Day 259: Lake Louise
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Sunday April 24th
Easter Sunday!! I know the Easter Bunny has already visited me back in Australia ... and I cannot wait to eat Aussie chocolate again ... but he also made a small pitstop and Lake Louise, leaving a small Easter egg for the four of us.
We were keen on going to the Easter Egg hunt at 9am, but in the lobby there were only little kids, and it felt wrong to be challenging them for chocolate so we opted out of it. Breakfast instead at the hostel's cafe - French toast for me, yum!
I was keen on finding a mountain bike and cycle out to the Fairmont Chateau, but the others chose to walk instead. I stayed in the room for a few hours, enjoying the luxury of time by myself - not something I've had much of when I've shared a room for the last six months, and have been travelling with 3 others for the past week. At about 1pm I decided to head out, stopping in at the local sports store to hike a bike.
Alas, I was two weeks too early to hire a bike, so I had to walk instead. We'd been told that the hike was about 4km each way and on a 'good' path. Knowing what a Canadian 'good' meant, I wisely wore my snow boots, and was extremely glad I did when the path turned out to be snow-covered the whole way! It was quite steep in parts as well, and I kept looking over my shoulder for signs of bears or deer.
The Fairmont was an astonishing sight. Lake Louise, on which it rested, was iced over. Tourists were ignoring the 'thin ice' sign, walking all the way across the lake to take photos, with either the Rockies as the backdrop facing north; or the majestic Chateau to the south.
After a few happy snaps, I headed inside the Chateau, exploring the shops that littered the ground floor. There was even a Christmas store - a surprisingly common sight in all of the Canadian towns we'd visited so far!! The 24 hour gourmet deli was also located on the floor, which is where I headed for lunch. My Easter Sunday lunch (which was supposed to be a brunch at the Fairmont, but at $59 + tax we had ruled it out) ended up being a vegan butternut squash soup and chocolate cake.
I took a different path on the way back to the hostel called 'The Tramline'. All was going well until the very end, when there didn't seem to be an obvious way to get off the path and onto the road. I started to walk to my left, but ended up sinking in snow up to my waist. I was a little panicked at this stage - all alone on the path, and who knows how deep the snow was? I decided to tackle the massive snowheap directly in front of me, as it seemed the quickest way out. Fortunately I was able to 'leap it', and made my way back to the hostel safely.
Wanting some quiet time in the hostel, I headed upstairs to the 'lounge' room and watched 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall' - Russell Brand is hysterical!! Just before I left Whistler I'd copied a heap of movies from Kat's computer, so I'd have plenty to watch whilst on the road.
Dinner was again at our 'local' (the hostel's cafe), before retiring to our room for blogging/surfing/reading.
Easter Sunday!! I know the Easter Bunny has already visited me back in Australia ... and I cannot wait to eat Aussie chocolate again ... but he also made a small pitstop and Lake Louise, leaving a small Easter egg for the four of us.
We were keen on going to the Easter Egg hunt at 9am, but in the lobby there were only little kids, and it felt wrong to be challenging them for chocolate so we opted out of it. Breakfast instead at the hostel's cafe - French toast for me, yum!
I was keen on finding a mountain bike and cycle out to the Fairmont Chateau, but the others chose to walk instead. I stayed in the room for a few hours, enjoying the luxury of time by myself - not something I've had much of when I've shared a room for the last six months, and have been travelling with 3 others for the past week. At about 1pm I decided to head out, stopping in at the local sports store to hike a bike.
Alas, I was two weeks too early to hire a bike, so I had to walk instead. We'd been told that the hike was about 4km each way and on a 'good' path. Knowing what a Canadian 'good' meant, I wisely wore my snow boots, and was extremely glad I did when the path turned out to be snow-covered the whole way! It was quite steep in parts as well, and I kept looking over my shoulder for signs of bears or deer.
The Fairmont was an astonishing sight. Lake Louise, on which it rested, was iced over. Tourists were ignoring the 'thin ice' sign, walking all the way across the lake to take photos, with either the Rockies as the backdrop facing north; or the majestic Chateau to the south.
After a few happy snaps, I headed inside the Chateau, exploring the shops that littered the ground floor. There was even a Christmas store - a surprisingly common sight in all of the Canadian towns we'd visited so far!! The 24 hour gourmet deli was also located on the floor, which is where I headed for lunch. My Easter Sunday lunch (which was supposed to be a brunch at the Fairmont, but at $59 + tax we had ruled it out) ended up being a vegan butternut squash soup and chocolate cake.
I took a different path on the way back to the hostel called 'The Tramline'. All was going well until the very end, when there didn't seem to be an obvious way to get off the path and onto the road. I started to walk to my left, but ended up sinking in snow up to my waist. I was a little panicked at this stage - all alone on the path, and who knows how deep the snow was? I decided to tackle the massive snowheap directly in front of me, as it seemed the quickest way out. Fortunately I was able to 'leap it', and made my way back to the hostel safely.
Wanting some quiet time in the hostel, I headed upstairs to the 'lounge' room and watched 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall' - Russell Brand is hysterical!! Just before I left Whistler I'd copied a heap of movies from Kat's computer, so I'd have plenty to watch whilst on the road.
Dinner was again at our 'local' (the hostel's cafe), before retiring to our room for blogging/surfing/reading.
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