Victoria's Daughter, Lake Louise

"I have heard," said I--ever the wit--"that Lake Louise
was named after one of Queen Victoria's daughters. Which one?"

"You are quite the wit!", our waitress at the Lodge replied.

We ordered glasses of Blasted Church Hatfield Fuse.
That is pronouned "fyooz", as in a blasting cap.
The site of the winery, in the Okanagan Valley,
was once a church, which Mr. Hatfield blew up
in order to turn it to a more sacred purpose.

The wine was elegant, although whimsically named.
Among the names of wines, at the winery, are Nothing Sacred,
Bible Thumper Pinot Gris, Amen Port-de-Merlot and,
of course, Hatfield's Fuse. I will admit that, at first blush
of the wine, without knowing the story, that is might be a "fyew-say",
and wondered what in hell that was. It wasn't.

The hotel--especially the exterior--is magnificent, except in comparison
with the Lake and the mountains. I think that I shall never see
a hotel as lovely as Louise, one of Queen Victoria's lakes, even if--
were it a castle--the Hotel might make Neuschwanstein worry.

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