We arrived a little after 5:00 on Saturday. The city was packed, every hotel advertising no vacancy. People everywhere. We saw a sign advertising an event to commemorate Canada's 150th birthday starting at 7:00 in the park in the city center. We got into our hotel room and are pleased with the location. We are able to park our car in the hotel's garage. And the hotel is on the side of the busy area but right on the Bow River, and our second floor room is on the river side. After getting unpacked, we had a glass of wine on our balcony - about 15 feet away is the hotel's trademark totem pole and we have a nice view of the river. It is no coincidence that our hotel is named Bow View Hotel.
As we drove into town, we saw the crowds on the other side of the hotel. So instead of trying to fight the crowds at a restaurant on Saturday night, we decided to walk to the grocery store to get dinner to eat on our balcony while enjoying the view. We took the long way around going one block on the mixed use river walk, before going into the maelstrom of Banff.
The city is very Bavarian, with flower boxes on most every balcony and window, and many neatly trimmed flower gardens everywhere - but for the crowds of people, it is very picturesque. We went to the local IGA, just two blocks away; it was jam packed, with lines of 8 - 10 customers at every cash register. Unlike the USA, alcoholic beverages are not sold in grocery stores. So Patty went through the line to pay for food and I went to the aptly named "Liquor Depot." There were no lines and no waiting there, much to my surprise - I expected many celebrants to be buying beverages. I searched around and found a 12 pack of Blue Moon - with tax and deposit is was only $33 Canadian (about $26 US). We decided that we would make sure to savor every drop at that price. We made it back to our room and enjoyed a quiet dinner and cold beer on our balcony.
After dinner, I did some work online and Patty watched the BBC news and some HGTV. Around 9:00, it was still full daylight (we are pretty far north), so we went out for a walk on the river walk, going the opposite direction from our earlier outing. We found there were lots of insects and know that from now on we will be using bug repellent here in Banff. We saw the older, traditional train station and found a two kilometer nature path that the city has made. As we were returning to the hotel, not more than 200 feet from our room, we encountered this friendly fellow. I was able to get a couple of photos (I was not that close, I zoomed in to make it look closer) and this short video of him having dinner.
Sunday morning, I went out on my usual morning walk. The city of Banff is located in the middle of the mountains here in Banff National Park - mountains in every direction. Banff is a great place to visit.
As we drove into town, we saw the crowds on the other side of the hotel. So instead of trying to fight the crowds at a restaurant on Saturday night, we decided to walk to the grocery store to get dinner to eat on our balcony while enjoying the view. We took the long way around going one block on the mixed use river walk, before going into the maelstrom of Banff.
The city is very Bavarian, with flower boxes on most every balcony and window, and many neatly trimmed flower gardens everywhere - but for the crowds of people, it is very picturesque. We went to the local IGA, just two blocks away; it was jam packed, with lines of 8 - 10 customers at every cash register. Unlike the USA, alcoholic beverages are not sold in grocery stores. So Patty went through the line to pay for food and I went to the aptly named "Liquor Depot." There were no lines and no waiting there, much to my surprise - I expected many celebrants to be buying beverages. I searched around and found a 12 pack of Blue Moon - with tax and deposit is was only $33 Canadian (about $26 US). We decided that we would make sure to savor every drop at that price. We made it back to our room and enjoyed a quiet dinner and cold beer on our balcony.
After dinner, I did some work online and Patty watched the BBC news and some HGTV. Around 9:00, it was still full daylight (we are pretty far north), so we went out for a walk on the river walk, going the opposite direction from our earlier outing. We found there were lots of insects and know that from now on we will be using bug repellent here in Banff. We saw the older, traditional train station and found a two kilometer nature path that the city has made. As we were returning to the hotel, not more than 200 feet from our room, we encountered this friendly fellow. I was able to get a couple of photos (I was not that close, I zoomed in to make it look closer) and this short video of him having dinner.
Sunday morning, I went out on my usual morning walk. The city of Banff is located in the middle of the mountains here in Banff National Park - mountains in every direction. Banff is a great place to visit.
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