Singapore

22 September 2010

More about the Banff Springs Hotel

The Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel is a former Railway hotel constructed in the Scottish Baronial style. The original hotel was designed by American Architect Bruce Price and was built between 1887 and 1889 by the Canadian Pacific Railway at the instigation of its president William Cornelius van Horne.

During the construction, van Horne discovered that the builder had accidentially built the hotel the wrong way around so that it turned its back on the mountain view. In 1906 it was decided to completely overhaul the building, replacing much of the original structure.

In the Attrium Restaurant

Stain glass windows in one of the function rooms

The great hall

On the terrace enjoying a glass of wine

During our recent stay at the Banff Springs Hotel, Dave Mobart, the Customer Relations Manager gave us a private tour of the hotel. Here he is below talking about one of their most famous visitors, none other than Marilyn Monroe.



18 September 2010

Flight to Taku Lodge

From Juneau we took a floatplane flight over several glaciers to the Taku Wilderness Lodge for a salmon lunch. The flight was spectacular and so was lunch at the lodge but the best thing of all you'll see 1.38 minutes into the video. My personal highlight of the whole trip.


16 September 2010

On the Rocky Mountaineer

On our recent Canada trip, we traveled from Banff to Vancouver on the Rocky Mountaineer train. One of the best train journeys we have ever taken. We started up in the mountains traveling down the valleys to Kamloops where the train stops and we stayed at a hotel overnight. Next day we jumped back onto the train which took us through arid land to Vancouver.


For more details on this fantastic train journey - CLICK HERE

12 September 2010

In New Idea Again

Our daughter, Sonya her partner, Bernard Curry and grandson Fox have been in New Idea magazine again last week. Bernard will soon be hosting the second season of Beauty and the Geek Australia on Chanel 7. That and the birth of their first child has sparked the magazine's interest. If you remember, they appeared in an earlier issue when Sonya was pregnant.


Little Fox is just the cutest grandson anyone could possibly have, maybe I am biased.

08 September 2010

White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad

We just returned home from our Canada/Alaska trip. In Skagway, we went on a trip on the famous White Pass/Yukon Railroad. I put together a small video, sorry about the sound. I'll try to fix it.


Cheers,


Bill