Riding the Rails across the West

The Assinaboine River Valley in Saskatchewan

The Prairies west of Winnipeg

Through the forests of N. Ontario

Every promotional line on Via Rail’s website that describes “The Canadian” is true.  It’s a 4,466-kilometre train journey across five provinces between Toronto and Vancouver.  Over four nights and three days, I saw exactly what was promised:  the lakes of Northern Ontario, lush boreal forest, the vast expanse of the Prairies and the magnificent Rocky Mountains.  The landscape was draped in the golden colours of the early fall and, for the most part, in brilliant sunshine.

Avec J - P , un nouvel ami de Shawinigan ,Québec

Here are some observations and highlights:

·       Meeting people from all over Canada and the United States. A common comment from fellow passengers: “taking this trip was on my bucket list.”

Big sky in Alberta

·       Relaxing afternoons observing the scenery from the dome car.

Sunrise east of Edmonton

·       Great food and conversation in the dining car.

 

·       No rushing and being off the grid with little or no cell
or internet service.

 

·       Signs of the Canadian economy on the move as we stopped frequently to allow freight trains to pass.

Moving goods from west to east

The trip across the west was a pleasurable way to complete my two-year adventure of working in and exploring Toronto and parts east.

Farmland in Northern Alberta



Pyramid Creek Falls between Valemount and Blue River, BC

Heading south to Vancouver on the last, and only, damp day of the trip

Windsor/Detroit: Whisky, Casino and Hockey

Folks may question my choice of Windsor/Detroit as a Thanksgiving weekend getaway destination. But the area has at least three things I like:  a casino, a distillery and hockey.

Windsor

Detroit

Again, my mode of transportation for my continuing tour of eastern cities was Via Rail.  It’s a convenient and comfortable way to travel for these four-to-six hour trips.

To be honest, I was somewhat surprised that the major structure you see next to Windsor’s Via station is the Hiram Walker and Sons Distillery – a series of tall brick, industrial buildings.  I didn’t know that Windsor is a major centre for whisky production. I guess my pre-trip research was lacking. I learned all about it during a very informative $10 tour of the Canadian Club Brand Centre.

 

Successful grain merchant Hiram Walker founded the distillery that would produce Canadian Club in 1858. This distillery was established in Walkerville (now part of Windsor). During the 90-minute tour of a grand building, we see the offices, furniture, ledgers and bottles of the late 1800s. We learned how Walker built his business on 468 acres of land and all the interesting activities that took place during the prohibition era.  The visit includes a look at the “speak easy” room in the basement where meetings took place with Al Capone.

The tour concludes with whisky samples.  But, because of provincial regulations, you can’t purchase whisky onsite. I did pick up a pair of logoed whisky glasses.  On a side note, as with all such family businesses, the distillery is now owned by multinational companies.

Walkerville is being revitalized with shops, bars and restaurants that embrace the area’s history. It’s good place to wander around and have lunch before the tour.

My two-night stay was at Caesars Windsor.  Is it like Vegas?  Yes!  It is a well-appointed facility with all trimmings of a Vegas casino: big rooms with views, friendly staff, lounges, entertainment and, of course, enough food and gaming action that one expects in such properties.

As for downtown Windsor, frankly, it’s a little faded. But I did support a local business and had a tasty home-made burger and fresh-cut fries combo at Simon's Prime Hamburgers.

Business from another era in downtown Windsor

The only part of Detroit I saw, beyond the skyline view from Windsor, was the Joe Louis Arena – to catch the first Saturday night home game of the season for the Detroit Red Wings. No fickle fans here – they love their Wings.  It quite an experience heading over to Motor City in the Windsor/Detroit Tunnel on a bus filled with Canadians wearing Wings gear.

Windsor embraces its waterfront with a five-kilometre trail.  I walked the trail to work off my Thanksgiving buffet lunch.


Waterfront Trail and the Ambassador Bridge - the busiest border crossing.

Windsor, looking northeast towards Lake St.Clair

Montréal en hiver

Instead of heading back to the West Coast for the holidays, I decided to venture east to Montreal to experience that city in the winter.

The Montreal skyline - view from the Port of Montreal.

 

The trip on Via Rail made for some snowy train stop vistas along the Toronto-Montreal corridor.

The Queen Elizabeth on Boul. Rene Levesque on the right.

My home for three nights in Montreal was the Fairmont La Reine Elizabeth Hotel.  Located above the central train station and built in 1958, the hotel is billed as the largest hotel east of Toronto and is famous for hosting heads of state at Expo 67 and being the host hotel for the International Olympic Committee for the 1976 Olympic Games.  And it’s the place where John Lennon and Yoko Ono staged a "bed-in" in 1969.  OK, these are some trivial facts, but all contribute to the history of the hotel.

 



The owner of Beautys:  Hymie Sckolnick.

 

Of course, the focus of any trip is experiencing local food.  A lunch stop was at a luncheonette called Beautys. It has been serving meals since 1942 in the heart of Montreal’s Jewish garment district. There's plenty of atmosphere. I had the Special - a bagel sandwich made with lox, cream cheese, sliced tomatoes and onion.

 

A trip to Montreal is not complete without smoked meat sandwiches and poutine. Waiting in line (left) with the tourists for a sandwich à la viande fumée lunch (right) at Schwartz's Deli.

  A colleague recommended a “Montreal Special” at the Montreal Pool Room.  The street location isn’t great, but the meal inside, poutine and two “steamies” hot dogs, was tasty.

 

My search for decent mandarin oranges here in parts east continued with a stop at the Jean Talon Public Market. Again, as in Toronto, I found clementines. At least the oranges were sweet and easy-to-peel.

The most local food was a traditional holiday meal at the home of my Quebec friends Ginette and Yvon, They welcomed me to a family celebration – complete with jambon (ham) and Tourtière (French Canadian meat pie).

Bonne année!



The Montreal skyline from Mont Royal.