Continuing our journey from east to west, looking at Canada’s grand railway hotels, we start in Toronto and the Royal York Hotel.

The largest Fairmount hotel in Canada, the Royal York is directly across the street from Union Station, still the departure point for trains which head across the country to Vancouver¹.

When it opened in 1929 the hotel was the tallest building in the British Empire, and it is typically where members of the Royal Family stay when visiting the city.

Hopping across the still-lacking-in-Street-View-imagery provinces, we head to Alberta and the Palliser Hotel in Calgary, located right next to the Calgary Tower.

Opened by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1914, the Palliser is now home to the CPR Pavilion, an exhibition showing the historical links between hotel and railway, including some vintage train cars². Once the tallest building in the city, the hotel is now dwarfed by skyscrapers that have sprung up in this oil-rich city.

Following the Street View car west we get to the Rocky Mountains, and two hotels that can perhaps be considered the grandest of the grand hotels. CPR President William Van Horne declared “If we can’t export the scenery, we’ll import the tourists”, and those tourists still flock to these hotels in huge numbers every year.

The Banff Springs Hotel opened in 1888 and was rebuilt 40 years later after a fire, though it took another 40 years after that for it to be made suitable for winter use.

The Banff Springs takes its name from the natural hot springs which rise in another part of the town – the hotel’s current spa is only ‘reminiscent’ of the natural springs!

Named a National Historic Site in 1992 (and located in the UNESCO World Heritage Banff National Park), the hotel is now a major ‘resort’ with a world-renowned golf course, huge conference centre, on-site staff housing and multiple accommodation wings for guests.

About 60km to the north-west is Chateau Lake Louise, which has also developed into resort status.

At the edge of a stunning glacier-blue lake, surrounded by soaring mountain peaks – this has to be one of the most scenic hotel locations in the world³, though it is amusing to see trail-ragged hikers wandering through the opulent surroundings after a long day’s walk. And despite its size, this hotel did not open year-round until the 1970s. Winter activities now include skiing and skating on the lake, as well as horse-drawn sleigh rides.

Finally to Vancouver, end (or beginning, depending on your direction of travel) of the cross-country train journey, and the Hotel Vancouver.

A joint construction by Canadian Pacific and Canadian National, the hotel is a short distance from the current VIA Rail station. It opened in 1939 with a visit from the King and Queen.

Similar to the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa, the Hotel Vancouver housed the local CBC studios for a number of years.

We hope to conclude this series with the hotels in Winnipeg, Edmonton and Victoria – when Street View makes it to those cities.

Locations: Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario / Categories: Buildings, Street Views

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And they make quite the sight when decorated for Christmas!

A solitary boot of almost the same height can be found in Edmonton, Alberta. Also hard to pick out on the satellite image, Live Maps’ birds eye view is somewhat better.

It’s about 30cm shorter than the pair in San Antonio, but is equally impressive when lit up!

Meanwhile, a 6.5m pair of boots – along with a 13m wide steel cowboy hat – can be found in Oxbow Park in Seattle, Washington … and on Street View and Live Maps.

These structures were relocated from their original gas station location, where the boots contained the bathrooms!

Another location with a larger-than-life cowboy hat is the mini-replica of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Texas, barely visible from the nearest Street View image:

The hat was added in 1998 in an effort to one-up the residents of Paris, Tennessee after several back-and-forth attempts to create the largest replica.

And in Yukon, Oklahoma, a beautifully landscaped boot can be found in Chisholm Trail Park – named for the route of a 19th century cattle drive between Texas and Kansas. The decorative landscaping, including fountains in the two small ponds, is even more visible on Live Maps’ birds eye view.

Thanks to ‘Koty’, Ray, . and Felippo.

Locations: Alberta, Oklahoma, Texas, Washington / Categories: Street Views, Structures, Towers

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The city of White Rock, British Columbia, gets its name from a large white erratic that seems completely out of place sitting on the shore of Semiahmoo Bay.

In fact, boulders like this one were carried to their current locations by glacial ice, often over hundreds of kilometres. Geologists have suggested that landslides or rockfalls initially dropped the rocks on top of glaciers, which then carried the rocks along with them on their journeys. When the ice melted, the erratics were unceremoniously deposited wherever we find them today.

The largest glacial erratic identified so far is Big Rock, near Okotoks, Alberta. Measuring 41 m by 18 m and standing 9 m high, this massive quartzite boulder weighs around 16,500 tonnes.

Geologists believe that Big Rock made its epic journey between 12,000 and 18,000 years ago – all the way from Mount Edith Cavell in Jasper National Park – a journey distance of nearly 500 km.

There’s more about Glacial erratics, White Rock, and Big Rock at Wikipedia.

Locations: Alberta, British Columbia / Categories: Natural Landmarks

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Thanks to all our submitters, and especially the original finder – supergranny.

Locations: Alberta / Categories: Large Type

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You just couldn’t make this stuff up could you?

Thanks to Allison.

Locations: Alberta / Categories: Monuments, Structures

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Although actually, it seems that some people reckon the Lethbridge Viaduct might be “the longest railroad trestle bridge in the world” or perhaps even “the world’s longest and highest steel railroad bridge”. I couldn’t verify any of this, but its definitely got a very cool shadow

There’s more about the Lethbridge Viaduct at Wikipedia where they have an interesting photo of the bridge being built, and they link to a cool ground level photo too.

Thanks to Jackson, John Fleming and Rob Carlson.

Locations: Alberta / Categories: Bridges, Other Vehicles, Shadows

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Thanks to Jordon and Jonathan Wilkins.

Locations: Alberta / Categories: Shadows, Structures

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Which might perhaps explain why the farmers chose Pac-Man as their new subject matter when they got bored of rectangles!

Thanks go to Seth for Pac-Man. Cheers mate, geek-tastic!

Oh, there’s also combination rectangles and circles, sent to us by Mik

Locations: Alberta, California, Washington / Categories: Large Type, Weirdness

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