We set off to explore this large and imposing castle hotel which seems to be a city in itself. Past the castle pantry in which all the food is very much do-it-yourself and involves great skill with the microwave, we moved on through the lobby where the lady with the harp was in full swing. We decided to find all the restaurants (no mean feat in itself) and look at all the menus to help us to decide what to eat later. Unfortunately both of the venues we liked the look of turned out to be closed for a private function with big bouncers on the door to discourage you from venturing further. They have plenty of function rooms available as we saw when wandering round, so not sure how they justify restricting the choice of eating venues for paying guests, but I'm sure that dollar signs have something to do with it!

We settled on the Lookout Terrace for a bit of lunch, with beautiful views of the mountains. What a lovely spot! After lunch we spent some more time exploring various halls and corridors before finding ourselves outside. We followed the path down to the German style Waldhaus restaurant which was situated by the 15th hole of the golf course. There was a pub underneath but both restaurant and pub were closed and the opening times posted made no sense at all.

We walked down through the golf course and past the Spray River. Just up the road to our left we came across the beautiful Bow Falls. Very powerful and dropping into a fast flowing river they were fascinating to watch. Back up the hill we re-entered the castle but were soon lost. The way to the lobby seemed a complete mystery but luckily we came across a member of staff to guide the way. We never would have known where to go as it involved going through several doors which looked like fire exits.

Anyway, back in the lobby it seemed that wine tasting was the right thing to do next so we went to the Canadian wine shop and did just that. We tasted 4 Canadian wines from the Niagara peninsula and Okanagan Valley in British Columbia. Very nice, and you don't often get to taste them as they are not exported.

Later we took ourselves to the Rundle Lounge and shared a delicious flatbread washed down with a beer (Simon) and G&T (me) while listening to a local country band play some of the oldies and goodies.