I’m feeling really good and really well rested. Yesterday, was a great day at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise.

But of course, I started out with breakfast in Banff with my Timbits.

I had a carton of milk and an apple left from my IGA purchases, so breakfast was complete. See mom, I had fruit and some protein, too.

I also got to talk to my mom, Kiana (my older daughter), and my aunt while packing for a bit. Kiana went to visit my aunt and uncle in Maryland, so she did that whole multiple call thing that I still can’t figure out. She got to talk to my mom in Philadelphia and me here, and we got to hear how many purses she was getting from my Aunt Linda. My Aunt Linda is the queen of purses and shoes, but she buys them then wants more, so she has to clean out her closet to make space. I’ve lost count of the pairs of shoes I have gotten from her since I’m the only one that can wear her size.

The call made for a good morning with less stress than if I was just packing. I’m not sure why I was so stressed about it. It’s not like the room had a safe where I could leave money or anything!

The bus to Lake Louise was a regular coach bus, so much larger than all of the other buses. I thought this was funny because it had the least number of people on it than any of the busses I have been on so far. I wasn’t the first one on, but the bus was empty when I did. We were waiting for a passenger that got picked up at the Calgary airport.

I only know this because the bus driver was extremely worried about him. The passenger was only doing a layover in Calgary and hopped on the bus just to see Lake Louise. He wasn’t on the bus when I got on because he wanted to go to a grocery store to get some snacks. However, his English wasn’t very good, and the bus driver was worried because even though he told where the IGA was, he saw the guy walk farther down the street and then lost him in the crowd. However, the guy showed up within a minute of our scheduled departure time. The bus driver was so relieved!

We went to another hotel and picked up a couple and a mom and her adult son then we headed out. I don’t have any pictures from the bus ride because I immediately feel asleep and did not wake up until we were pulling up to the Fairmont.

I followed everyone else to the lobby, looking around and not in the rush, feeling like I stepped into an Agatha Christie movie set.

The Fairmont Chateu Lake Louise is another one of the luxery hotels built by the railroad in the early 1900s. It was seen as a summer resort and wasn’t winterized until 1982! I was texting my friend, Carolyn, this morning and telling her that this really surprised me because in my imagination, I only ever thought of this place in the winter.

I had heard the people in front of me being reminded that check in wasn’t until 4 PM, so when I went to counter to check in, I asked where I could keep my luggage until I could go to my room because I had a reservation for tea at 2. He looked at me in surprise because my room was ready.

So I went straight to my room.

Look at the view from my room. I had completely forgotten that Candace from Fresh Track Canada had been able to book me a lakeview!

I also think the bathroom is interesting, mainly because of the double doors.

Not surprisingly for such an old hotel, the room is the smallest one I have stayed in, but I like it the best. It’s cosy and has a ceiling fan and, of course, the view is spectacular.

But I wasn’t going to stay in the room. I don’t have a lot of time here, and I wanted to explore. I also wanted to see if they had any times left for anything in the spa. I couldn’t figure out how to book anything online using the gift card I got, so I couldn’t book ahead. Also, when I looked, it didn’t seem like they had many slots for anything left.

Thank goodness for the hotel map, and even though I had it, it still took me a bit to find the spa.

I was finally able to find the spa (I’ll have more pictures below), and they had a couple of appointments for late afternoon, nothing for the morning. I have never been to a spa before, and to be honest I was a bit intimidated, mainly because of what I imagined spas to be like: full of wealthy people and staff used to wealthy people.

But the people were really helpful and were super excited for me when I told them that not only had I never been to a spa before, but that I also never had a massage before. So they gave me lots of suggestions and answered my questions and actually recommended to me the cheaper 30-minute massage in case I didn’t like massages. They warned me that some people don’t.

After that booking was done, I decided to walk around the hotel until my tea time. There is much to see and just so many things that are lovely to look at from the walls to the ceilings to the historical photographs to the different restaurants.

Finally, it was time for tea. I purposefully skipped lunch because I was determined to eat, or try to, everything!

The Fairview Restaurant is the one restaurant that is open to non-guests. People come from all over just for the tea. Not surprisingly, the room is lovely . . .

. . .and so are the views from the room.

By this point, I was not surprised because here is the view just from the elevator hallway on my floor.

Anyway, I was immediately seated upon my arrival and given the menu. This is more informational because you get everything. I did ask for a substitution for the sandwich that had lobster, but other than that, I got everything on there. The biggest choice was trying to decide what kind of tea to get. This is the advantage of going to tea with other people. Each of you can choose a different tea, and then you can taste each other’s.

I decided on the Ontario Icewine if anyone is interested.

But here is what I know some of you have been waiting for: pictures of high tea at the Fairmont.

Here are some of my favorites of the selections

However, the absolute winner was the blueberry scone which I paired with the lemon curd. This was the best lemon curd I have ever had. While I was eating it, all I could think about was being rich enough to fly back just to have it. I could have eaten a bowl full all by itself.

And yes, I almost ate everything. I was so full that I wasn’t sure I was even going to be able to leave the table, so I sat for a bit slowly savoring everything down to the very last drop of tea in the pot.

Finally, realizing that I couldn’t sleep there, so I decided what I needed to do was take a walk to wake myself up and to work off some of that curd. I went back to my room to get my coat and then headed outside to yet another winter wonderland.

This is what I saw when I first stepped out. It was cloudy but still gorgeous.

I proceeded to head down to the lake. They have places to sit and an outdoor bar with walls of lit up snow, but I was most interested in the lake. I did stop first to get a couple of pictures of this year’s ice castle.

Then I walked around the ice rinks to the path on the lake.

They have two rinks. The big one is for regular skating, and the smaller one is for hockey.

The lake is completely frozen over and easy to walk on because of the snow on top. As you can see from the pictures, they have to clear snow to get to the ice for the ice rinks.

The lake is surrounded by Mount Temple, Mount Whyte, and Mount Niblock. On clear day, you could usually see Mount Victoria in the opening between the ranges you can see at far the end of the pictures, but not yesterday.

It looks like there aren’t that many people on the lake from these pictures, but there were quite a number. Many are just far ahead of me and walked much farther along the lake than I did. I would have walked farther, but I was afraid of missing my spa appointment.

Here are some pictures from the other direction, so you can see how far I did walk from the hotel.

I would love to come back and do more hiking on the lake and get a closer look at some of the frozen falls in the distance.

Then it was back to the room to drop off my coat and change out of my boots and head to the spa. Here are some of the shops on the way to the spa. I’ve never seen so much maple stuff in one place than in the Goodies shop.

Once I got to the spa, I was taken into the lounge area to fill out a form that asks about what you want and if you have any specific spots that are of concern or where you may not want to be touched. It’ a nice area with water and tea and snacks.

Then you get a locker in the small locker room and get to change into the robe and slippers they give you in the locker.

Then I met Kira, my massage person, again and she took me into the room. She asked me about the bed temperature and the music. Everything was lovely. The bed was so comfortable. I was worried that laying on my stomach would hurt my lower back, but the angle she had me on had the opposite effect. Plus that thingy you put your face in is magical.

I know many of you who regularly get massages might not think this is a big deal, but it really was to me. I was kind of nervous, but Kira was really lovely and funny. I got to choose which kind of oil I wanted, and I chose lavendar because Kira said it was the best for stress.

The massage was soooooo good. I have had a knot between my shoulder blades for probably 8 years, and after 30 minutes it was gone. I think this is the really reason I feel so rested this morning. I also didn’t have an itchy back like I usually do in the winter, which wakes me up to scratch. I even used some of my gift card to buy some of the oil.

After that, I got dressed and went back to the room, carrying my sneakers and wearing my slippers. I felt so relaxed that I didn’t want to put shoes back on.

I spent the rest of my evening in my room. I even made another discovery about it. Look at what is in the cabinet underneath the television. I expected a refridgerator, but . . .

Very classy.

In texting Carolyn this morning, we have decided that we need to come here just for a spa vacation! So beautiful and so relaxing.

It may take us five years to save for it, but it would be worth it.