Rocky Mountaineer Canada Trip 2019 - Day 5, Part 3

From the Athabasca Glacier to Lake Louise - back on the bus and driving along the Icefields Parkway.

Don't believe the monitor, we're heading into a supernova!

Mount Chephren, named after the 4th Dynasty Egyptian king Chephren, or Khafre.  Duh.
He built and is buried in the 2nd largest pyramid at Giza...

photo from Wikipedia

...which is why this mountain was originally named Pyramid Mountain.

Waterfowl Lakes

Mount Patterson and the Snowbird Glacier.  Our guide said it was an example of an "independent glacier" i.e. one that's not an extension of an ice field, but I think they're really called niche glaciers.

Bow Lake

We arrived at Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, our accommodation for the evening, at 4:40pm.  And it was spectacular!

photo from travelandleisure.com

Lobby

Our room was huge-feeling with tall ceilings...

...but the best part was the view

Unbelievably beautiful

Lamp reflection arty shot

Our group had a reservation for dinner at 5:45pm at the very nice Fairview restaurant in the hotel.  Luckily our luggage arrived at our rooms at 5:15 so we were able to quickly change and freshen up before heading down.  The food and service at the Fairview were both excellent.

Fairview

The view from our table

Starting off right with a Banana Old Fashioned.
Banana bourbon, molasses, walnut bitters, maple wood smoke.  Incredible.

My starter of Elk Carpaccio with charred onion, sage, chive oil and mustard.  Yes, raw, but rich, flavorful and buttery smooth.  Amazing.

I chose Vulcan Lamb Rack for my entree.  Whole cloves of roasted white garlic, Fairwinds Farm goat's milk gouda, asparagus, squash and honeyberry gastrique.  It was so good.

For dessert, a "Lucious Chocolate":  Chocolate cake, cookie crumble, yuzu sorbet, raspberry coulis, edible gold flakes.  The contrast of the chocolate cake and yuzu sorbet was surprising and delightful.  I forwent wine with dinner and instead enjoyed some Sambuca after dessert.  Dinner was perfection.

After dinner we split from the group and walked around the hotel looking at the shops

Todd and I headed back to the room at 9:00 and called it a night.  Our great dinner with our family and friends put a perfect period to the end of the day.