The Canadian – Summary

I know that some of you are interested in perhaps taking the Canadian in the future, so today I’ll talk a bit about the accommodations, services, and overall experience on the train. There are three levels of sleeper service – berths, private cabins with bunk beds, and private cabins with a double Murphy bed. The prices vary somewhat between the three levels (actually, they vary a lot, but you get my point). We opted for the middle level, so that is what I’ll show here. During the day you have a private cabin with two comfy chairs, which you can pull around to directly face the windows if you want.

At night these are converted into bunk beds. Don’t worry, they set up the bunk beds for you while you are at dinner. They are really quite comfortable, and (all considered) very roomy.

The room also has a small sink, with drinking water.

The sink has a very nice feature – a small table that flips up to cover the sink and provides a small table. It’s perfect for setting a glass of wine during cocktail hour. You are free to bring your own alcohol onto the train, as long as you drink it in your room.

They try to maximize the space in the rooms, so the hallways are narrow. Very narrow. It makes it interesting when walking down the hall when the train is traveling fast, or when meeting people coming the other way.

You can always sit in your cabin if you want, but you don’t have to stay in it. You also have access to the observation car, though seating can be limited at popular times.

There is also a games area with tables along with a selection of puzzles and games.

Coffee, water, and a selection of snacks are available throughout the day.

And of course, there is the dining car for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The meals were very good, with lots of choice and a different menu every day. There were three sittings for each meal, and you had to pick your seating time the day before. For the first two sittings, the dinning car was packed, which made it rather loud. The tables were also small, which is a hazard of traveling on the train, I guess. All table were for four, so you always ended up sitting with someone else, which can be a good thing (a chance to meet someone new) or a bad thing (having to talk with someone you don’t know for the full meal). On balance, it was a good thing.

And before you say anything about the dining car not being crowded at all, this was brunch on the final day on our way into Toronto, where we had a table to ourselves.

Finally, there are a range of activities and talks every day, giving you a chance to learn about the regions of Canada as you pass through them. The activities include Bingo (not my thing) as well as wine and beer tasting (definitely my thing).

We will definitely consider doing this again.

The Canadian – Day Three

This picture is a last view of the prairies on day two, and gives you a good idea of why they call this part of the world “big sky”.

We stopped in Winnipeg about 2:30 AM and by the time we woke up in the morning we were well into northern Ontario, so the scenery for the day was “trees, rocks, lakes, followed by more trees, rocks and lakes”. Beautiful to look at, in its own way, but not great for pictures, so I’ll leave you with this “once-a-trip” picture where we are meeting the Canadian going the other way, from Toronto to Vancouver.

The Canadian – Day 2 Continued

We spent the day traveling across the Canadian prairie. I grew up in this area, so it was nice to see it again from the train. This picture is fairly typical of what I remember from my childhood.

The small pond you see in this next picture isn’t called a pond on the prairies. It is called a slough – pronounced “sloo”.

There were a number of farms with collections of old abandoned farm machinery. This one is a threshing machine, from the days when horse drawn wagons were used to bring the cut grain to the thresher. Long before my time…

Finally, the snow geese were migrating to their nesting grounds in the high arctic. The white dots in this picture are geese – thousands of them.

Day three is taking us through north Ontario – lots of trees, rocks, and lakes.

The Canadian – Day 2

We had a fairly long stop in Jasper, so we visited a local wine shop to stock up for our evening cocktail hour in our room, enjoying the views.

The ride into Jasper had stunning mountain views, but there were still a few more after Jasper. (Technically, still part of day 1.)

When we woke up the next morning, it was the prairies…

We are just pulling out of Soiux Lookout, and will loose cell service, so I’ll post now and continue when I can.

The Canadian

We flew out to Vancouver, but decided to take the train home because … well, just because it sounded like a cool thing to do.

The Canadian has several different levels of service. All the way from spending four days in a basic seat, to a private room with a double Murphy bed. We opted for something in the middle – a private room and toilet, but with seats during the day, and bunk beds at night.

It’s cosy, but in a good way. At first, the trip out of Vancouver was through miles and miles of rail yards. Not a great start, unless you are a train enthusiast.

Though even here, it does offer unique views of well known Vancouver sights. This picture is of the “Golden Ears” bridge, from an angle that you can’t usually see.

As we headed up along the Fraser river, we saw more and more of the mountains.

And the river …

And more mountains…

During dinner we were treated to stunning views of the Fraser canyon. No pictures – I was eating, and it was getting dark – so you will just have to take my word for it. After a good night’s sleep, we were treated to truly stunning views on our way into Jasper. As you will see, there are often trees along the track, but you still get wonderful views through the frequent gaps. In some ways, they even make the views better by giving some perspective. I’ll post some of the best shots from the hundreds I took this morning.

This next picture is of Mount Robson, the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies. The summit was completely cloud free – something that apparently only happens about 12-15 times a year.

This next one is interesting because even though it is the end of April, the ice on the lake was just beginning to break up.

And more snow covered mountains.

We stopped in Jasper mid afternoon and had a chance to stretch our legs, and restock our supply of B.C. Pinot Noir. It is quite a picturesque little town.

Here is another picture, showing a street in Jasper with a totem pole, pride flags, and our train with the mountains in the background.

Next we head onto the prairies. I’ll try to keep you updated, but (mercifully) without quite as many pictures.

Rainy Days

The weather has been fantastic for our visit to B.C. Until now, anyway. The last few days haven’t been quite as nice, with cloud, drizzle, and then outright rain. This picture is from our visit to Butchart Gardens, in the Japanese garden. It shows a Shishi-odoshi, designed to frighten away animals like boars. It sort of sets the mood for the rain we are currently experiencing.

We took the ferry from Vancouver Island back to Vancouver, and headed down to White Rock to visit friends (Larry and Heather) we had met on our river cruise last year. We spent the night with them and the next morning we saw a pair of (very large) raccoons in the back yard.

when the rain stopped (briefly) I went for a walk up the Coquitlam crunch. Good exercise.

We are looking forward to a quiet day before we take the train from Vancouver to Toronto. It will be our first train trip in a sleeper, so we are looking forward to seeing what it is like. I’ll provide updates as we go.

Butchart Gardens

I have only one thing to say about Butchart Gardens. Go see it!

But if you think I’m going to stop after saying one thing, you obviously don’t know me vey well. I pared my pictures down to a list of the very best, and concluded that I needed to do a lot more pruning. No doubt I should have cut even more, but be assured that it could have been worse…

Tulips were a dominant theme today. All colours and kinds of tulips. I could have filled an entire blog post with pictures of tulips, but mercifully I’m not going to do that. I’ll just show you one, and assure you that this really doesn’t do it justice. But it will have to do.

I promise you there were more tulips than anything else, so the next set of pictures should give you some idea of what you are missing.

Butchart Gardens was built in an abandoned limestone quarry. Ironically, the old quarry creates an interesting backdrop for the gardens.

This next picture isn’t even a flower. It’s a tree where the leaves emerge reddish pink before they change to green.

There are so many flowers and flowering trees, that they create a broad canvas of colours.

And, of course, the different plants offer a palette of colours and textures. This picture includes a mix of tulips, flowering shrubs, flowering trees, and leaves in a range of colours. The overall effect is stunning.

We woke up this morning to a light drizzle and mist on the hills, before the sky began to clear as we headed over to Butchart Gardens. But signs of the rain were everywhere, including on here, where you can see the water drops on the flower and the grass.

It’s well worth a visit.

Brentwood Bay

We headed south from Nanaimo and stopped in to visit a friend that Jan worked with – Heather and her husband Tom – for a lovely lunch. It was great to catch up, but all too soon we had to be on the road to Brentwood Bay. The ferry was just leaving when we pulled up, so while we waited for the next sailing we had a chance to chill, phone home, and … take a few pictures.

The ferry was much smaller than the one we took yesterday, but that just meant we had better views.

We checked in to the Brentwood Bay Resort and headed straight for our patio for a glass of rosé and a chance to enjoy the fabulous views.

Then it was off to a lovely dinner at the resort pub, with a Category 12 Juicy IPA. Yummy. When we got back to the room (with another Category 12 IPA in hand) the sun had just set, but the views from the patio were as stunning as before.

Tomorrow, if the weather cooperates, we are off to visit Butchart Gardens. If not, we will just have to come back again.

Nanaimo

Blue skies, clouds, and trees in bloom.

We took the ferry to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island today and had a pleasant walk along the harbour with lovely views of the sea and the mountains.

And of course, the trees in bloom against the blue sky.

This tree was interesting, with a seemingly random mix of white and pink blooms. No idea how that happens…

A Walk Along the River

We were back in Vancouver again and went for a long walk along the river in a local park. It is one of the things we always do when we visit.

The leaves are coming out and the trees are in bloom, but there are also many other signs of spring everywhere.

I also love running water – it brings out the child in me. I could watch it for hours.

This is a small stream in an area where salmon spawn every year, so there are also many quiet areas like this.

Next stop, Vancouver Island.