Lake Louise

It was close to 5pm when we arrived at Lake Louise. Adding to the slow drive down the Icefields Parkway, we also lost an hour when we crossed the border from British Columbia into Alberta. We figured we are likely to only get here once in our lifetime so decided to stay at the iconic Fairmont Hotel right on the lake. We were initially met by one of the staff outside the hotel. As it is so cold, they come to the car to give check in options. The were dressed like they were out of The Sound of Music. We decided to park our car undercover and catch the lift up to reception, rather than walk in and out over the slippery footpaths, to check in.

There was a short queue to check in. They had a conference about to commence and the final delegates for that were arriving too. We had been told by friends who have stayed here before, that the rooms are small, being an old hotel. Being more on the frugal side I chose a room without a lake view (saving many $$) expecting we would only be in the room to sleep. Well you can imagine our delight when we were told we had been upgraded to not only a lake view room but a Junior Suite. One of their biggest rooms. How lucky are we!! We were pleased to see this view above from our room, and before it got dark.

It's a very large hotel with many corridors. Loved these medieval style chandeliers.

And can you see the woman holding the lights in these ones?

The next morning we slept in and decided to have breakfast in our room, watching and hoping the clouds would lift off the mountains at the end of the lake.

Did a little blogging homework in my lounge!

Then it was time to rug up and brave the -6C temp and go out for a walk around the lake. We certainly weren't expecting it to be this cold here in October.

Mawson the explorer! The path wasn't slippery at all. I am pleased the shoes I bought at home have been fantastic in the cold. No cold feet at all.

The hotel from up the lake.

Our chins and noses were getting very cold and rosy.

We walked to the point over my right shoulder and back again. That was enough cold for us. It was just gorgeous.

A lounge in the hotel.

Lobby and reception. Loved this chandelier too.

We had lunch in one of the lounges and fortunately got a table at this windown. The lake view just kept changing and getting better as the day went on.

Later again in the day, from our room.

The snow was melting off the trees if the sun was on them for a while. You can see how the lower trees look darker now.

We decided to dine in their Walliser Stube restaurant. They serve Swiss & German style food. The room was amazing. This wall is one of the floor to ceiling wine cabinets.

We chose quite traditional foods. A shared plate of air dried meats (bacon, ham, beef) served with a variety of pickles.

We have had a couple of wines from this company. This bottle proved unusual in that the wine list said it was a 2011 Merlot, though when it arrived, the bottle had no year of vintage on it. The label stated this wine was a demonstration of skill in the art of mixing wine, by their winemaker. Wanting to drink Canadian wine while here, we were disconcerted to read further on the label that it was a mix of international and local wine. Whilst we were enjoying the wine and not complaining, we quizzed the sommellier about this, thinking we were probably drinking Australian, Argentinean or Chilean wine with a couple of Canadian grapes thrown in. These are popular red wines here. He said this wine maker has vines on both sides of the Canadian border and this mix just meant the wine also has grapes grown in USA. We weren't utterly convinced, because if this is so, why no year of vintage??? (I know - sounding like a wine snob here... but so be it)

We chose not to have the set fondue menu of cheese fondue, followed by beef & bison fondue, followed by chocolate fondue. We decided on sharing the traditional fondue (3 cheeses, chardonnay & kirsch). It came with the splate of pickles & veges, and I also oredered the salad to have something on the side to cut the cheese. The fondue was just like I had with Christian & Gianina (family) in Switzerland. If I recall correctly, Christian ordered around 200gms of cheese per person. Well this one was 340gms between the 2 of us.... and I am disappointed to say, we couldnt eat it all. After Mark had his first mouthful, he said "thats delicious but you could not eat too much". We gave it our best shot, but would have been a disappointment to the Swiss. I couldnt stop laughing while Mark groaned and held his stomach over the next couple of hours. It was just like I did in the back of the car on the way home from Gruyere. ........ We were mighty thrilled to see a heavier snow falling as we went to bed. So pretty!