May 29: Leaving Calgary

I said my goodbyes to the people at the hostel and took my case and backpack out on another early start. The bus rendezvous was further south in the central city. I got there and it was a carpark with no signs to indicate a bus stop. A few other travellers with cases arrived and we stood a little confused on the street for several minutes until a FlixBus showed up in the carpark itself.

This one wasn’t mine: it was going to Drumheller (grrr…). A few minutes later, the bus to Banff appeared and we piled on.

Into Banff (again)

We reached Banff in a couple of hours. It’s is an alpine town, a general gateway to the mountains, icefields, ski fields and so on. It’s pretty small, so it’s easy to get around on foot, even pulling a case behind you, and the day was fine. Check-in at my hostel wasn’t until 4:00pm, so I had a quick look around.

One place I visited was the Banff Trading Post. This had been an actual trading post in Banff’s early days.

Now it’s mostly a gift shop, but it has a special attraction in a glass case: the Merman.

This is one of those mad taxidermy creations from early last century, made up of the front half of a monkey, the back half of a fish, and God knows what else. I bought a Merman postcard and posted it to my mum.

Nearby is the Cascades of Time Garden, where the Banff National Parks admin offices are situated.

I headed up Banff Avenue, noting the sights.

The receptionist at the Banff International Hostel let me leave my bags in storage while I looked around the town some more.

Down the far end of Banff Avenue is the Banff Park Museum. This was established in 1903 as a natural history museum and has been preserved in mostly its original state. It’s full of taxidermied animals and serves either as a descriptive museum or a chamber of horrors depending on how you regard taxidermy.

Later, I checked out where my departure point in a couple of days would be (just up the road from the hostel). Towards evening, I located the Train Station, where my tour for tomorrow would depart. While there, a freight train arrived and took four minutes to pass the town.

And yes, Rocky and Bullwinkle fans, there is a place here where Moose meets Squirrel.