The Fairmont Experience

The Fairmont Experience - Banff and Lake Louise

The plan for Banff and Lake Lousie wasn't meant to be very touristy, it was planned to only spend two nights at each and just enjoy the hotel.

Banff Springs, Amy's dream hotel, was literally a castle in the woods with magnificient views of the mountains and valleys.  We checked in on a Friday night, along with 600 other people, our bags were taken by the bell boy and we went inside to check in.  We expected a long wait with so many people however we only had to wait for one person to be served in front of us plus they were handing out hot apple cider and a cookie to the guests.  A very warm welcome (the apple cider was definitely great relief after the freezing cold outside) for the start of our experience at the Fairmont.  When checking in we were upgraded to the Royal suite, the wing of the hotel where the Queen and her staff stayed when they were in Banff.  The furnishings have been left as they were since the Queens visit.  Including all Royal artwork, photos and portraits, stone carved royal crest each side of the lobby.  This section of the hotel has remained in a very different decoration to the remainder of the hotel.

Fairmont Baff Springs

The Royal Wing

That night we dinned at the Waldhaus Restaurant, located just a short stroll down the mountain at the rear of the property.  The property, originally the golf club, has been converted into a fine dining restaurant.  Sitting in front of a large open fire with a Christmas tree in the corner and mounted animal heads on the wall, awesome (sorry Leanne).

The next morning we decided to check out the Banff Hot Springs.  The number one tourist desination of the area, located a short taxi ride up the mountain from the hotel.  The springs and facilities are man made however the water is 100% natural mineral water from the mountain themselves.  The water was at a constant 39 degrees C.  In major contrast to temperature outside the pool somewhere in the region of -10 degrees C, with snow lining the outside of the pool.  The view across the mountains and valley from the pool were just spectacular.

Hot Springs Banff - What a view!

That afternoon we took part in the castle tour hosted by the hotel.  Our tour guide outlining the history of the castle and guided the group around the main guest floors, including the dining and lounge rooms as well as the numerous elaborate ballrooms.  Very castle like.

Banff Springs Foyer

That evening we took a trip in to Banff village and wandered around the 3 blocks of the village street.

The view from our suite - Fairmont Banff Convention Centre

At noon the next morning we headed to the Lake Louise Chateau, my dream hotel.  Set on the edge of Lake Louise, surrounded by mountains, the Chateau is set in a winter wonderland.  Our room overlooked the lake which had almost entirely frozen over and was covered in snow.

Fairmont Lake Louise Chateau

Chateau foyer

We took a stroll to the middle of the lake for a better view of the surroundings and a view back to the magnificent Chateau.  Some people were skating on the hotel maintained rink (on the lake itself), others playing a friendly match of ice hockey, other people cross country skiing and others hiking around the edge of the lake.  After our short walk on the lake, we warmed up with a hot chocolate and a bowl of fries in the Glacier Saloon.  That night we dined in luxury at the Fairview Dining Room.  That night, for the second time in as many Fairmont's, I ordered the roast duck.  Simply devine!

On Lake Louise

The next day we went on a sleigh ride.  One of those things I just had to do! What I had always dreamed would be magical was one of the coldest experiences of my life!  It was -22 degrees C plus as we were moving the wind was blowing straight through us.  We were rugged up, with multiple layers, coats, scarfs etc. plus we had a blanket to share and we were still frozen!  We went around the edge of the lake and we able to have a short photo stop at the opposite side of the lake with a view across the lake to the Chateau, the mountains and a frozen waterfall.  Typically the sleigh ride would return back to the Chateau across the lake itself however as it was still early in the season and not cold enough for the lake to be solid enough (can you believe it, it was still too warm) so we returned down the same side of the lake.  The views despite the cold were spectacular!

Our transportation

Sleigh Ride

All rugged up on the sleigh ride

Frozen water fall

We had planned to spend the afternoon tobogganing, however we decided we needed to warm up instead and found our way to the hotels pool and spa to relax.  Having opened our mouths and the other guests hearing our accents and determining we were Australian, we started a conversation (Canadians really like our accents, which is a good thing because their accents are really good too).  We found out that the Today show (Australian morning show) were filming at the ski fields in the town that day.  We decided to rug up once again and head out to the ski slopes to take our chances at seeing them film.  By the time we arrived at the ski lodge, they had gone.  The lodge however was stunning and another beautiful example of a Canadian lodge.  The Lake Louise ski area was a bit smaller than Whistler, but allot less commercial.  We had a light dinner upstairs at the lodge before returning to the hotel for our last nights stay.

Lake Louise Ski Area Lodge

The next morning we were up before sunrise for our transfer to the Calgary airport for our last flight to Amy's new home and my stop for Christmas and New Year.

Till next time

Luv always
Heather

Skiing in Whistler

Whistler!

One of my first thoughts on Whistler Village was that it was one of the prettiest villages I have ever seen!  Everything covered in snow and decorated for Christmas, was just magical.  Appart from the one afternoon/night at Grouse Mountain this was our opportunity to see snow and this time we were staying in it.

Whistler Village

Whistler Village

The hotel, we were staying at, was called the Pinacle just off the main mall.  Our room, for the first time in our travels, had its own kitchen.  This was fantastic!  It meant home cooked meals and steamed vegetables (something we had been lacking on our travels so far).  We also had our hot tub in the room (bedroom to be exact), an essential for skiers sore muscles.

After arriving late into Whistler following delays leaving Vancouver we attempted to visit the rental shop to enquire about our prearrange rentals and lessons.  However, when we got there it was already closed for the night, we would have to visit the next morning.  We had dinner at the Mongolian Grill.  Definitely an interesting experience.  For those of you who have never been to the Mongolian Grill, dinner involves filling a bowl with your choice of vegetables, meats, noodles, sauces and spices, that are collected from a buffet.  The bowl is then weighed and billed by weight.  Then you take the bowl to chef in the open kitchen where your dinner is dramatically and spectacularly cooked infront of you.  Overall a great experience, a great dinner and a great start to our Whistler experience.

The next morning, once again we slept in... we need to work on that one.  We made our way back to the rental shop at the Carlton Lodge, to the news we were meant to start lessons that morning... whoops!  On our defence, we were never told and it wasn't in the paper work that we were due to start the first day.  After a little confusion we were easily able to push back everything one day.  We were measured up for our skis, boots and poles.  This left us with the responsibility of getting our own ski pants, ski jacket, gloves and goggles.  We spent the afternoon going up and down the village going into every store selling ski gear.  After a good 5 hours and our pockets ALOT lighter, we finally had all of our gear for the next 3 days of ski school!

So, ski school... definitely an adventure.  The boots are very big, heavy, uncomfortable and extremely hard to walk without skis.  Definitely something you need to get used to.  The slopes are just magnificent.  Snow covered mountains and the snow covering the branches of the trees, the fresh crisp air and little chipmunks running around the woods.  We spent the first two days entirely on what they call the magic carpet, as it turns out a VERY slight decline, learning the different techniques.  The final day of lessons was our most adventurous.  After a few runs on the magic carpet for practice we went up on the chair lift to complete lower Olympic and the Village run to name a few.  We then made our way back on the gondola to the top where we ate lunch.  A large lodge where we ate lunch two days running with cafeteria style service with international cuisine to cater to all guests.  We then took the peak to peak gondola over to Blackcomb Mountain (including a 3km ride over the valley between two pilons).  We managed to score a ride on one of two sliver gondolas that have a glass bottom.  The view was spectacular and the clear day made the ride over incredible.  We then took our first green slope on Blackcombe.  This is where I really understood the VERY slight slope of the Magic Carpet.  The run was called Easy Out.  NOT so easy I must say.  I took my first of several tumbles this day on one of the steepest slopes!  Now attempting to get up, on skis, on a slope was difficult.  However something I did learn to recover from quickly that day.  After our attempt of the green slope we headed back across the peak to peak back to Whistler and completed the Olympic run on a high.  By this time the cloud had really dropped and visibility was bad, however a great run to finish our ski school classes.  Sore muscles and a great experience later we are now level 3 skiers.

Day one of Ski School

Whistler Mountain

Snowboarders on the Magic Carpet

On the Peak to Peak

The low cloud also lead to snow that night.  Which meant fresh snow to build our man 'Whistle' on our balcony at the hotel.

We spent a relaxing Wednesday and enjoyed a dinner at Sushi Village.  On Thursday we decided to brave the mountains by ourselves to have one last ski.  Deciding not to be too outrageous and do anything stupid, we completed a couple of runs on the magic carpet and then lower Olympic once again.  Great end to our skiing from a great week.  We returned our ski gear to the rental store and went to the Old Spagetti Factory at the Crystal Lodge for lunch.  This was a place many people had recommend to us.  We could see why, a 4 course meal for about $12 each.  We rolled out of there by the end of the meal!  We spent a quiet night packing and an early night for our 6:45 am bus back to Vancouver for the flight to Calgary the next morning.

Adventures in Alberta next.

Luv always
Heather

Things to note about Whistler-
Even in Whistler they require snow machines to supplement the snow.
Its not just Whistler that is pretty, the drive to and from Vancouver is just stunning.

PS  Sorry for the delay on this one.  I typically have been blogging following each location and at the next two locations after Whistler we had no internet access at the hotel.