Text 31550, 78 rader
Skriven 2009-11-29 02:07:04 av Dale Shipp (1:261/1466.0)
Ärende: Canada tour 1
=====================
WWCT Christmas in November

The major portion of our trip was a package tour called Christmas in
November.  

We started out by flying to Calgary.  Our hotel there was quite nice,
the International Hotel.  The flight was uneventful and pleasant.  After
a short nap, we went to dinner at an Indian restaurant recommended by
the desk clerk, called the Glory of India, about three blocks away.  I
had a combination Tandori platter.  It was quite large and contained a
good combination of things: two large shrimp, two small lamb chops, two
bone-in chicken pieces, a good size piece of boneless chicken breast,
and a minced lamb kabob.  Gail's dinner was Chicken Tikka Masala.  We
had a side order of papadum and a side order of rice.  Both selections
were a bit more spicy than is normal with these dishes, but pleasantly
so for us.  The portions were more than we wanted and since our hotel
room had a frig and microwave, we took about half of it back with us for
the next evening.

The next day, we took a walk in the other direction to China town, about
one block away.  After browsing in several shops, we stopped for a Dim
Sum lunch at another restaurant that had been recommended by the desk
clerk, called the Silver Dragon.  The restaurant was quite full.  We had
about six different selections from the carts that were coming by at
regular intervals.  It was enjoyable, even though we did not really know
exactly what the selections were.

Early that evening was our first meeting with the tour group and the
tour guide.  This is a standard sort of meeting for this tour company.
It serves as an introduction to the people and to the tour guide.
Typically, some sort of food is served, but has varied a lot from tour
to tour.  This time it was a substantial offering of sandwiches, fruit
tray, cookies, coffee and tea.  Afterwards, the bar offered a free drink
to each member of the group and most of us accepted.  We did reheat the
Indian leftovers and enjoyed a late night dinner in our room.

The next day, the coach took us from Calgary to Banff.  Banff is in a
Canadian National Park that is part of the Canadian Rockies.  The place
where we stayed was the Fairmont of Banff, a Grand Hotel -- almost a
castle.  On the way there, we had the opportunity to take a gondola ride
to the top of one of the prominent mountains.  This was nice, cold, and
had great views.  Dinner that night  was on our own.  Gail and I had
soup and sandwich in the hotel deli.  My soup was a seafood chowder that
was chock full of good things in a rich salmony broth.  Gail had a
vegetable soup, also quite good.

The next morning, we boarded the coach for a short ride to another
Fairmont hotel at Lake Louise.  Here they served us a very nice brunch
buffet.  The dining area had a fabulous view looking out over the lake
which was partially frozen.  I had an omelet made with smoked salmon, in
addition to lots of very good fresh fruit and other goodies.  Gail had
an eggs Benedict, bacon, lox, a selection of cheeses, OJ and a
croissant.  The hot row also had sausages, ham, several different
flavors of pancakes and waffles, oatmeal, scrambled eggs, and two
flavors of fruit fritters.  There were four or five different syrups for
your pancakes, waffles or fritters.  The cold side had cereals, a
selection of sliced breads, muffins, honey and jams and jellies in cute
little individual size jars, lots of types of fresh fruit, yogurts, a
selection of sliced cheeses, lox, and Bavarian style sliced cold cut
meats. 

Well fed, we then began a long ride to the north west to the Jasper Park
Lodge, arriving there in the late afternoon.  The road was snow covered
for a decent part of the way -- highway signs judged it to be poor to
fair.  Along the way we stopped for a brief look at a frozen waterfall,
and another impromptu stop for a decent sized ram that was standing in
the middle of the road partaking of the salts used on the road.

                               Dale Shipp
                  fido_261_1466 (at) comcast (dot) net
                              (1:261/1466)


... Shipwrecked on Hesperus in Columbia, Maryland. 00:21:27, 29 Nov 2009
___ Blue Wave/DOS v2.30

--- Maximus/NT 3.01
 * Origin: Owl's Anchor (1:261/1466)