The next day was a day in transit. We woke up early morning to eat breakfast inside our hotel room. Unfortunately, since we didn’t have a microwave inside our room, it was a little…tricky…to reheat our leftovers from the previous night. Thankfully we were well prepared with our instant noodle. I guess $83 leftover steak and $1.99 cup noodle make a good pairing. =P

We reserved a Brewster bus to pick us up from the hotel to take us to Banff. The bus itself is actually very convenient and there’s even WiFi on board. Generally I think it’s a great alternative to renting a car.

By the time we arrived at Fox Hotel it was already 1pm. We quickly dropped off our bags then headed back out to go exploring the town. Banff was definitely my favourite spot during this entire trip. Just staring at the mountains made me extremely happy. I’m sure it’s a completely different feeling going in the summer, but seeing a layer of snow on top makes the view incredibly stunning.

Our first stop in Banff was towards the Visitor’s Centre. We were told that one of the museums I looked at was closed for renovations, so the staff member highlighted a couple others for us to look at. I had completely forgotten all the research I’d done before the trip, cause one of the museums she recommended I had deemed it was too far to travel to by foot. Obviously, I forgot all about it. LOL

Before we left for the museum, we decided to grab a late lunch at Chaya, which is a Japanese restaurant serving udon and ramen. I ordered a kitsune udon while my sister got the dan dan ramen. Even though it was only our third day of vacation, I was already craving noodles again. =D

Afterwards it took about 40 minutes to walk to the Cave and Basin Museum. We passed by the Bow River along the way, then it was through the forest. The walk there was very slippery, but thankfully we made it there in one piece. While the actual museum wasn’t very big, the highlight was definitely seeing Grotto’s Cave and the basin. The other cool thing is that the museum was built around the natural thermal mineral springs in the area. It’s actually the site of Canada’s first national park and home to endangered Banff spring snails.

There was quite a bit to see inside, so I’m glad we made the trek out to the museum. It was also really pretty going up to the observation deck, because you can see the mountains from a distance.

Afterwards we slowly made our way back towards downtown Banff. Along the way we passed by the Buffalo Luxton Museum. Since there was still time before it closed for the day, we decided to go inside to see the museum. It was pretty much a letdown once we paid the $10 admission, because we spent all of 30 minutes inside. The museum only took up two rooms and it looked like it needed some serious dusting. Lol

Once we made it back downtown, we headed towards Cascade Plaza to grab dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. While dinner was really cheap, the pasta was another letdown. And I think our waitress was totally out of it, because we had to keep reminding her to bring us stuff that we had ordered (and things that were a given, like tea/coffee and ice cream). It was kind of hilarious if not annoying. Haha.

Later that evening we made our way back to the hotel to use their hot tub. Actually part of the reason why we chose Fox was because they have a hot tub built to resemble Grotto’s Cave. While it’s not entirely an outdoor hot tub, there’s a hole through the centre that goes straight into the courtyard. It’s actually pretty neat having the outdoor onsen experience in Banff. It was also a great way to relax after a long day of walking.