Lake Louise

Lake Louise

On the morning before we set off, we quickly had to stop at Tim Hortons – a good day in Canada starts with a fine 'Pumpkin Spiced Latte' :) During that time, I also used the Wi-Fi to upload the blog and finish editing a few pictures of Muriel. We wanted to stay relatively close in Lake Louise since there is only one campground that is still open and it’s 'First come first served'. The campground is no longer serviced. We arrived just before noon and then filled out our reservation and receipt by ourselves – the money has to be put in an envelope and dropped in a small house.. After that, you can choose a free spot where there isn't already a handwritten reservation on the notice board and reserve the spot, specifically :) However, there’s still enough space since many people don’t go further than Banff. This is compounded by the fact that Jasper unfortunately had wildfires and there are still some consequences and uncertainty surrounding it – the remaining tourists (mostly Indians and Asians) are anyway stuck in the hotels – their nice Instagram clothes they are wearing would also get dirty at the campground – I sometimes wonder what those people study when they visit mountain lakes etc. in wide pants and sneakers.. But hey, as long as they have a nice photo. And for their photos, they seem to completely forget about empathy (if it’s even present in some of them) and are happy to stand for 5-10 minutes in front of someone even though we already wanted to take a picture.. Then quickly 50-100 selfies are taken.. In such moments, we would wish they understood Swiss German, then it would be so much easier..

After 'check-in', we went first to the Tourist Information Center where we had seen it on the way there – we had only 1-2 questions (about Jasper). We then asked what else we should ask about and Muriel asked about the highlight of Lake Louise – Lake Moraine, if we could drive there with our own camper since there were many shuttle buses.. Luckily she asked because the answer from the nice lady was: 'Do you already have a shuttle ticket? If not, you better get one now because the access to the lake is only open in the morning and then closed until June'. If we hadn’t had the idea to quickly go to the tourist center, we could have viewed the lake as an aside, which would truly be a shame for how you could see it later ;-) There are exactly four bus companies that are allowed to drive there. The first three were already completely booked out. The last one still had a few spots left. I immediately grabbed my phone and got our tickets. According to the homepage, there was only one spot left at 6:35.. I then just thought 'no way, there are two of us'. So I just picked two and by coincidence, it worked out. However, I didn't trust the whole thing and then went to the bus company to double-check. They said 'lucky you'.. They quickly released a second bus and we then got two spots there.. Yes, fate wanted us to see that enchanting lake, thank you.

Another attraction that was still open for one day was the Takakkaw Falls (how cool it is to write and pronounce 'Takakkaw' :-D) – I still don’t quite understand why it closed later, but for us that was entirely comprehensible.. Hence, we took advantage of the broken day and the wonderful weather and drove properly to Jasper and then Golden – Yes, I know, you have no idea where that is (except Xenia) but it sounds good for the blog. After the people at the tourist center asked twice how long our camper is (it is 23Ft.) and the maximum is supposed to be 23Ft., I then noticed why while driving. It kept getting narrower, and then we were driving on curves where Muriel asked approximately three times in a row 'Are we going up here? Are we going around here?'. Thanks to my motor vehicle training in the military, however, it worked out well with just two reverses. But if I imagine driving that stretch in snow or ice, I would say no thanks.. It indeed goes quite steep downhill.. and winter is soon coming..

However, we certainly wouldn’t have been able to turn around. When we got up there, there were still 2-3 campers that had very loosely parked over the maximum allowed length of 23Ft. (which was indicated at the entrance), they were around 28-30Ft. long. :-D but they made it up there - well done, or something like that.

In the parking lot, we were greeted first by a beautiful blue bird.

After the 30th very nice photo that Muriel took, we continued to run to the waterfall. The trail leads along a glacial river and there we first saw the bright blue, truly very beautiful, glacial water, amazing.

Further ahead, we finally reached the waterfall – in the picture it doesn’t look that huge, but it was indeed.

Back at the camper, we had a shocking view: a roughly 26-meter-long tour bus was parked up there in the parking lot. I then told Muriel 'never ever'. When the driver got out, we had to ask her how on earth she managed to get up here. Muriel wondered if there might be another road up here. I just thought, it can’t be possible any other way. But after the passengers got out and all said 'well done, great job' etc., it was clear that she actually maneuvered the bus up that road. She then explained it to us (just as she told us about it probably for the 10,000th time). The road has a zigzag shape or is like an accordion – they take the first turn all the way in one go, then go back the other way and again all the way back in the next turn and once they are fully stationed in, they again go forward again, clever.. For that length, you couldn’t have done it in reverse.

It was such beautiful weather, that’s why we thought we might as well go to a beautiful mountain lake, Emerald Lake. It was also situated in that mountain range so we thought we’d just go there again. After a good 20 minutes, we arrived at the lake and since it was already around 16:00 o’clock, many visitors had already left. I mean, we had already encountered the language barrier a few times on this trip (Muriel has experienced it somewhat since she was here in 16) but at this view, understandable right?

Or this? (Not only from the view of my beautiful wife)

It feels so good to take in the picturesque nature around us and recharge our energy. 

We really enjoyed Lake Louise again and happened to notice that there was a small 'look out' spot with a few cars in the parking lot called 'natural bridge'.. We had been pleasantly surprised out of nowhere a few times before so we stopped and the result of that spontaneous stop was this:

What is a main attraction in Switzerland, is here a spontaneous stop by the roadside:

In the evening, we looked for a restaurant which at first glance in Lake Louise isn’t that easy. Banff is for example a charming little town with a center that has all sorts of restaurants and shops. Here, the village center consists of a tourist center and a few grocery stores and cafes and smaller restaurants that seem more focused on take-away. The restaurants are then after research spread among the hotel complexes. They are, however, along a long main road where more green areas are built in, spread out.. it can’t be properly described, it’s kind of weird, there doesn't seem to be such a good concept that was followed when building the village and now it seems like they are thinking 'won’t ever get better, it is what it is'. We then ended up in the first best 'hotel-restaurant' that caught our attention and we got a pretty good deal there. It was Thanksgiving weekend and then, of course, one thinks of a turkey, which is so often served in American movies.. I was already afraid the meat would be dry, but it wasn’t at all. In addition, there was mashed potatoes and some kind of Canadian stew made of beans, sausage, and bread, yummyyyy.

We had to get up early since the alarm went off at 05:30. I then fulfilled my housewife duties and made us sandwiches and filled a thermos with coffee and tea – during this time, Muriel prepared all the photo equipment and layered on her 20 layers of clothing since it was around the freezing point. Around 06:25, we arrived at the meeting point and parked the camper. I was quite surprised that a '10 by 10 meter' huge fleece blanket was lying on my backpack.. I looked at Muriel and she looked at me… 'yes, take it, it’s cold'. After about a 5-minute discussion, agreeing that a bath towel would suffice, I then realized in shock that it was already 06:31.. 'Crap, we need to go' (the shuttle leaves at 6:35, with us or without us).. It then turned into a cozy, relaxed jogging session and we made it just in time, without the fleece blanket..  (Sorry about that). At 7 we arrived at the lake and first had to walk a few steps and then got a bit warm. Afterwards, we searched for a spot and were first allowed to enjoy the lake/mountain in the 'darkness' with stars:

And later during sunrise:

This is by far the most impressive and beautiful lake I have seen to this day. Not only from the color but also from the landscape and the serenity that was up there.. I had always felt that where we had just been couldn’t top anything, but Canada manages to do it every time anew.

Here’s a little fun fact for those who want to know how I sometimes write our blog (that’s why it’s so authentic and honest):

The next day was not very nice weather-wise and we did a bit of nothing, wrote the blog and played... among other things, Muriel explained Yatzi to me.. I have special abilities to roll the dice with my hand... :-D However, I still lost :-(

And then we went to have a look at Lake Louise.. A bit less spectacular since you can actually drive there and around the lake there are paved roads so that the influencer's pretty Instagram shoes won’t get dirty from all of them - Because up there is also the famous Fairmont Hotel. 

Of course, there were also some lovely little birds :-D

Next, there's a little 'between blog' about the car ride from Lake Louise to Jasper.. There’s actually a lot to report and show.. :)

Next Stop: Jasper