Banff 6

Banff 6, originally uploaded by Aloysius_Flyte.

We ended our day in Banff by taking a stroll up to the ridiculous Fairmont Springs Hotel. This building can clearly be seen from the top of Sulphur Mountain and is the *only* place to stay if you are insanely rich and very pretentious. There was a statue out front of the original owner, with a quote from him engraved on its pedestal - "Since we cannot export the scenery, we must import the tourists!"

I think we were much better off at one of the hotels in town, even if we didn't have an external window...

More later in the week!

Banff 5

Banff 5, originally uploaded by Aloysius_Flyte.

We stopped off on the way to the second peak at a very picturesque spot away from the wooden walkway, and sat for a while only feet from the side of the mountain, with no barrier. It made my human rather nervous, but the view was lovely.

Banff 4

Banff 4, originally uploaded by Aloysius_Flyte.

...you get one of the most amazing views I've ever seen.

Banff 3

Banff 3, originally uploaded by Aloysius_Flyte.

...and if you can stomach the gondola ride to the top of Sulphur Mountain...

Banff 2

Banff 2, originally uploaded by Aloysius_Flyte.

...but it has great taste in street names...

Banff 1

Banff 1, originally uploaded by Aloysius_Flyte.

We did eventually make it to Banff, a small but perfectly formed town, nestled in a valley with mountains all around.

It may be rather a twee place...

Cascade Ponds 2

Cascade Ponds 2, originally uploaded by Aloysius_Flyte.

We took a wander round the lake and sat for a while beside a bubbling brook, watching people ride horses through the woods. It was a lovely spot.

Cascade Ponds 1

Cascade Ponds 1, originally uploaded by Aloysius_Flyte.

We took a wrong turn on the approach to Banff, and came acroos Cascade Springs - a perfect example of why my human loves Canada so much - there's scenery like this around every corner!

Calgary 4

Calgary 4, originally uploaded by Aloysius_Flyte.

The glass floor at the top was a little much for my human, but I braved a peek.

Calgary 3

Calgary 3, originally uploaded by Aloysius_Flyte.

Just so we could say we'd seen Calgary, we rounded off our afternoon with a trip to the viewing tower.

Calgary 2

Calgary 2, originally uploaded by Aloysius_Flyte.

...and round the corner, we came across this rather odd-looking horse!

Calgary 1

Calgary 1, originally uploaded by Aloysius_Flyte.

I took rather a lot of photos on our recent trip to Canada, so I shall split the account into three installments, so as not to overwhelm any of my readers with too many pictures at once.

We started our trip in Calgary, somewhere neither the humans nor I had been before. Taking a walk downtown, we met two gentlemen having a chat in the street...