Before actually coming to Canada the one place I really wanted to see above anything else was Lake Louise in Banff National Park, and today we did just that. We left early to catch the bus in to town, then walked to the Greyhound station to catch the coach. It took us just under an hour to get there and then an hour's walk up hill to actually reach the lake. It was completely worth it though. To be honest I'm a bit lost for words to describe it and my photos do not capture the colour, size, detail, and beauty of the place. In terms of natural landscape/surroundings it is probably the most beautiful thing I've seen. The water is a vivid turquoise (which the camera struggles to pick up). The first non-native to ever see the lake called it the 'Emerald Lake' after the colour of the water. It is now actually named after the 4th daughter of Queen Victoria!

Despite the fact that it is now a major tourist attraction (I say now but the beauty of the lake has been wowing visitors for thousands of years) it still remains incredibly calm and peaceful. There is such a serenity about the place and the snow covered mountains in the background almost look like they could have been painted as part of a stage set- it was all so surreal seeing such breath taking natural beauty infront of me. It really is one of those places that you can try and describe to someone and show them photos but words and pictures do not do it justice- you have to go and see it for yourselves.

You can walk to the end of the lake which is a 2km walk which we did, and then there are trails that head off through the trees. We spent a good 2-3 hours up at the lake but were still fairly restricted time wise as we had to make it back down in time for the bus which was only every 4 hours or so and it was another hour's walk back down the hill.

It was cold today but that didn't matter as soon as I saw the lake. It was a lovely day. Really enjoying Banff so far-the scenery is just out of this world.

We've been pretty non-stop again the past week so may have a bit of a chill out day tomorrow depending on weather.