peyto (well we think it was Peyto, but we didn't see any signs), that like Louise, was frozen, but still looked grand. Randomly, we stumbled across this little lodging/cafe near the lake that was built in the old log-cabin style and had a very yummy tomato soup and warm drink. It was snowing *really* heavily by this time and the randomness of our find made for a great meal and experience - definitely one to remember.

We made our way back to Banff with perfect timing to make Hester's appointment for a massage at the nearby Spa, while I went off to explore the castle grounds and resort a bit more and get ripped off by their internet ($5.60 for 10mins!!).

There's more to tell - we're in Toronto now after flying in late last night and there will be a blog entry to tell that story - but I must go and get changed for the Theatre tonight - we saw signs for "The Phantom of the Opera" that's playing in town, and we managed to get tix for the show tonight. I have to beautify myself

Hope everybody is well in Aussieland, Siegerland and anywhere else you are in the world!

Craig and Hester