Before we came away everyone had advised us that Vancouver and British Columbia in general was the warmer coast, the city with the milder winters. So imagine our surprise to step off the plane into -13 degrees celcius and one of their coldest winter storms on record. The taxi driver showed us some residential streets that the city's snow plow didn't reach, you would have needed a 4X4 just to get out of your driveway.
Our hotel, the Holiday Inn, was really nice, not bad for a pick off an airport notice board. The room had an excellent view of the street below to sit and wait for the snow to fall. We braved the temperatures to go for a walk through the city, down one long street and up the other was all we could manage before becoming very concerned as to whether our toes might fall off.
Mum and Dad had mentioned a bar at HoJo's called 'Wings', so we set off in search of some spicy chicken wings and a toasty fireplace - we found both.
The following day was departure day for our big train trip. The train wasn't leaving until the evening so Vancouver was ours for the day. The snow was falling thick and fast now, there were huge snow drifts everywhere! Like two excited kids on Christmas morning, we ran, jumped, strolled, fell (well at least I did, unceremoniously twice) through the snow for a good 6 hours.
Vancouver, everyone says, is a great city, but to be honest we didn't see much of it because it was all under metres of snow and ice. Vancouver's old town was beautiful but I'd like to see more of it so it's been added to our 'To Return To' list for when the weather is a bit warmer adn we have more time. All snowed out we made our way back to Pacific Station to await our carriage to Toronto.
The 'Canadian No.2'
At Pacific Station we waited in the Silver & Blue Class lounge where hot drinks (very welcome) and live music entertained us while we waited. We met a lot of our fellow travellers including a mother and daughter duo, Julie & Lucy Rose, from New Zealand and as it turns out most of the lounge was full of New Zealanders and Australians.
We boarded the train and met our porter as he showed us which seats we would be in for the journey. Our seats were two couch style seats facing each other with a huge picture window that we could sit next to and watch the scenery pass us by. The seats were big enough so that we could sit next to each other and watch in one direction or face each other. At night the seats pulled together to create one bed and the second bed came out of the ceiling of the train. A small ladder attached to the top bunk to give access and heavy curtains covered both beds so the people walking down the corridor could not see in. The beds were very comfortable and sleeping wasn't an issue, but then it never is for us!
The dining car was basically what the day revolved around, up in time for breakfast, tidy up and watch some scenery before lunch, then read a little, nap a little, watch some more scenery before dinner. We ate and ate and ate, it was all about eating and the quality of the food was excellent.
We only made it to Kamloops on the first day and then we were stuck there for 4 hours. Unfortunately the problem was on the last carriage which was our dome car and park car (the bar!) and the car had to be left behind. We found out later that the brakes had frozen and as we were about to navigate the Rocky Mountains we were disappointed that we lost the dome car but didn't really want a car without brakes as we climbed and more importantly descended the mountains.
The scenery was beautiful, there was a lot of snow, the lakes were frozen and the icicles hanging off the rocks next to the tracks were huge. We got off the train to stretch our legs and get some fresh air at Jasper. At 26 below it was SO COLD! Our nostrils froze, despite wearing thermals, gloves, hat (toque as they call it here) and scarf it was unbearable! Edmonton was the next stop but at below 30 we merely watched out the window.
After multiple delays we arrived into Toronto 6 hours late on the fourth day but happy. Despite Warren not wanting to be on a train for four days, it was great, we met a lot of interesting people and really got a good feel for Canada's countryside.
