A Quiet Day in Banff

After all the exertions of the day on the Icefields Parkway it was time to have a more relaxing day. The first real lounging day of the holiday.

Breakfast 

I woke up later than usual at 5.20am and got up and made coffee for Drew at 6.00am

I had begun to write a blog post the night before, so I continued with that, but while the downloads speeds were wonderful at the hotel, the upload speeds were very restricted, so photos would not go up on to Flickr.

We had a leisurely start to the morning and didn’t go down to breakfast until 9.00am. This was not a great idea as it was absolutely packed with families with young children. Still the food was of exceptional quality here at the Best Western, Banff.

Haydn's Breakfast - to make sure he doesn't starve

After breakfast I completed and posted the blog post on our final province and we left to walk into Downtown Banff at 11.00am.

Banff 

We headed to Starbucks which is in the Town Centre building at the main cross-roads in town. We had a coffee each while uploading photos to Flickr. Starbucks connection is much better than the hotels.

An hour later, with still more photos to load Drew had a Chocolate Chunk Muffin, so that we didn’t have to pay rent for our seat.

We left Starbucks at 12.40 and went for a walk alongside the River in Banff – this is the Bow River whose valley we travelled in yesterday. There are some lovely walks here and the River runs slowly through the town until it come to the Bow Falls, which while small compared to some of the waterfalls around here are easily accessible on foot and in a lovely setting.

The Bow River Bridge over Bow River

Bow River Falls

We might have taken a trip to the top of the mountains that surround Banff, but the smoke in the air meant we couldn’t see the mountains from the town and were told we wouldn’t be able to see the town from the mountains. So, we decided not to waste our time on that.

We made our way back through downtown and got back to the hotel for 2.00pm. 

Downtown Banff in the Smoke

Once back we sorted our packing, read emails and replied to blog comments and generally relaxed until it was time for Mass.

Mass

I left the hotel at 5.45 to walk to Mass. The route on Google Maps gives you an insight into the nature of street names in Banff. The route goes: Head west on Marten Street towards Rabbit Street, turn right onto Elk Street and left onto Squirrel Street your destination will be on the right. Banff clearly is the land of the animals, or at least its street names are.

Banff is also, this weekend, the land of the smoke. The Forest Fires in British Columbia has sent so much smoke into the air that even the sun can't compete. This photo is taken without filters or any adjustments on my mobile phone camera as I walked to Church this, otherwise bright, Saturday afternoon.

The Sun almost blocked out by the smoke from the Forest Fires 

I got to the Church at 6.00 in time for confession, as Drew said when I left, will an hour be long enough?? It was.

After confession I had time to say the Rosary and other prayers of preparation, while sitting in a beautiful little church with stained glass in every window.

St Mary's Church, Banff

The Sanctuary of this pretty and prayerful Church

Mass was at 7.00pm and there were about 60 people present. Mass times here at 5.00pm and 7.00pm on Saturday and 9.00am on Sunday. The Priest explained that a large part of his congregation are Filipinos who work as cleaning staff, chefs and porters in hotels and restaurants and aren’t able to come to Mass at the more traditional mid-morning times.

The Filipino congregation included a small choir which led the singing and sang hymns familiar to me. I was sat beside a father and son from Bemidji in Minnesota. The father was about my age and the son in his thirties. We stopped and discussed where we were from after we left the Church. I do love the Minnesotan accent, it really is just like listening to Fargo.

Dinner

A ten-minute walk back to the hotel and I met Drew to go out to dinner. Following yesterday’s successful recommendation by Brian Smith, we decided to follow his other recommendation and eat at Bumpers the Beef House. Bumpers claim to fame is that they have been in Banff since 1975. The food is simple, but very good, with all the focus on cooking the meat just right.

The starters were soup or salad and the mains were largely steaks or burgers. As I haven’t had steak so far this holiday, it was easy to choose.

We both had a salad to start and then I had a 14oz Rib Eye Steak and Drew had a Bison Burger.

Drew's Salad

Haydn's Salad

My Rib Eye was cooked to perfection. blue as I like it.  It was served with a lovely baked potato and fresh vegetables. This is the first steak of the holiday and it couldn't have been more tender and cooked to perfection - wonderful. Thanks Brian for the recommendation.

Haydn's Rib Eye

Drew's Bison Burger was also lovely. A juicy bison patty served on a Kaiser bun and topped with sautéed mushrooms, smoked bacon, aged cheddar, red onion, tomato and crisp lettuce with chips. There was a BBQ sauce on the menu, but Drew asked for them to omit it and they did. So, he had his burger just as he liked it.

Bison Burger with Fries

Our server was a cockney called Jack who had graduated from Bath with a degree in Maths last summer and was working in Banff as part of a year out. He joins many, mainly Australian and Brits, who seem to be the main serving staff in the town.

Drew finished his meal with an Apple Crisp Melt-away. This delicious dessert was full of wedged apples within a coconut cinnamon streusel. They then top it off with a  homemade caramel sauce. Served with vanilla ice cream. Drew thought it was wonderfully sticky and delicious.

Drew's Dessert

We walked home, and the smoke seemed even stronger in the air tonight, so strong you could taste it. We were in bed by 10.30pm. Relaxed and ready for the last week of the holiday.