Posts made in March 10th, 2013

Lake Louise 1

Posted on Mar 10, 2013 in Lake Louise/Banff/Canmore | 0 comments

Feb 17th (Sun)

After having breakfast at our hotel, we left Calgary for Lake Louise / Banff. It was a long weekend and everywhere was crowded!

On the way to Banff & Lake Louise

We drove through a nice wintery landscape and entered the Rocky Mountains. If you are only passing through, no cost, but if you are staying for sightseeing, you need to pay the National Park entrance fee.

A group of between two and seven people traveling in a single vehicle pays C$19.60 for a day’s pass. We planned to stay for 4 nights, so it will cost about $100. Quite expensive…
Then the receptionist told us that it’s $136.40 for an annual park pass which is valid in 27 of Canada’s national parks. So we decided to get an annual pass. This year we will have a BB, but my parents are planning to visit us to Canada (their first time traveling abroad!). So we can use it at that time as well. More details and fees.
If you don’t want to pay for this entrance fee, there is a way to do it. You can stay at Canmore, which is out of the national park, but it’s only 10 minutes away from Banff. It’s a smaller town, but it has a lot to offer for leisure and nice restaurants. We did so last year, and we had a good time in Canmore. My diary on Canmore 1 and Canmore 2 (sorry only in Japanese).

On the way to Lake Louise, we dropped by at Banff for lunch and browsing. But it was really cold and snowing. It was difficult to get out of the mall once inside. Banff has a lot of nice Canadian souvenir shops that we don’t have in Edmonton. So I did some souvenir shopping.

Banff

Inside a mall Banff

Wolf Street

It’s Wolf Street. There are other animal name streets here. It’s fun.

When we were leaving Banff, the sun was coming out… yes, it’s mountain weather. It changes very quickly.

 

Arrived in Lake Louise.

We had 4 nights at Chateau Lake Louise. Probably the last trip before having our BB. We got some discount because we are Alberta residents. You should check if you live in Alberta!
It’s a very nice hotel, so we enjoyed it a lot. The frozen lake was right in front of us. Very different scenery and leisure from summer time.

This is the landscape from our window. They are all skating rinks. The front left is for games, the front right is for fun and the small ones behind are for pond hockey tournaments.
The mountain in the middle, which is covered by cloud and snow, is the Victoria glacier. It’s getting smaller every year because of global warming.

Lake Louise

Valentine’s treats that my hubby had ordered in advance! Nice surprise. Thank you, David!!

Happy Valentine\'s week!

An excitable lady here.
In the room In the room

A great coffee machine! Decaf was of course there.
Wow!
In the room

Night time:
Lake Louise

It was a long weekend and the hotel and restaurants were packed! We had dinner at a bar & restaurant inside the hotel.
Fish & Chips
Caesar salad with shrimp

I was only coughing before, but by this time, my nose started to run… I have to take care of myself really…