Banff Diaries

Part 2 of my Topdeck ‘Great White North’ Review
( P.S . Video at the bottom)
I found myself in Banff on New Years Day 2018.

Unfortunately, I was feeling a little worse for wear. I was travelling from Kelowna and every hour into the journey I was beginning to feel worse and worse. The photo above probably explains why.. being outside in -15 without a jacket.
Anyway our first stop upon arriving was at Lake Louise. Yes, it was truly amazing. The only thing I imagine that could have topped my experience was probably not to see the ice upon the lake not completely covered in snow. I guess thats the nature of January though. .. Oh well next time. We had about an hour to explore the lake / grab a hot chocolate in the Chateaux Fairmont. Whilst some chose to partake in a little ice skating me and a couple others decided to walk out into the middle of the lake and take some photos from a different perspective.

Processed with VSCO with au5 preset — Prue and I on the lake

Not gonna lie, it was absolutely freezing and definitely wouldn’t have helped my cold or whatever was wrong with me. The sun swiftly setting we had a little look around the chateaux and then headed back to the coach to take us into Banff.

That evening we had an included dinner, but the highlight of today for me was that we were sleeping in a hotel with a double bed each. Such a nice change to 6 nights of dorm bunks previously. By the time I did get to dinner however I was completely falling apart. Time for bed. Fake fire on the tv on. Sleep.

The next morning I was 100% under the weather. I managed to drag myself up, put some shoes on and head to the breakfast buffet. After I headed back and got straight back into bed. After a much needed 3 hour sleep I decided I couldn’t waste my day and headed out to explore Banff ( to be honest I was actually on the hunt for a bath bomb to take back to the room..I was successful. )

Processed with VSCO with av4 preset — Just can’t get over this town/ how tall that mountain is

After purchasing my bath bomb I stopped to get a little lunch in the cutest of places. The Grizzly house on Banff main street had a wonderful number of exotic meats and fondue options. Sadly, fondue hasn’t yet accepted solo diners ( actually why though). Treated myself to a french onion soup and headed back.
That evening we had a free inclusion to Banff Spring. For some reason we couldn’t possibly have the coach so had to wait for the public bus.. which did not come for an hour. Even when we arrived at the spring, the queue to get in was more than unbelievable. An hour later we finally made it in. It was luscious, but probably not worth the wait.
The next day, and final full day of tour I decided to take a trip up Banff Gondola. It was somewhat worthy of the $62CA / £36. Theres a small interactive centre as well as a cafe and shop. The highlight for me though was the walk out to the sky walk which has amazing views over the Bow Valley.

Processed with VSCO with l12 preset — Canada’s stairway to Heaven

Later for our final night on tour we headed into down for our last group dinner.
The next morning, the majority of the group boarded back onto the coach and made their way to Calgary airport. I wasn’t leaving until a little later. Thankfully, because of this it was possible to head out onto the over subscribed Snow Dogs experience. ( This had previously caused a lot of upset in previous days)
Unfortunately however, I was starting to feel rather sick again and I am surprised that I didnt pass out on the mini bus into the bow valley. Thankfully I didn’t.
Here’s some pics.