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CANADA
Across Canada with Via Rail Alberta Beef Alberta - Cypress Hills Alberta Dog Sledding Alberta's Edmonton Festivals Alberta - Edmonton Shopping British Columbia -Barkerville British Columbia - Royal BC Museum British Columbia - Vancouver and Victoria British Columbia - Victoria- Inn at Laurel Point British Columbia - Victoria - Spinnakers Manitoba's Beluga Whales Manitoba's Polar Bears North Western Aurora Nova Scotia Birding Nunavut Adventure Ontario - Toronto's CN Tower Ontario - Toronto's Fairmont Royal Hotel Prince Edward Island Kayaks Prince Edward Island Music Quebec City / Montreal Quebec City Quebec City Cuisine Saskatchewan VIA Rail's Fall Foliage Corridor VIA Rail's Scenic Canada Yukon - Dawson City  HOTEL FINDER EDMONTON HOTELS JASPER HOTELS ALBERTA HOTELS Find your perfect hotel accommodation in Alberta here COURTNEY HOTELS VANCOUVER HOTELS VICTORIA HOTELS BRITISH COLUMBIA HOTELS Find your perfect hotel accommodation in British Columbia, Canada here WINNIPEG HOTELS MANITOBA HOTELS Find your perfect hotel accommodation in Manitoba here MONCTON HOTELS NEW BRUNSWICK HOTELS Find your perfect hotel accommodation in New Brunswick here HALIFAX HOTELS YARMOUTH HOTELS NOVA SCOTIA HOTELS Find your perfect hotel accommodation in Nova Scotia here TORONTO HOTELS ONTARIO HOTELS Find your perfect hotel accommodation in Alberta here MONTREAL HOTELS Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac QUEBEC CITY HOTELS QUEBEC HOTELS Find your perfect hotel accommodation in Quebec here |
CANADA - ACROSS CANADA : "ALL ABOARD!" by Ursula & Eldrid Retief  VIA Rail’s classic transcontinental trip on the Canadian is “one of the five great journeys of the world”.Don’t take our word for it .... it’s National Geographic that says so and the folks there should know. The "All Aboooaaard!" cry signaling the start of one of the world's most renowned long-distance train journeys still rings out across Canada as VIA Rail’s flagship Canadian thunders across the ever-changing landscape. Inside, travellers from around the world are coddled by Canadian's world-renowned Silver & Blue Class service, the name given to Canadian’s sleeper car accommodations. The streamlined art-deco stainless-steel coaches were considered avant garde when they were introduced in 1955, Canadian then taking its place alongside such famous names as the American Empire Builder, the Orient Express and the Russian Trans-Siberian. It really doesn't matter what time of the year you travel, for there are compensations in every season when the train windows frame snapshots of the passing grandeur of the Canadian Rockies, of the endless vistas of the Prairies, the stark beauty of the Canadian Shield. We happen to make Canadian our home for three days and three nights in mid-winter, a good time to go: the rates are low, the train uncrowded. We have a cozy bedroom with private facilities, down duvets, route maps and guides, and complimentary accessories such as toiletries. Each car in Silver & Blue class has its own roomy shower. An iron and ironing board are available to guests. Soon we're making small-talk with fellow passengers in the Park Car's three separate salons: the spacious Dome observation deck, the uniquely shaped Bullet Lounge with its wraparound windows, and the intimate Mural Lounge with small bar and TV monitor/VCR. The Skyline Car is the activity car where games and videos are offered. While the Park car has some of these features, the Skyline is where you can get involved in such things as "Name that Tune", Bingo and other amusements. As we glide out of Vancouver in British Columbia (VANCOUVER HOTELS) our Service Attendant is tempting us with delicious hors d'oeuvres and a glass of "bubbly". Complimentary coffee, tea and fresh fruit are available the whole day for Silver & Blue class passengers. Early the next morning, most of the random collection of passengers – Canadians, Americans, Englishmen, a few Irish, fair dinkum Aussies and a few others from all walks of life, teachers, a retired pilot, an engineering professor, a Indian forestry expert, and so on – are in the Lounge or the Dome, riveted to the scenery but soon nattering away like old friends. There are to be many moments of wildlife, many cries from fellow-passengers of "Deer to the left" .... or to the right. A lonely coyote stands stockstill on a white carpeted lake, its head turned, staring at the galloping train; two moose plough through the snow. We see a herd of elks. In the distance, steep mountains jut into the sky and soon Canadian is climbing into the Canadian Rockies, the scenery looking more and more like a Walt Disney production. For 10 miles we have Mount Robson with its tiara of snow in our sights, then hug the rugged rockface of the Victoria Cross Range into snow-clad Jasper. Passengers leap out to stretch their legs or to shop during the hour-long stop at this internationally recognized, four-season destination. Some, laden with gear, are breaking their journey for a few days' skiing. From here Canadian follows the Athabasca River, passing waterfalls, gorges, jagged peaks and glaciers, each echoing one another's beauty. It drops down through the encroaching foothills and over one stretch of 40 miles bridges five rivers. As Canadian slips into the night, many passengers, having sat for hours high in the Dome mesmerized by the train spiraling ahead, are glad to have the excuse to leave for dinner in the elegant Dining Room – all meals are included for Silver & Blue passengers. The cuisine is simply superb. After Edmonton in Alberta (EDMONTON HOTELS) we speed through the night, then Saskatoon and Winnipeg where there is a crew change. There are fond farewells. The staff, without being obtrusive, had managed to create a feeling of en famille. Several passengers alight at Winnipeg to switch to VIA Rail’s Hudson Bay to Churchill (see Come Up and See Us Sometime! By now there are elements of manana – don't worry, is the mood, tomorrow is another day. The realization has come to all the passengers that the importance of a train trip is not the getting there – it's the scenery and the people you meet. This is life on the slow track. Passengers feel they are old friends. The talk is convivial, travel experiences being shared. Outside, all is stark white, the rivers simply ribbons of ice and snow, wide expanses of frozen lakes like huge strings of pearls flanking the rail tracks, now and then pockmarked by the hooves of animals or scarred by a snowmobile. Often the passengers realize the discs of white are snow-covered lakes only because boats are tethered to the bank, or jetties jutting out over nothingness. On one occasion, the bleak landscape is suddenly blotted out by a snowstorm. Thousands of years ago massive continental ice-sheets scoured the rocky areas between the Great Lakes and Hudson Bay, leaving it strewn with countless lakes, rivers, streams and ponds. This is the Canadian Shield, the granite boulders, now snow-covered, often towering over the tracks. Of course it is not all wilderness. The train flashes past isolated villages, many homes with their own miniature ice-hockey rinks and goalposts, past the pine trees of Sioux Lookout and the occasional city like Sudbury, and on the last lap the rich farmland and rolling countryside of Ontario and finally the glass towers and concrete skyscrapers of Toronto (TORONTO HOTELS). For the moment, life on the slow track is over. EDMONTON HOTELS ALBERTA HOTELS TORONTO HOTELS ONTARIO HOTELS VANCOUVER HOTELS BRITISH COLUMBIA HOTELS Photo courtesy VIA Rail Canada SCRIBBLES ETCETERAS Sleeping Accommodation: With the other passengers in Silver & Blue class, you have exclusive use of the sleeping car. You can choose between a berth or a single, double or triple bedroom. For details on prices, schedules, special promotions and other information go to VIA Rail’s website viarail.ca or call toll-free 1-888-VIA-RAIL See also VIA Rail’s Many Scenic Journeys in Canada and “Maple Leaf” for Fall Foliage Excursions |
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