Life at the Castle

We moved from the Chateau to the Castle.

Beautiful snow, so lucky to visit in the winter.

Since we were not invited to any of the many Christmas parties taking place, we spent part of the evening practicing Nanie's sport of lobby people watching. (cut my teeth with her at the Waldorf in New York City)

We agreed that castle living was not for us; take us back to the Chateau, please.

In the thirties, the hotel was the height of sophistication and respectability with the creme of high society.  Even the Royal family, King George VI and the late Queen Mother visited with her daughter, Princess Margaret who returned a few decades later.

Missed the 3P.M. castle tour, but there was a small museum with many historical pictures.

 Fashionable tea time. Notice the snow in the background. This was a time when people would arrive at the hotel with letters of credit worth and stay for months.

 The blonde bombshell swinger spent some time on the Fairways.

Braver we were at the "haunted" castle than our opting out at the Bates Motel.

The Banff Springs Hotel is also an alleged paranormal site. An anonymous young bride who died of a broken neck on her wedding day in 1932, has reportedly been seen by hotel patrons. Dressed in her wedding gown, she was descending a staircase, tripped on her gown and fell down the stairs. Her ghost can reportedly be seen dancing alone in the dining room, only to burst into flames. 

Another apparitional resident is reportedly a former employee of the hotel. A bellhop who died after announcing his retirement in 1976, Sam Macauley, has been seen by guests and hotel staff members who claim to have seen the man in full uniform, helping out guests just as if he had never left. 

There have also been sightings of a bartender's ghost telling customers that they have had enough to drink and need to go to bed. The bartenders last night at the Chateau should have taken a lesson from this man, right GAB? The great big pool man from Edmonton sitting next to me at the bar actually passed out on his bar stool.