OK, now it's cold!

Walking in to Banff
see all photos »

Arrived in Banff after a 13 hour bus ride through the snow covered mountains, to discover the true meaning of cold - minus 15 degrees!  However, we don't care, we have warm clothes and this is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. The snow is deep, white and just keeps on falling!  This is what Canada is all about, to my mind anyway.

We spent the first couple of days getting used to the cold, and finding our way around the town. We also went ice skating, for the first time in many years for both of us. We didn't do too badly, once we got our balance, Rob took a couple of spills although I managed to stay on my feet.  The irony of that was that I then managed to do a face plant in the middle of the road walking home!!

Our hostel
see all photos »

Yesterday the sun finally decided to come out, which was great because it was the first time we had actually booked any activities.  In the morning we went for a sleigh ride, which was, well, exciting!  It started off well, it's a two person horse drawn sleigh, round the beautiful countryside, admiring the snow, mountains etc.  Unfortunately, halfway through the ride, something freaked our horse out and he bolted, which would have been fine, except we were going round a sharp corner at the time.  The horse has slightly better cornering abilities that the sleigh, and in super slow motion we tipped up, and fell face first into the snow.  Once we realised we were all ok we saw the funny side of it, and set about getting going again (via a change of horse).  Our driver was extremely grateful that we were good sports about it, and not going to sue him I think!

About to do our sleigh ride
see all photos »

During our taxi trip back from the stables we saw a family of deer wandering around the town, which is not something you see every day!

In the afternoon we went for an organised walk through Johnson Canyon.  During the summer the canyon has  a fast flowing river and several waterfalls, but at this time of year the water (well most of it) is frozen solid, which make it absolutely spectacular.  The highlight is the enormous frozen waterfall at the top of the path, the sight of which I don't think any of us were prepared for, despite having seen several smaller falls along the way.  It was just magnificent.

This is the non-psycho horse!
see all photos »

It's warmed up a lot today (0 degrees), the lowest it has been is minus 25, but that was overnight and the hostel is very warm. There is a huge ice wall at the hostel, which Rob is planning on climbing this evening, then tomorrow we are doing a 'Discover Banff and it's wildlife' tour, on which we hope to spot some elk and moose.  This place is amazing, I could stay here forever!