Back in 1890, Cornelius Van Horne, the
general manager for the Canadian Pacific Railroad, had a vision. When the original Lake Louise hotel, a
one-story log cabin, was constructed on the eastern shore of Lake Louise, Mr.
Van Horne imagined a hotel for the “outdoor adventurer and alpinist”. The
first hotel contained a central area that served as dining room, office, bar
and gathering place, a kitchen and two small bedrooms, fronted by large windows
facing the lake and a verandah. The
original ‘Chalet Lake Louise’ welcomed visitors from different dining stations
along the railway line as well as day visitors from its elegant sister, the
Banff Springs Hotel. Only 50 guests
registered at the chalet in 1890 but by 1912, 50,000 guests had already spent
the night here.
Through two early fires and four
architects, the original small summer cabin would evolve to become today's Fairmont
Chateau Lake Louise, parts of which date back as far as 1911. Of course, the concept was to lure wealthy
travelers into taking trains and heading west for adventure. By the time trains were displaced by
automobiles and planes, the hotel had become famous enough that it could
survive without the railroad.
This is the main lobby of Chateau Lake
Louise. Make special note of the window
at the far end of the hallway in the middle of the photo… More on this later!
Surprisingly, at least to me, the hotel was
originally built to operate only in summer.
Finally, in 1982 the hotel was winterized and it and now offers all of
the usual ski resort activities during the winter months. In addition to
downhill and cross country skiing, ice skating on the frozen lake and
snowboarding, there are sleigh rides, ice sculpture contests and snowshoe
excursions as well as ice fishing, dog sledding, snowmobiling, snowshoeing and
ice climbing.
We are not cold weather people…so we were
very happy to visit Lake Louise on a beautiful summer day! In warm weather, visitors can take advantage
of a variety of hiking trails around the lake. Some of these trails are also open to mountain
biking and horseback riding, and the surrounding mountains offer opportunities
for rock climbing. Kayaking and canoeing are popular activities during summer,
and a boat launch and rental facility are maintained on the north-eastern
shore.
Laurie liked the idea and image of this
harpist playing music in the lobby area.
There is no doubt that this is a classy and luxurious property!
As such, one never knows who one might
see when visiting this hotel… Western Canada is frequently referred to as ''Hollywood
North”. Early movies shot in Lake Louise
include 1928’s ''Eternal Love'' starring John Barrymore, 1942’s ''Springtime in
the Rockies'' with Betty Grable and Carmen Miranda and then in 1944, ''Son of
Lassie.'' Literally hundreds of stars
have come to Chateau Lake Louise for filming or vacationing, including Mary
Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Alfred Hitchcock, Marilyn Monroe, Christopher
Reeve, Angie Dickinson…as well as many current celebrities whose identities are
not revealed by the hotel.
Back in 1912, the British Prince of Wales,
(King Edward VIII, who abdicated), stayed at the Chateau. Many other ‘royals’ have also stayed her,
including Prince Rainier of Monaco, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip,
Queen Margrethe of Denmark, as well as King Hussein and Queen Noor of Jordan.
The grounds of Chateau Lake Louise were a
riot of color and beauty during our visit… The grounds are extremely well kept,
despite the boorish behavior we observed on the part of some visitors!
(Climbing around in the flower beds to get photos of each other…)
The American Automobile Association gives
the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise 4 Diamonds.
As the first photo demonstrates, the hotel is big and it has 554
rooms! For more information about the
hotel and its amenities, you can go to http://www.fairmont.com/lake-louise/.
Lake Louise, named the ‘Lake of the
Little Fishes’ by the Stoney Natoka First Nations/Native American people, is a
glacial lake within Banff National Park.
The lake is a little over 3 miles west of the town of Lake Louise and
the Trans-Canada Highway. The lake is
named after the Princess Louise Caroline Alberta (1848–1939), the fourth
daughter of Queen Victoria and the wife of the Marquess of Lorne…who was the
Governor General, (the Queen’s representative), for Canada from 1878 to 1883.
Yes…we finally asked someone to take our
photo! We posed on the shore of Lake
Louise just a short distance from the Chateau.
FYI…The Chateau Lake Louise is the only hotel on the lake. The emerald color of the water comes from
rock flour or silt that is carried into the lake by melt-water from the
glaciers that overlook the lake. The lake was much smaller than we’d expected
with a surface area of only about 1/3 of a square mile.
In the summer of 1882, young Thomas
Wilson became the first white man to see Lake Louise. He was employed by the Canadian Pacific
Railway, packing supplies and equipment for construction crews for Kicking
Horse Pass. One night, while camped with
a group of Stoney Indians, he heard the rumble of avalanches. Using his limited vocabulary of native words
and some sign language, Wilson learned that the noise was coming from the
''snow mountains above the lake of little fishes.'' The next day, 2 Native guides took Wilson to
the lake on horseback. He originally
named it Emerald Lake as he was captivated by the ''blue and green water'' of
this gem beneath the glacier.
Well…for the ‘foodies’ who’ve been
waiting for lunch…we’re finally getting to that all important portion of the
blog. The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise
has no less than 7 different dining options for visitors and guests. They are the Fairview Dining Room, Lago ~ An Italian
Restaurant, Walliser Stube, Poppy Brasserie, Glacier Saloon, Chateau Deli and
the Lakeview Lounge. This is the bar in the Lakeview Lounge.
This dining choice offers terrific views
of the lake and mountains, it’s open for lunch, whereas other options were
not…and, on a comparable basis, it’s ‘relatively’ affordable.
If you read what I wrote under the 2nd
photo, you may remember that I pointed out the window at the end of the hallway
in the center of that photo. This view
is from our table in the Lakeview Lounge across the restaurant and back up the
same hallway.
I was number 1 in line when this
restaurant opened for lunch. I waited
about 45 minutes to ensure that we got the only table at that window in the second
photo. It was well worth the wait!
Here was our view from our table in the
Lakeview Lounge as we sat down for our lunch…
Not too shabby!
To view the menus for all 7 restaurants
at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, you can go to http://www.fairmont.com/lake-louise/dining/.
As lunch progressed, they opened the
patio below us for lunch and drinks… The picture really doesn’t do justice to
the number of tourists and guests strolling around the grounds of the Chateau
Lake Louise. We did observe that English
seemed to be the language only spoken by a minority of visitors around the
hotel…
OK, onto the food… Let me preface these
comments by saying that if one is anywhere in Lake Louise looking for a ‘deal’
on a meal…good luck! Of course, the
chateau is ‘the’ premier spot, but for us, as we’re unlikely to return to this
area, this upscale lunch was a one-time experience.
We started out with a couple of Moosehead
Lagers… ($7.00 each) Moosehead is Canada’s oldest brewery and we occasionally bought
it when we lived in Chicago. It seemed
to be an appropriate beverage to start out our lunch in the Canadian
Rockies. To learn more about the
Moosehead brand, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moosehead_Brewery.
For an appetizer, we ordered the Dips and
Spreads Platter. ($15.00) It consisted of baba ghanoush, garlic hummus and smoked
tomato tomàquet with focaccia points, tortilla shards and slices of baguette. The platter was very good and we didn’t leave
a trace behind by the time we finished!
Another interesting appetizer offering
was the Rocky Mountain Antipasto Platter. ($28.00) It consisted of locally air
dried bison, smoked duck, venison salami, wild boar paté, grilled artichokes,
pickled beets, roasted peppers, olives and Grizzly Gouda with sliced baguette and
ciabatta.
So…I jumped out there and for my lunch I
ordered something I’d never had before.
This is the Warm Bison Reuben Sandwich. ($21.00) This is corned bison,
with local Gouda and smoked paprika mustard sauce on a marbled rye bread. It was accompanied by a very fine bowl of
Tomato Bisque soup.
I have to tell you that this wasn’t my
favorite sandwich ever… It was way too rich…almost sweet to my taste buds. Still, I’m glad that I ordered it as I now
can say that I had a Bison Reuben…
Just FYI…Here is another luncheon
sandwich option in the Lakeview Lounge.
How about the Open Faced Alberta Flank Steak Naan? ($24.00) This is
shaved beef flank steak, mushroom jam, roasted bell peppers, grilled red onion,
jalapeño aioli and balsamic tossed arugula on Naan flat bread.
Laurie’s favorite food is Lobster…
Consequently, since we were splurging anyway, she ordered the Atlantic Lobster and
Baby Shrimp Croissant for lunch. ($24.00) The lobster and shrimp salad was
topped with grilled asparagus, pea shoots and lemon-parsley mayonnaise and, as
with my lunch, it was accompanied by a bowl of the tomato bisque soup. The
croissant was excellent and Laurie really enjoyed her lunch!
FYI… We would never order a hamburger in
Canada as by law, hamburger meat must be cooked to well done, (so they’re like
a hockey puck), and we like ours medium rare. The Lakeview Lounge offers a burger…but it’s
not your basic burger! The Lakeview Beef
Burger, ($20.00), is topped with peppered bacon, applewood smoked cheddar
cheese, caramelized onions, portabella mushrooms, truffle aïoli, ripe tomato
and greens.
With the tax and tip, this little luncheon
trip into ‘luxury land’ dining totaled $91.00… The good news is that we had our
parking ticket for the Chateau’s garage validated and parking was free!
While I was waiting in line for our
special table in the Lakeview Lounge, Laurie was shopping/browsing through a
couple of the upscale stores. That’s
where she met Marcus, the Chateau’s “Director of Pet Relations”. A
four-year-old yellow Labrador Retriever, Marcus, has become the Fairmont
Chateau Lake Louise's most famous staff member!
Marcus loves taking naps in the hotel's lobby, where tourists lavish him
with attention…but he wanders around the hotel as well…and based on his solid
build, he gets quite a few snacks from staff and visitors alike!
Marcus has lived at the hotel for more
than two years, moving in after he failed to graduate from the Canadian
National Institute for the Blind. "Unfortunately,
Marcus didn't pass the final test," a hotel spokesperson told CBC Calgary.
"He's just a little too friendly.
He likes to give kisses and play fetch and all those kinds of things — not
really what you look for in a Seeing Eye dog."
According to the hotel, Marcus is part of
Fairmont's Canine Ambassadors Program, which allows "travelers missing
their own furry friend or looking for a companion while taking a walk to bring
along the resident Fairmont dog for extra security and the comfort of
home."
The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise welcomes
your pet with their ‘Furry Friends Pet Package’. All pets staying at the hotel are greeted in
their room with a customized welcome letter from an actual Director of Pet
Relations. (Yes, there is such a position on the staff!) In addition, your pet
is provided with a luxurious dog bed, food and water bowl, the latest issue of ‘The
Bark’ magazine, freshly baked dog biscuit, and an information sheet on pet
activities. The price is $35.00
(Canadian) per night. Dogs must not be
left unattended in the guest rooms.
Just click on any of the photographs to
enlarge them…
Thanks for stopping by to share this little
touch of luxury!
Take Care, Big Daddy Dave
