Euro Travel & More

We took a trip one year to Canada’s oldest national park but we weren’t expecting it to be that cold and wasn’t really prepared for it.  Banff National Park is in the Canadian Rockies and the view was awesome!  In the province of Alberta – the forest is quite dense and the alpine landscapes were breath-taking.

The park is open for all 4 seasons – reason being because they have the best maintained roads I’ve seen in Canada.   We reached Lake Louise which wasn’t too far away from here using Highway 1.

We did checked out the hot spring (not natural but man made) – famous i heard – while the rest went on hiking.  I didn’t take any pictures there – for fear some guest/s wouldn’t like it too much.  We headed back to the town of Banff after the spring – too crowded.  Down at Bow Falls we could have opted for white water rafting but didn’t – we decided to take a walk instead.  Then we ended up having dinner at a pub – i think it is German if i recall correctly.  More pictures in another post.

As promised – i’ve shown you the outside of the CourtYard Marriot on the previous post and now for the inside of the hotel.  The bedroom given to us was a very nice room – spacious with 2 queen bed.  The receptionist at check in was very nice and polite – but the bell hop was helping someone else during check in – so we carried our own luggage – to our room.  But it was a lazy Sunday – so having only one bell hop is understandable and we didn’t have very much – just 2 luggages and lots of shopping bag with acne body wash that we had bought for a friend’s kid.

The view was very pretty – as you can see here.  And our fear that the road may get too noisy from the reviews that we read – were unfounded – we didn’t hear a thing outside of our room.

I thought we had read that our tv was going to be an LCD tv – therefore we had brought along our xbox 360 to be hooked up to it for our stay.  But alas – it was a normal tv and what made it even more frustrating was the tv didn’t allowed us to play our xbox 360 onto it.  But – the saving grace was the receptionist had offered to give us the one in the conference room if it wasn’t in used.  Now that was very nice of her – but it came with a huge rack and totally took up part of the room.  By then we were too tired to try and return it and just left it in the room because it was already late – 9pm.

This was the breakfast room – it’s located right in the lobby – a really small area – no restaurant or a drinking hole but the wait staff and the kitchen staff were great – they made a waffle for my kid even though they didn’t have it in the menu.  Very sweet indeed!

This is the hotel’s pool – it’s tiny!

Boy! i sure missed those pools in Asia! hotel pools in Asia are Olympic sizes.

Usually when we are in Halifax – we stay at the Econolodge – but this time due to some business we had to take care of – on some  mmf drawer for an early meeting – the next day – we decided to stay in downtown.  The Courtyard Marriot Halifax is located at Salter Street but try as you might for a reservation by phone – you will not get a reservation staff.

After trying for 2 days – i left a message with at the General Manager’s phone – to get him to call me back – but 48 hrs later (till today in fact – 3 weeks later) still no call from the General Manager. Yes! you heard me right.   When I tried to call again – the reception counter – told me she doesn’t take reservations and insisted on putting me to the reservations department once again – and again – i was put on hold and got cut off.

But we wanted to stay downtown – so we went online and booked online – the room rates were good – at $109 + taxes and not forgetting – valet parking at $19.95 – no complimentary breakfast – but wireless connection in the room.

The Courtyard Marriot Halifax is a very beautiful property from the outside as you can see – some of the room faces the sea – and it’s really beautiful – normally – you don’t get the price we got – but during the off peak season – it’s not bad.  We wouldn’t have bothered with the Courtyard if we didn’t have to be in the city first thing in the morning – not because we didn’t like the property but first impression do count – and both reception and reservation – sure did not seems to think it was important at all to keep a customer – well, I cannot say i am impressed with the General Manager either.

More on the Courtyard Marriot Halifax in another post – in which you will see our experience from inside the hotel.  Stay tuned.

We were up in Halifax, Nova Scotia a few weeks ago – and this time we stayed at a different hotel and it was right smacked in the middle of town.  It was pretty awesome knowing that you can go just about anywheres even walking to find shops and eateries -and driving made even easier to go anywhere in town.  But parking is hellish as far as we can see but it can be because we are just not used to the city and don’t know where to park.

Parking isn’t cheap in downtown Halifax and we are already paying for valet parking at the hotel – so while the spouse was reading up on nuphedragen review i took some pictures of the scenery right on top of the hotel we were staying at.  But yes, while once we were a Econolodge loyalist – we are not a convert to downtown hotels.

Halifax also known as the Atlantic Playground is beautiful as you can see.  Winters are harsh here – but summer – with seafest and many outdoor activities – it almost seems like i haven’t seen Halifax enough.  The place is too huge to enjoy in just a few days – so if you are up that way – there to stay a little longer will you.

Parking has always been free in the hotels i stayed in  when i was in Asia – therefore when I was told that I had to pay for parking – $20 – i asked myself – if i needed to tip the valet whenever i use our car.  Have i gone cheap or is it because – we usually use the $20 for tipping the valets – plus in Asia – you have the option to park yourself – but even then – we still tip the bell hop.

The West and the East – so much difference – back in Asia – you have room service door hangers you can use to order your breakfast – in the morning – but even at the Marriot in Canada – there wasn’t any room service for breakfast.  No wonder the westerners don’t want to leave Asia as soon as they’ve experienced the Asian hospitality.

So to tip or not to tip?  We did tip at the end of our stay  – but it was so unfair to the valet whom had taken our car on the first day – but he didn’t provide any bell hop services and the check out valet was only nice to us when we tipped him $5 – so all in all we paid $25 per day for parking – it could be worst.

Newfoundland is known as the iceberg capital if you don’t know by now.  You don’t get to see many iceberg eh and yes – i never thought of sharing this with you till my friend came by with some Newfoundland gifts after her trip there to visit family.   But having said that, I did spot some in St John’s one year while I was going up there to look into a life insurance policy for an aunt.  Did you know that the famous ship that collided with an iceberg off Newfoundland in the fog and sank is a real story?  It definitely was a breath-taking view and I’ve seen people kayaking during October – even though the water was cold and all – brave!  Newfoundland is not only about icebergs of course, lots of exploring to do and lots of friendly people.  I would love to visit again really soon – what about you?

The weather was pretty warm yesterday and we had wanted to do something different for the weekend instead of getting stuck in town and doing the same old thing.  We headed out for the Farmer’s Market that was advertised on the local papers  but alas – we were pretty disappointed.  There were only a few vendors, very unlike the Farmer’s Market in Australia – Sydney – no homemade soaps or acne cream but there were some jewelry vendors and some food vendors.

Digby was one sleepy town on a Sunday – we hardly saw anyone – except for the vendors – there were hardly any traffic in the big wide road.  Great for retirement because the sea view was excellent here.  Not much was opened either – i guess summer isn’t here yet – so no tourist around to be profitable enough to be opening on a Sunday.  Most of the eateries that we saw in Digby weren’t opened except for good ole Macdonald’s and Tim Hortons.

A chinese restaurant if it is any consolation to the people out of town and don’t eat a lot of Chinese food as it is – like us.

A very beautiful church – that this picture did not do it any justice.

Some bike rally flea market that we bought some old LPs for $15.  And of course – for those who loves biking – check out the rally – biking is a big thing in Nova Scotia.

And a Seafood & Steak house that wasn’t opened.  That sums up our day trip to Digby – but in the summer – it’s much more vibrant – i assure you – so don’t give up on Digby now.

Playing golf in Canada has never been cheaper – but of course not in big cities like Toronto and Vancouver.  If you are looking for a vacation with your most loved sport – then Sluice Point Cottages and Golf is the place to watch out for.  Even if you are just passing thru’ from Maine to the gateway of Canada – you can still spend a very cheap day here at only $14 for a 9 hole green fee – now tell me it’s not cheap enough or what?   I know they have just about everything in this golf resort but I can’t be sure if they have any kind of disability insurance , so do check with the owners about it.

Located right on the ocean front, this exclusive resort is really more beautiful than the pictures I am showing.  The owners are super friendly and they come from Europe – private golf courses, spectacular views  – means a very romantic getaway.  All amenities are new – as they just acquired the property last year and renovated it majorly.

While the neighbours had gone to support their favorite team in Vancouver, BC for the Olympics – I sadly was looking for discount prescription eyeglasses as I watch over the television for more celebration in Vancouver city.   Of course, they had to rub it in.. and send me pictures taken with their iPhone!!  grrrr..!! but I thought I would share these wonderful and vibrant pictures with the world too.  This was taken at the corner of Howe St & West Georgia St.

As a resident in Canada for the past 10 yrs – I’ll have to say that I’m certainly proud that the event was a success – moreso proud because the Canada won many gold medals in this Winter Olympic. Looking at the pictures sent by the neighbours you can feel and see how supportive everyone in Canada was to make this awesome place a success in welcoming the entire world.

What are your thoughts?  were you in Vancouver?  How I wished we could go to .. but with a kid in school and there were no special Olympic break given – we had no choice but to stay put and watch on television.

As I was looking at my  life insurance quotes , there had been talk about a new air service in Yarmouth for a few weeks now – and apparently – it will be up and running real soon  – in fact in March.  I’ve written a few weeks ago about Starlink Aviation pulling out of Yarmouth because of funding being utilized to the max which was supposedly for 5 yrs period from the government. I wonder for the people of Yarmouth – how this new air service will work out for them – since it is only going to land in Maine and Yarmouth and not in Halifax?  A 8 seater plan was so secretly kept till last week – wonder whats all the secrecy about ? but as the people of Yarmouth loves to say  – ” THIS IS YARMOUTH! “   Good luck to the ppl of Yarmouth and the air service .. i hope things panned out better for both.