Saturday 16 May 2015

In the itinerary this was a free day to do as we wished.  The main possibilities offered by Richard, our tour guide, was to visit the Whyte Museum or to ride the Banff Gondola (a cable car in plain English).  Jackie however had put her sleuthing hat on and found that on Saturday evenings only the Restaurant at the Banff Gondola have two special meals at 5 and 7pm.  The fee for the ride is normally $40 each; special price including a three course meal was about $60 each.  She booked the early sitting.

They sent through the email confirmation with pdf attachment.  On careful reading we find the latter has to be printed to enable the barcodes to be scanned.  Who takes a portable printer on holiday?  Technology is not that good!  And they cannot scan the barcodes on the ipad screen.  Cue panic.  Eventually however I managed to get the internet PC off reception to print the magic pieces of paper.

Instead of eating breakfast in our hotel we walked down the street about 6 hotels / hostels etc.   Jackie had spotted  restaurant in another hotel called “El Toro” and inside we found comparative peace and quiet – our hotel had a noisy dining room – plus much better prices and a huge breakfast.  Jackie is now quite addicted to blueberry pancakes and I had a “combo” – scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, mushrooms and a lot of potatoes I did not eat.  Plus the inevitable fruit with your Canadian breakfast.  And the waiting time is such that it was all freshly cooked.  Not quite beating Jasper breakfasts but pretty good.

We visit the spa and spend 10 – 15 minutes in a 28 seater jacuzzi.  104 deg F – hot!  We retire to our room, Jackie to sleep and I attend to photographs and so on.

Buses today are running to time so we are at the Gondola base station in plenty of time; as it is not busy we are granted immediate access and we are lifted into the sky to the top of Sulphur Mountain.  The weather is unattractive but I walk most of the way to the old weather station but retreat when the snow joins the cold wind.

Photos of this excursion are not outstanding and can be found here.

At 5 we take our seats in the restaurant and although circular it does not revolve.  We can look down on Banff and sometimes it is visible and sometimes it vanishes behind a combination of snow and low flying clouds.  Yet another good meal of a huge salad, a piece of rib of beef and strawberries in my case and a wonderful chocolate concoction for Jackie certainly made the whole thing worthwhile.

A couple of observations about buses.  Firstly know what your local stop looks like in a strange town, or you may have to walk back from getting off a stop too soon.  In Banff they also have a wonderful concept – they allow travellers to strap their bike to the front of the bus (certainly at one point we had two on the front).  Somehow I cannot see that catching on in Bracknell; nor on the front of SWT 455’s – but it is better than them being dragged into the passenger areas!