6 July: Lake Louise
This morning I woke at 5.30 and popped my head out the window to see what I could see, and there was the greatest sight in the world. Lake Louise at dawn. I dressed quickly and rushed from the room to find my way out of this 550 room Chateau. By the time I succeeded it was 6.00am and already the spell-binding magic had passed. However there was enough of significance to take 35 photos and my first selfie which was a disaster because the camera focussed on me. Delete that!!!! Initially there were a few selfie taking Asians but of course they gradually increased in number. They and the mosquitos drove me back to a slumbering Peter. He won't be sleeping in tomorrow morning , I can tell you. We've flown all this way to discover Paradise. Here it is. Tomorrow  Peter will discover it.
We explored this vast complex and then caught the shuttle to the village. Nothing there apart from a stunning visitor's centre so caught the next shuttle back
After a recuperative nap we sallied forth to the Boathouse where I had booked us a tour-guided canoe trip of the Lake for 1 1/2 hours. By this 4.30 time the whole of Asia had arrived from Banff making it virtually impossible to reach the Boathouse. However we adopted some of their tactics and elbowed our way through. The canoe only takes 8 tourists plus the guide so I was pleased I had secured our places.
Our guide was a 55 year old Canadian chap who has made a life-time career of outdoor guiding. He had married an Australian girl all those years ago so his 1 1/2 hour tour was a combination of Canadian charm and Australian humour. Remember Crocodile Dundee? We paddled our way to the end of Lake Louise which was still 5 miles away from the mountain and glacier. He gave us so much history of the place sprinkled with his opinions of the cultural trends of the 20,000 visitors who come here each day. A bit Billy T James and totally non PC. But then we were at the end of the Lake and the 7 of us totally agreed with him. VERY entertaining.
A beautiful meal of Canadian salmon rounded off our day at Lake Louise.