My Favorite Rooms

April 22, 2009

Favorite #4
This is an incredible place; there is no other way to say it. The architecture of the building from the outside is by no means hard on the eyes and the view of the mountains that the hotel like a newborn babe sends you for a comforting ride on the wind. Once you walk in through those revolving front doors into that grand reception area, you get a taste of what this building really contains.

The lower level has lots of shops selling everything from jade statues to fine wine, as long as you happen to carry around a couple of gold bars as collateral. With the exception of the pool, the lower level did not catch my attention. My attention was better placed upon Mezzanine 1 and 2, for that is where my awe reached all new heights. There are 4 rooms in this building I fell in love with and 3 of them are upon these 2 floors. The first room is called Riverview Lounge, which is a large open room that contains a large fireplace, antique tables and chairs along the windows that open up onto the courtyard and river.

6 columns hold up the 3 arch roof giving the walls plenty of room to shelter the heads of the magnificent animals that once roamed the mountains and now look down from above. The openness of this room draws the traveler through the room and into the oval room with it’s glass chandelier, the glass conservatory, and the cascade ballroom, which are all worth a visit. I am not sure exactly why I like this room so much, perhaps it is because this hall allows you to have a preliminary dace with a partner before entering any of these rooms. Really this room isn’t decorated, or fancy, or anything special, and maybe that is why I like it so much, and that is why it stands out so much.

Favorite #3
As you leave the Riverview Lounge you will pass by the Rundle Lounge. This is another very wonderful area, which is also a 2 tiered restaurant filled with comfortable couches, and chairs that contain a historic flare all their own. The levels are connected by an open stone staircase that even non-restaurant patrons use to go between the 2 levels of the Mezzanine. It also faces the river, but along the right hand side of the lower level sits 3 distinct rooms, which each contain a character all there own. I was standing in them and suddenly felt that I should be dressed in a fine suite, smoking cigars and drinking a fine glass of brandy discussing politics while my wife (if I had one) would be gossiping with women of similar stature somewhere else in the hotel.

Favorite #2
As you proceed past that lounge you will arrive at the upper balcony of another magnificent room. This room is Mt. Stephen Hall, it used to hold a pool, until one of our members dived off that second story balcony into it, and the only injuries occurred from high blood pressure of the present hotel staff, a year later the pool turned into a solid stone floor. This room is a large hall with a wood beamed ceiling held up by wooden carvings of angles holding the different provincial crests, above the brightly colored windows. The walls hold suits of armor which can be viewed from more antique chairs and tables placed under the windows.

Personal Favorite
The only major draw back to these areas is that they are indeed high traffic spots. If you want a nice place to sit and read a book in peace I would suggest my favorite room, the Stanly Thompson Foyer, and it is that location I wrote yesterday’s notes. It is a bit smaller than then those rooms I mentioned earlier, but it has one major advantage, it is quiet. Very few people venture into this part of the hotel, as it is kind of hard to find. The chairs are not as old, but just as comfy. You are overlooked by the Ramsey Lounge (which is a small quiet bar) and 2 buffalo heads from above. You can choose between 2 fireplaces to sit in front of, and if like me you have always wanted to there is a circular couch off in a side room. The Foyer has lots of windows for great natural lighting. It is a very comfortable room to relax and have a good read, away from the hustle and bustle of the main part of the hotel. In my case I am using it as a writing room, as I cannot find the original writing room that the hotel used to contain. This wonderful old building has made me wish that I had brought a Jane Austin novel, as it would have been the perfect setting in which to read it. All I brought though was Paper Towns.