We left early that morning as we were on a deadline to get into Calgary. We were due to return the hired Chrysler by 9:12am and since we didn't want to pay any late fees, we left Lake Louise bright and early. The drive to Calgary was pretty straightforward. As we got closer however, Craig and I had a little bit of a dilemma.
Did we try to find accommodation before dropping off the car or should we drop of the car first and then somehow try to find accommodation? When we arrived in Calgary, we had about 30mins to spare so we decided to try our luck and go to a hotel recommended by the Lonely Planet. We were expecting the price to be around $120 a night. After all, the Lonely Planet had been pretty accurate so far. However, to our disbelief, the "middle range" hotel wanted $200 a night. Craig and I decided to pass on that offer and figured we'd look for a place after we refuelled the car and returned it. So we got the GPS to try and find us the nearest petrol station. It had done this pretty well in Kamloops & Lake Louise but for some reason, the Shell it took us to turned out to be a skyscraper. That was when we realised that it had found "Shell the company", not the petrol station. Needless to say, time was trickling away and at this stage, Craig and I were getting a wee bit anxious. We managed to eventually find a petrol station, all the while trying not to count the ticking seconds.
Never mind. We asked the GPS to find us another petrol station but as we were following its instructions, it kept getting repeatedly confused and would try to "recalculate" its position, causing us to become more and more lost. Luckily, the lonely planet had a map of Calgary so between that and the confused instructions of the GPS, we did eventually find ourselves to the car drop-off point. However, by the time we got there, it was like 9:20am. Luckily, they didn't give us too hard a time about being a few minutes late so we weren't charged a late fee.
We emptied the car of our luggage and walked to the nearest hotel, which happened to be the Fairmont. Not too surprisingly, they were more expensive then the previous hotel and wanted to charge us $299 a night. We kept walking and found the Marriott hotel, but they wanted to charge us $305 a night. Craig and I were both getting a little exasperated and I was about to walk past this fancy looking black hotel, but Craig suggested that we inquire about its rate. I was more than a little sceptical, given that the place looked a little expensive and everything was made of glass and marble. The hotel turned out to be Hotel Le Germain. When I asked about their rate, they were going to charge $199 a night. It wasn't exactly the budget price I was hoping for but by this stage, Craig and I were both a little tired. So we took the deal and got the keys to our room.
Oddly though, they told us that internet would be included, as was any movies we wanted to watch, and then the next morning, we would also get a complimentary breakfast. I thought it was a bit strange because none of the hotels we'd been to so far had given us any of this stuff for free. We didn't make too much of it and went up to our room. To our pleasant surprise, we walked into what seriously looked like a 5-star room. There were bathrobes waiting for us, a massive modern bathroom and even a walk-in closet that was a room of its own. We found out that Hotel le Germain had only just opened and since this was its "soft" opening, they were including all these freebies as well as a reduced room rate. In its own way, that $200 turned out to be a bit of a bargain!
After a much-needed shower, we braved the cold Calgary winds to meet up with Craig's friend, Matt and his Canadian wife, Heather. Matt used to work with Craig at Emu Web Design but moved over to Canada after marrying Heather. I really enjoyed meeting them both and they were kind enough to take us to lunch. It was just nice to sit and chat about the Australian-Canadian experience. After a delicious lunch, we said our goodbyes as Matt and Heather had other commitments. I dragged Craig to the Calgary museum, where we spent an hour or so looking at various articles and bits & pieces of history. We had a small bite to eat at an Irish Pub before heading back to Hotel le Germain to enjoy up our lovely room. Needless to say, we had a great sleep that night!
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