Yet another few days have past and I've only got one night left in Banff! You've probably heard of this place and would be expecting me to write loads about Mounties as I'm in the Rockies... sorry to disappoint girls, but there has been no Mountie sightings and no bear sightings, unless you count the large stuffed bear dressed as a Mountie next to a shop, then you've got two in one!
After a 16 hour bus ride, which I have nothing to say about apart from uncomfortable, I arrived half asleep and started my trek to the Mountain Y Lodge Hostel. So what do I say about Banff? Well it's gorgeous, which is what I have said in every blog post so far. You walk down the high street and look straight on to a mountain which is either surrounded by clouds or beaming in pure sunshine. It rains for about ten minutes and then brightens up again, in fact I got caught in it yesterday when I emerged from the hot springs to stand at the bus stop with a towel wrapped around my head - if you had put me in a basket on the front of a bike then I would have easily been mistaken for ET.
The Upper Hot Springs was a little disappointing. I had visions of a hot mountain pool, surrounded by beautiful views and a real natural setting. Instead I got a swimming pool, surrounded by bars and trees and was crammed with so many people you couldn't move. It was 39 degrees and at least I can say that I have sat in the mountain spring waters - apparently it has all sorts of healing attributes so it's a shame it didn't heal the backache from my concrete slab, sorry bed, that I have been sleeping on and the headache from the amount of times I've sat up and smacked my head on the bed above.
A place called 'Cave and Basin' was worth a look. This is where all the national parks began, when this cave and springs were discovered. You walk into the cave and feel an spooky atmosphere and then see pure blue water in front of you, the only light coming from a vent at the top of the cave which is like a little peep hole to the outside world. All very beautiful, but let me tell you about the smell. The only way to describe it is eggy. People used to be able to swim in these springs, but it got me thinking; if you could would a eggy smelling pool really appeal to you and would you come out smelling of rotten egg? All very healing apparently.
So to the rest of Banff. If you love walking, hiking and horse riding then you could ask for better. The nightlife is set in a small quaint town. I meet two girls from Leeds in my dorm and headed out in the evening with them, randomly ending up in a Mexican and an Irish bar - how very Canadian. Just a quick note about the nachos that we decided to share last night - I am not joking the basket had to be about 40cm in diameter and piled up to about 10cm tall. The waitress did set us a challenge to eat them all, but I really don't think anyone could. By the way that was on the menu as an appetiser!
As I'm writing this I'm thinking about tonight's plans as I'm meeting up with Kelly who I met in Vancouver and her room mate and then heading to a foam party! Then thinking how the hell am I going to get up tomorrow morning for a six hour trip to Edmonton? That's when you're next hear from me and I would have been here three weeks already.
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