The Honeymoon - A fairytale comes true!

Honeymoon location: Banff Springs in Alberta Canada - 2 hrs north of Calgary
Honeymoon accommodations: The Fairmont at Banff Springs - http://www.fairmont.com/banffsprings/

Our honeymoon was a fairy tale come true (at least for me - Brooks) Andrew planned everything & kept it a surprise for about a week & then decided he couldn't wait till the actual honeymoon to tell me where we were going. (yes, I knew the whole time I said I didn't :) We decided we would keep it our secret. All Andrew actually told me was we were going to Banff Springs & were staying at the Fairmont & that he had gotten the ski package for us.

DAY 1
Unfortunately for the sake of sleep we had to leave our bed & breakfast super early Sunday morning....5:45am to be exact. Our flight left out of Logan at 8am. We flew to Minneapolis & then to Calgary. Once there, we rented a car (which was massive drama because Andrew is not 25 & my license had been stolen in Europe on our last trip & I had not replaced it yet...it worked out in the end but we do not recommend using Dollar Rental Company) Thankfully the weather was clear & the roads were fine as we made our way to Banff. (little tip - to get into Banff National Park you have to pay a fee per day! They will give you a receipt you have to post on your windshield for the time that you are there) By the time we got into Banff (around 3:30pm Canadian time) we were starving. We found a great sushi restaurant that served its sushi on a train. It was really funny....You walked up to the sushi bar (the only seating area) & there was a train that went around the counter top & you just picked off what you wanted....The price was based on the color of the plate. If you wanted something different than what was traveling around you just asked the the chef & he would make it & place it on the train. By the end of the meal, I was feeling extremely sick & thought it was because of the altitude. We left & went to check into our hotel. Driving up to the "castle" was amazing.......It just appeared in the mountains!!! Check-in was crazy.....I learned that Andrew had gotten us the honeymoon suite up in one of the towers, he already had a massage booked for me for the following day, we got gym access, complimentary valet, etc.... The place was so big they had to give us floor maps to figure things out! We finished up, finally found the elevators & headed to the the 9th floor (top floor) . We had to walk down a long hallway, through an open doorway & then up 2 flights of stairs. Our room was literally in the very top of the tower with only one other room up there!!!!! Our room was absolutely unbelieveable......The door opened into the "sitting/living room", with a long couch, entertainment center, champange waiting on top of it, a huge walk-in closet, & a massive bathroom......Jaccuzzi, huge shower, mountain view out the windows....... As you walked around the entertainment center, a spiral staircase appeared; leading up to our bedroom! The room was literally 2 floors!!!!!!!! I think my jaw stayed on the floor the whole first day. Our bedroom was the entire upstairs with a small second bathroom & massive picture windows looking out on the Canadian Rockies. (I was SO glad Andrew had kept the room a surprise!) Bellhops came up with our luggage...I was so glad we did not have to carry our luggage the whole way up!!!!!!!! Even though I was in awe, I was getting sicker & sicker. Andrew order me a ginger ale, I took a shower & we unpacked. He decided to order room service......(tip - 500ml of ice cream is a full pint!!!!) I was too sick to stomach any food & just crashed.....I think I ended up sleeping for almost 12 hrs.

DAY 2
I felt so much better after all the sleep & woke up starving. We headed to breakfast, (where they called us the Anderson's & I started laughing because I couldn't believe we were Mr. & Mrs.) Breakfast was like nothing either one of us had ever seen....When they went to seat us, they asked if we had already had a tour...upon saying no, we literally recieved a tour of the buffet & how it worked. The opposite wall of the buffet was floor to ceiling picture windows of the Rockies! We enjoyed a wonderful breakfast & both over ate because there was so much wonderful, fresh food to choose from. After breakfast we explored the "castle". There were 6 different restarunts, 10 stores, the spa, fitness center, outdoor terraces, numerous ballrooms, indoor & outdoor heated pools, skating rink, movie "theater", bowling alley, internet cafe, convience store, small museum about the Canadian Railroad & the hotel and the breathtaking view from every angle. After exploring everything I headed to the spa.... It turned out that the spa was #3 in the world!