I woke up early today because I wanted to take some photos of the sunrise from our hotel window and I wasn’t disappointed. Over the course of the hour the sky blossomed and the mountain ranges changed shades.

We started the day with a Gondola ride up Sulphur. It was a 10 minute ride up the top and we had a pretty spectacular view of our hotel on the way up. Our hotel is the first hotel built in the region and is quite grand and has requisite views all around.

Banff is, without doubt, one of the most picturesque places I have ever visited. At the peak we had uninterrupted views of the beautiful snow capped mountains and valleys all around. The gondola ride on the way down seemed a lot quicker than on the way up.

After lunch we visited Lake Minnewanka which means Spirit of the Water. It is the largest lake in the region and is 1 km wide and 22 kms long. It is a man-made lake which was created when a dam was built to generate electricity. We took a cruise to the middle of the lake while a guide described the origin and history of the lake. It is also one of the few lakes in Canada that is not filled by glaciers. We did see a lot of people picnicking by the lakeside and some were also game to go for a swim (in 4 degree waters).

We took a shuttle to the township of Banff and window shopped for an hour. Matthew lost his sunglasses on the flight over from Seattle yesterday so we got him a new pair. We went to a German restaurant called Waldhaus for dinner. Our waitress was Australian and originally from Adelaide. Thomas made her a little poster with “Aussie Aussie Aussie” on it.