Sunday June 28th

Spent a pleasant day in Vancouver, in the morning took the bus to English Bay and walked through the eastern side of Stanley Park to the Totem Poles. Lovely warm day with a blue sky. Stanley Park is a great community asset and Vancouverians were out in force. With all the unit towers nearby it was no wonder. There are parallel walking and riding paths around the shoreline and the latter is so busy with bike-riders and skaters that it is one way only. Picnic lunch and then back to the hotel to checkout. Decided we had walked far enough for one day so caught the ferry to North Vancouver and spent a couple of hours soaking up the sun enjoying a drink. Went to Gastown for dinner to discover it was the site of the Vancouver Jazz festival. Quite a different place to Friday evening. Had trouble finding some where to eat and ended up at the same restaurant as Friday where we again enjoyed a pleasant meal.
Arrived at the rail station in plenty of time and waited on the patio (for “upper class” passengers) being entertained by a pianist/mouth accordionist/ saxophonist/singer.
The train was a bit of a shock, dated and the room cramped, not what Michele expected after the Ghan and certainly not like the Rocky Mountaineer. However we soon got used to it and had a good night’s sleep.

Monday June 29th

Once we settled in we found that the train was OK, in fact really good. Today was the day through the Rockies (we missed the Fraser River gorge during the night). The scenery was certainly spectacular, and the day bright and clear, much different to our previous trip. The only partly obscured view was Mt Robson, the top of which was in the clouds. Some snow on the higher slopes and picturesque mountains all around.
The food is good and the views from the dome car excellent. The only problem is that for some reason the dome car is cold, which Michele finds hard to take.
“Seen the future here and it does not look rosey”
Plenty of “oldies” on the train, probably including us. Emphasises the need to stay fit and think young.
Having made that observation, the people on the train are overall a good lot and friendly, I guess that the type who make train journeys are generally like that.
Getting used to dusk at about 10pm and generally light to 11-11.30.
We are able to get off the train a couple of times a day, today at Bluewater, Jasper and tonight at 11 at Edmonton where the station is in the goods yards at the edge of town so you get no idea of what the place is really like.
The train is very long, some 20 coaches, and ours is second from the end. This is good as the last car is the Park Car with a lounge at the back and a dome up top. Even though the train is fairly full there never seems to be a problem getting a seat in either section.

Tuesday June 30th

Slept well again and enjoyed leisurely breakfast. Today will be slower in pace if not train speed as we go across the prairies, flat green farming land, with few and far between small settlements, until we reach Winnipeg in the early evening where we have a 3 hour break.
Now at Winnipeg awaiting a crew change after a restful day crossing the prairies. The scenery changed a little but generally was rolling plains with small depressions, except for a section where a valley had been carved out by glaciers. Even then the valley was probably less than 50m below the general topography. The other variation was scrub which was more prevalent in some areas than others.
Walked around here for an hour or so but could not find the centre, just office blocks, hotels and car parking lots. Coffee in a chain restaurant half way across the river (very fast flowing).
Leave in about ½ an hour 11.30pm local time. Blog again from Toronto.