Sunny Lake Louise

My first few hours at Lake Louise with Laura were a profound experience. It was a perfect sunlit day in early Spring. The web album on the right has the whole set of photos from those few hours. It was literally impossible to take a bad photo.

To me, Lake Louise is the most beautiful place in the world. It shares the top honours only with the sunset over the beach between the palm trees of Great Keppel Is. Australia.

The Lake is one of the most famous in the world and home to the Fairmont Lake Louise hotel. Basically, the owners of this hotel chain in the early part of the 20th century had the foresight to buy Chateaus and Manor houses around the world in the most striking locations to turn into prestige hotels. In the case of Lake Louise, where there was nothing, they built a castle-themed hotel on the basis that if you build it, they will come.

These days, you can have high tea in winter before going iceskating on the Lake and then attend a wedding reception at night.

That's right. In winter, the Lake, which is shallow, freezes completely solid. To me, I can think of few things more magical or romantic than iceskating on the Lake, surrounded by the Rocky Mountains.

My work colleague Gillian, is getting married at Lake Louise and having her reception at the hotel in February 2008. The perfect place if you fancy being a snow bride.

Before I wax too lyrical, let it be said that Princess Louise, who the lake is named for, never had a clue as to how majestic a place she was named after.

Princess Louise, Queen Victoria's daughter married the first Governor of Alberta. Alberta, the province at that point hadn't been named. So the Governor named Alberta for his wife, Princess Louise Caroline Alberta. Just as well she did have a few names to spare because Louisiana and Carolina were already used up down in the USA.

Alberta being judged too western, too wild and too uncivilised to even visit, especially for a Princess, Louise spent their entire marriage living in Ottawa and never visited the Lake she was named for.

Swiss mountaineers were brought over from Europe in the early 20th century to map the mountains and help create routes and paths for both recreation and trade. Apparently this was not a problem because the hard-core Swiss mountain men were keen on a new challenge. The legacy is that much of the Rocky Mountain towns on the Albertan side were designed in the Swiss chalet style, with the intention of luring Europeans to Canada as a new health and resort destination.

I could go back a hundred times and never be bored with the sight. It is truly one of the great wonders of the world. And it's less than 2 hours drive from my house.