We started our day with a tour of Banff. What a beautiful, beautiful place it is. It is named after Banffshire, Scotland, the birthplace of two of the original directors of the Canadian Pacific Railway. It is the highest town in Canada, at 1383 metres. It was established as a national park in 1885, so someone was forward thinking early on to protect it. We visited Bow Falls this morning, still very swollen from the recenf flooding. There are photo opportunities everywhere you look, the falls were one of them. We went to the town centre and posted a parcel home fully of souvenirs. The town has a population of 8700 and is capped at 10000, if you want to live in Banff you have to work here too....no free loading going on here. It is full of eateries and gift shops so you can tell it is heavily dependant on the tourist trade in summer and of course skiing in winter. Our guide said it was eerily quiet this morning, that is because our tour was the first to make it to the town since the flooding. The shop keepers were pleased to see some tourists with some cash to spend.
We had a picnic lunch at a local park before heading to the Cave and Basin. This is where railway workers discovered thermal springs that prompted the building of the Fairmont Hotel.....and the rest is history. It has been a great day. Dinner at the hotel this evening was superb. Time for bed. Gondola ride on Sulphur Mountain before heading off on the next leg.