Here's my commentary of our trip to Canada. c.i.
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We arrived in Montreal for our pre-trip tour on August 2d after 6PM, and arrived at our hotel after 9PM. We waited for our tour director, Antony Ceolin, in the bar of the hotel, but he never came, so we had a late dinner, then went off to bed. The major tours in Montreal were the half day city tour provided by the tour company where we visited the underground shopping artery, St Joseph's Oratory area, the island, Mont Royal, and the old waterfront area. On our free time, Lucy and I went to the beautiful botanical gardens, the waterfront area, and the underground shopping.
After three nights in Montreal, we hopped on the train for our trip to Toronto. I've been informed that ehBeth and some other A2Kers were out there waving at us between Montreal and Toronto, but unfortunately, we missed them. We arrived at our hotel a little after 3PM, and a taxi came to our hotel at 6:15PM to take us to cav's (Chef Paul) home for a special, catered, five course dinner. We enjoyed good food and conversation. It was nice to finally meet cav and his wife. *Thank you, cav, for sharing such a special evening with us.
The following morning, the tour company provided us with a half day city tour that included a harbour cruise, Chinatown, some special homes and areas of Toronto. We passed the building where they filmed Chicago. On our free time in the afternoon, we spent most of the time at Eaton Center (shopping mall), and the Bay Company store (the outcrop of the Hudson Bay Company). We met the rest of the tour group at the welcome dinner that evening. Toronto is the embarkation point for those not taking the pre-trip tour in Montreal. We had 40 in our group with many from Pennsylvania and California, and all US citizens. I usually do not care for large group tours, but considering that we would be traveling with strangers on a train tour, anyway, I didn't feel bad about 40 in our group.
After breakfast the following morning, we boarded the 1950's-style train, The Canandian, and began our official trans-Canada train tour. We had short stops at Armstrong, Sioux Lookout, Winnipeg, and Edmonton. Our section of the train had tourists from the UK.
We spent two nights on the train, and we had a sleeper room with upper and lower bunks, a private toilet, and a water basin. Our car had a community shower which I used. During the day, we had comfortable armchairs in our room. We had a large picture window, but we spent very little time in our berth, because there was a domed car and a recreation car where we spent most of our time. We had the end berth, F, so our room was bigger than the inside ones. Our first disembarkation point was Jasper in the late afternoon. After two nights on the train, it was nice to set our foot on solid ground. Jasper is a very small community founded in 1911 when the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was built along the Athabasca River. We visited a few of the gift shops on main street after dinner, because daylight was available until about 10PM.
We boarded a motor coach after breakfast for our journey south towards Banff. On the way to Banff, we stopped at the Columbia Icefields for a special tour of the glaciers, and the largest body of ice in the Rocky Mountains. We sloshed on the 100 feet deep glacier for about 15 minutes. Our tour director provided us with a special treat by stopping at Maligne Canyon, a deep gorge with glacier colored water. We stopped for lunch at beautiful Chateau Lake Louise. The dining room is huge, and can accommodate about 300 people. It was a buffet lunch with a carvery, and a large selection of desserts.
We arrived in Banff in the late afternoon, and were checked into our hotel for a two night stay.
Banff is a beautiful city dominated on all sides by mountains. The tour company provided us with a half-day morning tour that included The Whyte Museum, Cave & Centennial Center, a drive-by of the Fairmont (CN) hotel, and Bow Falls where the movie "The River of No Return" with Marilyn Monroe was filmed. We were informed that Marilyn Monroe was forced to leave the hotel for wearing unlady-like clothes. I'll be posting a photo of the area where the film was made to see if any of you recognize it. On our free time in the afternoon, Lucy and I rode the gondola to the top of one of the mountains with a good view of the valley and Banff. It was a bit hazy, so the pictures did not come out clear. We had lunch at the top of the mountain - hamburgers. After a short stop at the gift shop, we went back down on the gondola, called a taxi, and visited the botanical garden at Canada Place at the foot of main street. The flowers were in full bloom, and the garden is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. A not-to-miss spot in Banff for all visitors.
After breakfast, we boarded the Rocky Mountaineer for the final two days of beautiful scenery and gourmet food on the Gold Leaf Service. We passed through three national parks, Banff, Yoho, and Glacier. We had a overnight stay in Kamloops, at the Four Points Sheraton, and had our dinner at Rec's restaurant in the hotel.
Must talk about the food on the Rocky Mountaineer: It included lobster benedict, tenderloin, fish, salmon wrapped egg with caviar, chicken, salmon, and a large variety of fancy desserts. Yum!
We boarded the train early next morning, and enjoyed breakfast as we continued our rail journey westward. We arrived in Vancouver about 4PM, and was bussed to our hotel, the Empire Landmark, the only hotel in Vancouver with a revolving restaurant/bar. A few of us ended up at the revolving restaurant/bar after dinner, and had a drink to enjoy the scenery.
The wild animals we saw during our journey included bear, deer, bald eagle, many osprey nested on top of telephone poles, llamas, goats, and rafters.
We passed through many train tunnels, and saw waterfalls, glaciers, hoodoos, mountain ranges, small towns, and friendly people. Many waved at us from boats, rafts, cars, and land.
The scenery was grand, the food was excellent, and our travel companions were friendly and non-complaining (unusual in a group of 40 people). We met some interesting folks, and probably a few new friends.
On our first morning in Vancouver, the tour company provided us with a half day city tour that included Stanley Park, Chinatown and Sun Yat Sen's Chinese garden, Prospect Point, Granville Island, and Gastown. After the included city tour, Lucy and I spent more time in Gastown, visiting most of the gift/souvenir shops, and having lunch at Steamwater Restaurant.
Our group gathered that evening for our Farewell Dinner at the hotel.
The following day was a free day with a optional tour to Victoria Island, but since we've already been there several times, Lucy and I, and several others, decided on the four hour Harbour Cruise with lunch which concluded at 3PM. We took a taxi back to our hotel after the cruise. Lucy and I went to Pacific Center for last minute shopping, and working off all the food we?'ve consumed during this trip. Ha, ha, ha
I bought a carry-on baggage on wheels to carry my camera equipment and personals for our return home, and for my future trips. Getting too old to lug around my heavy carry-on baggage with all that camera equipment, films, batteries, and toiletries.
Our tour director met us at 9AM with a limo to take us to the airport. We were the last three couples of our tour group, so the tour director came to the airport with us, because he had a flight back to Toronto later that day. With all the chaos of the east coast blackout the previous Thursday, the Air Canada flights were all backed up and over-booked. The Air Canada line for ticketing was very long, and we didn't think we were going to catch our 11:30AM flight, but a airline agent got us to a shorter line, and we got Executive Class seats! Can you imagine that? Two times in one year; the first time from Guayaquil to Galapagos round trip last May, and from Vancouver to LAX on this trip. Never got an upgrade on all my years of travel before this year. Miracles do happen!
