11 – 13 June
Au revoir Vancouver
Our last night in Vancouver. A thoroughly nice city, open, friendly, fresh. We enjoyed all our activities, all our restaurant experiences. Time for a last evening meal, before we leave next day.
Our yearning for a nice French meal seemed answered by a nearby restaurant called Ca Marche – a creperie at lunchtimes, turning into a bistro in the evenings.
We found it easily, slightly uncomfortable among new city blocks, under a huge road bridge. There were not many tables, mainly bar stools lining against a counter overlooking the kitchen area. The host, a French gentlemen from the Loire, was welcoming but rather dismissive about Lynne’s garlic allergy – ‘only a little garlic’ or ‘no garlic, just infused with garlic’.
We decided to stick with it and shared a small but lovely platter of goats cheese, pate and saucisson (that was goood!). Mussels, as a main course was fine – or was it..? Lynne was pretty ill that night and next morning.
Partly as a result of the garlic reaction, we decided not to take the little bus to the railway station – we harnessed the global digital power of Peter’s Uber app, and rode in style in a nice new Tesla.
The Canadian
Vancouver’s Pacific Central terminus is a grand building, built to support the British claim to Vancouver as a Pacific port in the second half of the 1800’s, in the face of the rapid expansion of the USA and its purchase of Alaska from Russia.
Grand it is, but surprisingly empty it is too. Distances are so huge, that travel is normally by aeroplane. Train passengers facing a journey to Toronto will need five days. So, the mighty train “The Canadian”, Toronto to Vancouver, and back, is mainly for tourists and passengers with time to burn.
We counted 19 passenger carriages, most of them presumably sleepers, making the train easily longer than 1/2 a kilometre long, not counting the two beefy locomotives at its head. We had booked two ‘Sleeper Plus’ berths, giving us a couple of comfortable couches, converting into an upper and lower berth for the night. In effect we had the width of the carriage to ourselves, with windows on both sides. More luxurious than the cabins!
We arrived to find that a decision had yet to be made as to whether the train would depart at all, on account of the early season wild fires, which had been making headlines across the world. They have covered New York City with impenetrable smog, and were now extending Westwards, just beyond the Rockies.
The rail staff were encouraging passengers to consider changing their booking. The next train was in 4 days. We waited hoping that it would at least make it to Jasper (as we didn’t have a Plan B). Ultimately we boarded and we learned later that the train was going to attempt to make it across Canada, while the Trans-Canada Highway itself was closed.
Leaving Vancouver, the train was painfully slow – understandably with such a length, with endless sidings and road junctions. After two – three hours, it picked up speed, and trundled majestically through pleasant landscapes and over magnificent rivers. As the day darkened, the landscape became more craggy, wild and mountainous.
There were two sittings in the restaurant car, where we were very fortunate with our table companions on the later 7pm sitting. Two well-traveled American ladies from California that went to University together, one American Born Chinese. We all agreed that the restaurant experience was first class!
Our night-time berths were made up for us on our return from the restaurant car, with sumptuous mattresses and smooth, cool linen. Before turning in, we climbed up onto the viewing dome, above the train, to witness the darkening wild landscape, distantly illuminated by the locomotive searchlight.
Lynne was awakened by a crack of light through the window – sunrise was promising at 4.30. Up she went, to the viewing dome, patiently waiting to capture the magic moment, behind a curtain of pine trees.
Morning call, breakfast in the dining car, and arrival in Jasper at 11am, after having adjusted our clocks by an hour. The journey was 19 hours, which seemed to pass by effortlessly, with fascinating scenery developing around every bend on the 789km journey. The train speed averaged a modest 40km per hour, after stopping for passing freight trains, but that just made the appreciation of our surroundings even better.
Alighting, we picked up our rucksacks, and walked the 1.2km to our next abode for the night in Jasper.
