July 1989
PROLOGUE
Only after starting to work at NYU did I understand that I received six weeks of paid vacation per year! That easily divided up into a nice winter break and one month off in the summer. The exchange, of course, was that no vacation was EVER allowed during the academic year. No worries - Brian was in law school, so my life was influenced by academia whether I liked it or not.
That first summer in New York City, Brian got a "summer associate" job at a small law firm in the Wall Street area. The pay was decent, but it also was a real job, so he was busy 9-5 with no hope of a long vacation. I had a month off and was on my own.
Somewhere I read that Via Rail Canada was promoting a rail pass for cheap that summer. I had very good friends in Vancouver (from the Sendai years) who I always promised to visit, so it was decided. I was going to cross Canada by train - the Gaspé to Vancouver Island (and back). I bought myself a travel bible (Lonely Planet, no doubt), informed Bill and Val P. I was headed their way, and booked a ticket to Montreal on the daily train north from New York City.
I had crossed the Eurasian continent by train - now it was time do to North America.
MONTREAL
I was no stranger to Montreal. In the Georgetown years when travel to Canada only required a driver's license, I made the trip a few times on Amtrak's Montrealer. It felt like a journey to Europe out of Washington. I loved Montreal's French flair; however, at the start of my great trans-Canadian journey, I was only blowing through Montreal on my way to Quebec City. In my mind the "real" trip was going to begin in a place I had never visited.
a brush with fame
Late night in Montreal in a place I never should have been after too many drinks I met a guy who was randomly interesting to talk to. We really hit it off and I was surprised at what a great conversation we were having given the surroundings. He insisted we go to a more proper venue for a coffee and better conversation. We talked on a variety of topics intelligently and he applauded my upcoming trip. It was late and I wanted to get back to the room, but he insisted we stop at a music shop. He was looking for something to show me. Finally, he found it. In his hand a copy of "Rolling Stone" magazine. I thought, "ok, you dragged me into a record shop to show me a magazine?". He frantically leafed through it to the book reviews. There it was - "Generation X by Doug Coupland". I looked at him quizically. "I am Doug Coupland".
The funniest part of meeting Doug C. was that it was just before his fame, so it literally meant nothing to me. I mean, I was happy for the guy to have been reviewed in Rolling Stone, but "so what?" In the coming months and years he gained fame and I always smiled and thought "oh yeah, that guy I met in the underbelly of Montreal" ha!
I activated my Via Rail Pass and got on train to Quebec City, supposedly more French than Montreal.
Place Jacques-Cartier, Vieux-Montréal
Vieux-Montréal
QUEBEC CITY
Three hours on a train along the St Lawrence River were scenic, but I was more excited about exploring Quebec City. It was an original, fortified colonial city dominated by the huge hotel complex, Château Frontenac. Ville de Québec promised to be MORE European and MORE French than Montreal - wow!
I was back to youth hostels after a long absence. If I was going to be in Canada for four weeks, even if some of the time was on the train or staying with friends, I had to save money. I got a youth hostel card and took the plunge. Overall, it went well and I easily transitioned back into that mode of travel. Even at the ripe age of 28 most of the hostel stayers appeared so young to me.
We residents formed some solidarity in the Quebec City Youth Hostel immediately as it was managed by a young Canadian woman who refused to speak English to any of us. Those were the heady days when many Québécois were virulently anti-Anglophone. Since none of us at the hostel were Anglo-Canadian, we found she took the issue just a tad too far. The hostel manager was not the only one with that attitude either - we repeatedly ran up against "French only" speakers with very negative attitudes throughout the city. We laughed it off and it actually served to make a bond amongst the hostel stayers.
The old town of Quebec City was lovely, yet maybe not as French as I had hoped (it was Colonial, not Belle Époque - what had I been expecting?). I enjoyed wandering around the much-less-urban city compared to Montreal. Dominating everything, however, was the massive Château Frontenac.
The Fairmont Le Château Frontenac, commonly referred to as the Château Frontenac, is a historic hotel in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The hotel is situated in Old Quebec, within the historic district's Upper Town, on the southern side of Place d'Armes. The Château Frontenac was designed by Bruce Price, and was built by the Canadian Pacific Railway company. The hotel is managed by Fairmont Hotels and Resorts. Opened in 1893, the Châteauesque-styled building has 18 floors; its 79.9-metre (262-foot) height is augmented by the 54 m elevation it sits at. It is one of the first completed grand railway hotels, and was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1981.
(Wikipedia)
The symbol of very French Quebec City was, in fact, built as a railway hotel by very English Canadians. How ironic that the most "French" building in the most "French" city of Quebec has nothing to do with France and Quebec and everything to do with the railways. Whatever the case, the hotel-that-looked-like-a-palace dominated everything and the views over the city and river from the Dufferin Terrace at its base were spectacular. Quebec City really was living up to the hype. French attitude, some lovely architecture, historic - Canada was off to a good start.
Gare du Palais
City gate
Château Frontenac from the lower town
Dufferin Terrace
Château Frontenac
Château Frontenac
Île d'Orléans
With hostel friends we made our way to the massive island in the St Lawrence River, Île d'Orléans. None of us knew what to expect and actually the island was only low rolling hills and pastureland with superb views up and down the river. The superlative part of that trip was the dandelions. We happened to visit when they were blooming and the entire island was a mass of yellow flowers. Only two other places have I experienced similar blankets of flowers - the poppies blooming in Kurdistan creating undulating fields of red and the purple azaleas around Namsan, South Korea blanketing that mountain in a purple haze. I seriously wondered why I had grown up so "anti-dandelion"? I wondered if in my future lawn I should only plant dandelions just to experience that magical golden carpet?
Beyond the striking floral bloom, not much held our interest on the island and we headed back over the bridge to the mainland to see Montmorency Falls.
Montmorency Falls
Prior to Niagara Falls (which I would see just a few days later), Montmorency was the biggest waterfall I had ever seen in North America. I was impressed by both its size and the flow. Even more amazing to me was that I had never heard of it prior to the trip. How did Quebec City hide this natural gem from the rest of the continent? My travel mates were non-American (I think from Europe, but memory fails) and they were surprised at my never having heard of it. We hung out for awhile watching the cataract thunder and then retreated to the youth hostel back in town with its surly francophone manager.
I was moving on to the tip of Quebec, the Gaspé Peninsula.
GASPÉ PENINSULA
I left my travel mates in Quebec City and started on the long train ride to the end of the Gaspé Peninsula. The journey was long and dull through undulating forested hills after the tracks moved away from the St Lawrence valley and cut across the neck of the peninsula. There was reason in my madness - I literally wanted to reach the tip of the peninsula to say I completely crossed Canada by surface transportation. My goal was Cap-des-Rosiers Lighthouse. (that train line, by the way, was decommissioned for passenger service in 2013, so I am lucky to have had the chance to ride it)
Rocher Percé
A famous "must see" along the way was the Rocher Percé formation just off the coast. The train station was, unfortunately, not near the scenic coastline (a big disappointment that the line to Gaspé appeared as coastal on the map, but actually was interior with only a few sections gloriously along the sea). I somehow made my way out to the coast (by bus perhaps? although I did some hitchhiking, too) and was treated to some glorious views of not only the famous "pierced rock", but also the beautifully rugged coastline. Truth be told even if Rocher Percé was somewhat underwhelming, the coast itself was a highlight of the entire trip to Canada. I had previously never known this place existed. Quebec to me was all about French culture in Montreal - I had no idea all this wild and beautiful scenery was part of Quebec as well!
on the way to Gaspé
I pressed onward to Gaspé where there was a youth hostel. The train paralleled the coast occasionally and gave fabulous views over the North Atlantic. In the small, peninsula-namesake town was a monument to Jacques Cartier since the town was his first landing in Canada. Musée de la Gaspésie gave a history of the region as well. For a little town in the middle of nowhere, it had a lot to see!
The Musée de la Gaspésie is anchored at the spot overlooking the magnificent Gaspé Bay where Jacques Cartier took possession of New France in 1534
there's gold in them thar hills
I was in a remote part of Quebec at the "end of the line" for public transport. Single-minded, I was determined to make it out to Cap-des-Rosiers lighthouse which would for some reason signal to me that I was at the extreme eastern end of Canada. Also, the lighthouse looked extremely scenic (in photos). With no other option, I hitchhiked.
Traffic was sparse and I was in a thinly populated region of Quebec. What was I thinking? A friendly trucker picked me up and we had a very rudimentary conversation in French because I could barely understand him through his thick québécois accent (let alone who knows how much being from Gaspé made it all the more difficult for me?). He kept pointing to the hills and telling me:
Il y a des ours dans la forêt. (there are bears in the woods)
My friendly driver was warning me to be careful as a solo hitchhiker in the area. Of course, twelves years of French study with a lot of focus on Chanson de Roland and other medieval texts had me understand:
Il y a de l'or dans la forêt (there is gold in the forest)
Somewhat perplexed that he insisted there was gold to be prospected in the hills, I got down in Cap-aux-Os (across the bay from Gaspé) and had a serious rethink about my plan. The traffic was light and what if I made it out to the lighthouse and couldn't find a ride back? I rarely admitted defeat when I set a travel goal, but the plan was just not working out. I caught another ride back to town and had to be satisfied with Cap-aux-Os being the easternmost point of Canada I ever travelled to.
That night while having some beers, the locals told me they were having a lot of problems with bears. Click, click, click - "ohhhhhhh, not 'gold', 'BEARS', you idiot!" I thought to myself. Perhaps I had dodged a bullet?
It was time to turn West. I was headed for the Pacific Ocean by train!
CAMPELLTON, NEW BRUNSWICK
Similar to Amtrak in the USA, the trans-Canada trains did not leave from Montreal nor even Ottawa. I had to make my way to Toronto. I woke up and got on the train to Campbellton where I had to overnight in order to catch the train to Montreal where I could then catch a train to Ottawa. It was going to be a long day.
Little Campbellton was a perfect Atlantic Maritime fishing port. I liked the place immediately. Right on the border of New Brunswick , just over a bridge was language-complex Quebec. There was not a lot to do in the town, so I went to get some food and hang out in local pub. The locals were very friendly and when we got on the topic of Quebec, they all kind of rolled their eyes. Apparently New Brunswick was 50% Anglo and 50% Francophone and most people were bilingual. It had been that way forever and they had no language politics at all. The Néo-Brunswickois were amazed at the intransigence of both sides. The province certainly could have been the model for all of Canada.
I caught the train the next day for a very long day to get to Ottawa.
OTTAWA
I was no stranger to Ottawa. Strangely enough, I became a winter fan of Ottawa due to skating on the Rideau Canal. I am not a great ice-skater, but I read an article how one could literally skate for miles on Rideau Canal and I actually travelled to Ottawa mid-winter once just to do that. On that trip, I really fell in love with Canada's little capital and its massive Houses of Parliament and its super-swank youth hostel in an old mansion.
Ottawa Youth Hostel - high class!
National Gallery of Canada
My big winter discovery was the National Gallery of Canada. The collection is not memorable but the architecture was amazing to me and provided a great escape that winter weekend. I made sure to spend some time again on this summer pass-through. At the time it was one of the most impressive modern museums I had ever visited - and it still is.
The museum's present building was designed by Moshe Safdie & Associates, with construction beginning in 1985, and the building opening in 1988.
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The building's northern, eastern, and western exterior facade is made up of pink-granite walls, or glass-windows. The southern exterior facade features an elongated glass wall, supported by concrete pylons grouped in fours. The profile of the southern facade was designed to mimic a cathedral, with the concrete pylons being used in a similar manner to the flying buttresses found on Gothic cathedrals. The eastern portion of the building's southern facade transitions into a low-leveled crystalline glass-cupola, which holds the museum's main entrance; and its western portion, which features a three-tiered glass-cupola.
In a nod to all things being interlinked in life eventually.
(Moshe Safdie) is most identified with designing Marina Bay Sands and Jewel Changi Airport, as well as his debut project, Habitat 67, originally conceived as his thesis at McGill University.
(Wikipedia)
Years before I would live in Singapore and marvel at the massive Marina Bay Sands hotel there, I admired this architect's work in Ottawa. Recalling the massive lobbies of the MBS and how it cuts through the buildings in massive towering arches I can now see the seeds of that in Canada's National Gallery.
Canadian Parliament Buildings
In addition to the tour of the Palace of Westminster, London, I think the tour of the Canadian Parliament buildings might be one of the best government building tours I ever took in my life. Rather than some neo-classical monstrosities, the Canadian Houses of Parliament are more of a Victorian/Belle Époque fantasy. Additionally, the Rideau Canal runs right below them and provides some stunning views.
The center building burned in 1916 and was rebuilt:
On 3 February 1916, a fire destroyed the Centre Block. Despite the ongoing war, Governor General Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught re-laid the original cornerstone on 1 September 1916; exactly fifty-six years after his brother, the future King Edward VII, had first set it. Eleven years later, the rebuilt Centre Block was completed and a new freestanding bell tower was dedicated as the Peace Tower, in commemoration of the Canadians who had lost their lives during the First World War.
(Wikipedia)
The two best parts of the tour were climbing the Peace Tower for a fantastic view over Ottawa and the nearby ornate roofs of the other Parliament buildings and learning that the Canadian government stiffed some of the stone masons who worked on the interior. The stone mason's revenge was to immortalize themselves inside the building with self-sculptures of their faces. If they didn't get paid, at least they would live on in Canadian History! I thought that was one of the best revenges any artists could take!
Rideau Canal
Rideau Canal
Rideau Canal
Rideau Canal
Centre Block and Peace Tower
View from the Peace Tower
View from the Peace Tower and the Ottawa River
Centre Block interior
National War Memorial
Hull, Quebec
Ottawa actually sits right on the border of Ontario with Hull, Quebec just across the river. Ottawa was glitsy and expensive, but all the lowly-paid bureaucrats lived in Hull. That is where newly-made hostel friends and I traveled at night for food and beer. Not to mention in those days, the provincial laws about beer sales meant that Quebec had not only a better selection of beer, it was far cheaper. It seems an odd thing to remember about a city, but it sticks out in memory. Ottawa for me was the Rideau Canal, the National Gallery, Parliament Hill, and cheap beer over in Hull.
Since I had visited Ottawa before, I did not stay long. It was a beautiful city in the summer, for sure, and one of the nicest places I visited on the entire trip. Although I had four weeks, Canada was vast and I could not tarry. I was headed for tourist icon - Niagara Falls.
NIAGARA FALLS
I pushed myself to go to Niagara Falls. I knew it was going to be super-touristy and not my scene at all. However, Sendai friends Bill and Val, whom I would be visiting in Vancouver, had lived in St Catherines, Ontario and always spoke fondly of the area. Bill had never steered me wrong in travel advice.
A huge escarpment zig zags across the US and Canada:
The Niagara Escarpment is not a fault line but the result of unequal erosion. It is composed of an outcrop belt of the Lockport Formation of Silurian age, and is similar to the Onondaga Formation, which runs in a parallel outcrop belt just to the south, through western New York and southern Ontario. The escarpment is the most prominent of several escarpments formed in the bedrock of the Great Lakes Basin. From its easternmost point near Watertown, New York, the escarpment shapes in part the individual basins and landforms of Lake Ontario, Lake Huron, and Lake Michigan.
(Wikipedia)
The escarpment that cuts across the Niagara River connecting Lake Erie and Lake Ontario is not extremely tall - about 300 feet (100 meters). The Niagara Canyon carved by the erosion of the falls is something unexpected on the East Coast of North America. What makes Niagara Falls unique, however, is its volume.
All of Lake Erie is draining into Lake Ontario - slowly and thunderously. Like an unending sink draining that never empties, the falls make a constant, tremendous noise. When the Native Americans first brought the Europeans to the falls, they could hear it for a day before they saw it. The Indians said they were bringing those guys to see one of their Gods. I am sure they must have been pretty nervous just before they came to know it was a waterfall. Before development, Niagara Falls surely was almost a paradise. The falls these early explorers would find was not any waterfall either - it's one that drains 20% of the worlds liquid fresh water.
Standing at the very edge of the Canadian Falls, the overwhelming feeling was of raw power. No other place I have visited has ever felt like that. Even if the Canadians have given the place over to Mammon and mass tourism, and they have overdeveloped and ruined the area, nothing can compare with standing right at the edge of the falls and watching all that water fall over the edge and FEEL the sound reverberating throughout your body. To say I was impressed was an understatement.
I walked down the many stairs to the base and took the walk up to the base of the falls. The sound was overpowering. I elected not go on the Maid of the Mists (expensive and well, misty, what would I see?). I just enjoyed the views and vicariously drew off the energy of the falls. The nearby American Falls were more like a sideshow compared to the main Canadian Falls. No wonder the Canadians had built up their side - it was better.
The youth hostel there was incredibly international with people from all over the world coming to view this natural wonder which I had until recently dismissed as "probably boring". I hung out with Germans who kept talking about "Neeya-gara" and I finally asked them what that was and they looked at me stunned. "This place is called 'Niagara', right?" Oh, I had a great laugh learning the German pronunciation of the falls. It sounded so foreign that I didn't even recognize it. I taught them how to say it in English immediately!
We all took a walk in search of food in little Niagara Falls town which was surrounded by an explosion of ugly development. The short "Main Street" had kept its small town nature, however. I think we all appreciated getting away from the mass tourism stuff that seemed to have grown in the area like a Beta version of Las Vegas. The overdevelopment of the area really was shameful, yet anyone could walk to falls edge with their back to all that man-made, architectural hubris and just stare at the flood of water pouring over the escarpment.
People often ask me about places that impressed me and they seem shocked that I mention Niagara Falls. It's all about the volume...
American Falls
American Falls
Horseshoe Falls
Horseshoe Falls
Horseshoe Falls
Horseshoe Falls
TORONTO
"'Tirana' was not the capital of Albania but the economic heart of Canada" was the running joke when I visited or "What is the most beautiful city in the USA? Toronto." "Tirana" on Lake Ontario is probably the most beautiful city on all of the Great Lakes. Chicago is amazing, but also has a lot of "big city problems" that are just not as apparent in squeaky-clean Toronto. I liked my brief stopover and I wished I had budgeted more time, but I was headed West. Canada's vastness kept me on the move.
The CN tower at the time loomed large. I visited the place with some people from the Toronto Youth Hostel. I remember the visit due to the discussion of the CN tower's height and nature with fellow travelers. The CN tower was a communications tower with an observation deck and restaurant - so was it the tallest building in the world? What was a "building"? Such were the heady questions we posited as we took the elevator to the top for a spectacular view over the city and the lake. (Note: Burj Khalifa in Dubai only surpassed it in height in 2007 - the CN Tower was TALL)
Being mid-summer with glorious weather, I wanted to visit Toronto Island Park which provided incredible views of the city skyline AND had a nudist beach! The beach ended up being unremarkable (I hardly have any recollection of it), but the views over the lake and back to the city were excellent. It was the best bit of "Tirana" for me and for residents who endured a very long winter, I am sure they loved it even more.
The main issue with Toronto was expenses. The economic capital of Canada had lots of rich and successful people living there. That meant higher prices - and not a little higher, a LOT higher. All of us at the hostel complained that although we loved the city, it was punishingly expensive. It was difficult to ignore all Toronto had to offer, so I promised myself I would return one day (with more time and money). Toronto had amazing restaurants and intact ethnic neighborhoods akin to New York City. Unfortunately, I never returned.
It was time for the long train ride to the West.
Skyline
Toronto Island Park
CN Tower
CN Tower view
night view
THE LONG ROAD WEST
From Union Station Toronto I got on the morning train toward Vancouver. I would be on the train until Edmonton, so I had a LONG ride ahead of me. The first part of the journey was almost all in Ontario ONLY and it took 36 hours! The scenery was occasionally beautiful as we passed by a lake, but mostly it reminded me of the days of dull, forested scenery on the Trans-Siberian Railway [see: Beijing to Athens]. There was little point to look out the window when the scenery never changed for hours at a time.
As we approached Sudbury, even the trees gave way to a "Mordor-like" barren terrain.
Sudbury, once known as a moonscape, was the training site for crew members from two different NASA moon missions.
This was all anticipated, however. I knew the first part of the journey would be dull and many people had written about traversing Ontario being the worst part of the trip (particularly around Sudbury). Shortly after we crossed into Manitoba we hit Winnipeg, the first "long" stop.
WINNIPEG
Have I actually been to Winnipeg? Well, yes, because I walked out of the train station to the nearby government buildings and took a few photos. Actually, unlike the Trans-Siberian railway whose stops were mysterious in length (at least to the passengers), VIA Rail Canada announced we would be stopping in Winnipeg for nearly an hour and if we wanted to de-train, make sure to be back in time. After 36 hours in a railway carriage looking at a mostly unremarkable Southern Ontario, I needed to stretch my legs. I had a short walk in the evening daylight hours. Winnipeg seemed devoid of people - but it was late in the day. The commercial district was already closed so there was no buying anything. I guess I set foot in Winnipeg, but "visit" would be a stretch.
I don't know if people look forward to seeing the "Prairies" (the great, flat agricultural heartland of North America), but I needed a change from a day and a half in Ontario.
Manitoba Legislative Building
Manitoba Legislative Building
PRAIRIE
It was 24 more hours to Edmonton from Winnipeg. We all got back on the train and eventually slept. We arrived in Saskatoon for another slightly long stop (I believe I stayed on the train) around midday. Saskatoon was SMALL. Otherwise, the scenery was flat at first when I woke up in the morning and changing to a more undulating terrain as we neared Edmonton. We arrived in Edmonton late, and my hosts, parents of an old Sendai colleague and roommate, met me at the station. I was desperately in need of a shower and a proper sleep.
EDMONTON
family ties
For the first year in Sendai, Japan my roommate was David G., a Canadian my age who was the hugest Japanophile on earth. He had done a study abroad in Yokohama and yearned to return to the Land of the Rising Sun, so like me he found a job with the YMCA. Overall, he was miserable in Sendai and longed to be in Tokyo. Maybe Sendai was too much like Edmonton - a remote northern city, far from everything? David was an incredibly kind and generous soul who loved performing in drag shows back in Canada. "Outrageous" did not even begin to describe David. Over that year, I heard so much about his family and it seemed natural to visit them in Edmonton, his hometown.
Indeed they greeted me warmly and showed me a great time in their city. To put it kindly, after a few days with them I came to understand why David was the way he was. I was grateful for the hospitality shown by his parents, but I was also happy to move on a short time after. As I often commented to my brother, "sometimes I meet people that make me understand just how great our parents were".
Fort Edmonton Park
Fort Edmonton (also named Edmonton House) was the name of a series of trading posts of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) from 1795 to 1914, all of which were located on the north banks of the North Saskatchewan River in what is now central Alberta, Canada.
...
The fifth and final Fort Edmonton, 1830–1914, was the one that evolved into present-day Edmonton.
...
What remained of the fifth Fort Edmonton was dismantled in 1915. It was seen as a crumbling eyesore next to the Alberta Legislature Building, which had been completed three years earlier.[35] The Government of Alberta indicated at the time that it would use the old fort's timbers to create a heritage site elsewhere in the city, but it never did.
...
In 1969, a reconstruction of the fifth Fort Edmonton began five kilometres upstream from its final site, representing it as it stood in 1846, but this time on the south bank of the North Saskatchewan River. This marked the beginning of Fort Edmonton Park, which has become one of the city's premier tourist attractions. The park represents, through various historical buildings, four distinct time periods, exploring Edmonton's development from a fur trade post in the vast Northwest, to a settled urban centre after the First World War.
(Wikipedia)
Fort Edmonton was totally unexpected on the trip across Canada. Granted, the place was all reconstructed and not original, it did exist to memorialize a part of Canada's history. For me, it was like something from the Wild West of the USA transported to the northern plains of Canada. A little like Williamsburg, Virginia the whole place was edutainment - a tourist attraction, but done very well with attention to historical detail. Anyone wanting to know what life in the American West was like in the days of forts and wagon trains should travel north to Canada to find out! I surprisingly enjoyed the visit.
Alberta Provincial Assembly Building
The building is located on a promontory overlooking the scenic North Saskatchewan River valley near the location of Fort Edmonton, Mark V (1830–1915), a Hudson's Bay Company fur-trading post, a long-established economic and administrative centre of the western Prairies. It is just up the hill from the archaeological finds at Rossdale Flats to the east, remnants of a long-standing First Nations campsite and location of an earlier Fort Edmonton.
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The Alberta Legislature Building was built between 1907 and 1913 in the Beaux Arts style at the same time as the much larger Saskatchewan and Manitoba legislative buildings by architects Allan Merrick Jeffers and Richard Blakey.
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Jeffers may have been influenced by the State House of Rhode Island, where he had been a student. The style was associated originally with the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and was fashionable in North America between 1895 and 1920.
(Wikipedia)
My second Provincial Legislature Building on the train journey, I remember thinking how lovely it was and how "even in Canada 'state capital' buildings all look the same". It is fitting that it was built in sight of two of the original Fort Edmonton locations.
Muttart Conservatory
David had often spoken of the Muttart Conservatory, so it was high on my list. Built in 1976, it was a futuristic, partly enclosed botanical garden. Its colorful exterior gardens in summer were as beautiful as the modern greenhouses. In the long, cold Alberta winter I was sure those pyramids must have provided some hope to snowbound residents that indeed green still existed somewhere in the world.
West Edmonton Mall
At the time I visited, the West Edmonton Mall (locally called WestEd) was the largest shopping mall in the world. I had to see it, of course. A huge entertainment complex - the Muttart Conservatory's capitalist, behemoth twin, it existed as a place to forget the long Canadian winter. WestEd had its own climate and its own problems. Edmonton did not have cockroaches, but WestEd had unwittingly imported them. With its constant benign climate, those hard-to-kill urban pests had found a new home. David's mother didn't like to eat at the mall due to the roaches, in fact. (I wondered how she would deal with New York City?)
In the end, although massive and interesting to visit, WestEd was just another mall and the lovely Canadian summer beckoned us back outside.
INTO THE MOUNTAINS
a long anticipated view
Compared to other train journeys in Canada, the ride to Jasper was a "fast" six and a half hours. The train left the rolling prairies around Edmonton and soon entered the Athabasca River valley. The mountains rose up out of the flatness abruptly and dramatically. Was it my sheer anticipation and desire to be in the Rockies after crossing most of North America by train? Or was it actually a gorgeous scene? I was awestruck.
One of my best memories of the Trans-Canadian rail journey, and perhaps one of my best overall travel memories, is seeing the Rockies rise up over the Athabasca River. Right below that mountain wall we stopped in Hinton, Alberta. Soon after we started winding through the mountains on the way to Jasper.
Hinton, AB
winding through the mountains
The train slowly pulled us through the mountains along the Athabasca. Everyone was in the observation lounge and the mood was festive. This was the moment we had all waited for and it was worth it!
Next stop, Jasper.
CANADIAN ROCKIES
Jasper
Little Jasper was in a beautiful setting. I liked everything about the town except that I realized the whole place was set up for touring by car. Bad planning on my part! I did manage to make it out to Athabasca Falls, but some of the more stunning scenery (especially Maligne Lake) was simply out of reach. I didn't intend to stay long in Jasper anyway - I was on my way to the coast. My big exploration in the Rockies was going to be on the return trip via Banff. I did love little Jasper though, even if I felt stuck there.
Next stop, Prince Rupert, British Columbia and the Pacific Coast.
Athabasca Falls
DOWN TO PRINCE RUPERT
The Skeena train by Via Rail Canada plied the route from Jasper to Prince Rupert. It was a very long ride through glorious mountain scenery. It took nearly a day so the novelty of the scenery got old quickly. The hard seats and lack of services onboard made all passengers just want to arrive at their respective destinations. Locally known as the "Rupert Rocket", it provided subsidized, regular transportation between Jasper (connected to Vancouver and Edmonton), Prince George (from where I came to have dear friends from the Singapore years), and Prince Rupert (connected to Vancouver Island and Alaska) on the coast. These days to promote ridership it is a daylight service with an overnight stopover in Prince George. I feel sorry I missed out on that development - the mountains in British Columbia were stunning.
The Skeena was truly an uncomfortable experience set in fabulous scenery. I was happy to get off the train. We must have arrived in Prince Rupert in time to catch the BC Ferry down to Port Hardy. I don't recall staying in the town at all - we just had a lot of time to kill and Prince Rupert had zero to do.
I had once again made a small group of travelling friends and we were glad to leave the Rupert Rocket to shoot back to Jasper. The Inside Passage reaching from Skagway, Alaska via Canada to Seattle, Washington was waiting.
PRINCE RUPERT TO PORT HARDY
We all excitedly boarded the car ferry - this was going to be one of the high points of the trip. It would take about 16 hours to make it to Port Hardy. The boat left very late in the afternoon, but with extended summer daylight, we had lovely views for the first few hours. The next day as well we were treated to the lush, forested mountains of the Inside Passage. This gave me a taste of what Brian and my next summer vacation was going to look like [see: Alaska and Yukon - planes, ferries, buses, and trains]. As we sailed along the unpopulated coast of British Columbia, it became clear to me that I had NOT done my homework. The pier at Port Hardy, Vancouver Island was not even in town AND there was no public transportation south. I was getting a little panicky. A group of people were going to overnight in the town and hitchhike the next day. I wasn't sure I was up for that after my recent experience in Quebec - the northern tip of Vancouver Island was even MORE remote. I didn't want to get stuck somewhere. There was a guy with a car who was planning to camp the first night and invited me to join, then I could head south with him. He was generous in his offer, but something didn't sit right about him. I honestly did not think it was a good idea, but given I had almost zero options, I took him up on it. Always listen to your gut. Meanwhile, I tried to enjoy the scenery all the while wondering what mess I had got myself into.
PORT HARDY TO VICTORIA
you are 27 going on 28...
Desperate situations require desperate measures. I had to make it at least down Vancouver Island to Nanaimo where I could catch a little train onward to Victoria. Nanaimo was halfway down very large and very unpopulated Vancouver Island. I agreed to do an overnight camp with a guy I met on the ferry (who I didn't really care for) on the promise that he would drive me down as far as Nanaimo the next day.
Of course, my intuitions were right and he had more than camping in mind which I fended off, but it was really uncomfortable. We had arrived at the campground late and since neither of us had slept well on the ferry, we were tired and fell asleep (thank God). We awoke to the view of this mountain on this lake somewhere on the north part of the island. It was glorious, but all I wanted to do was get to Nanaimo and away from the guy who, when we got ready to sleep, stripped down to show me he was wearing black, fishnet stockings.
Another learning moment in life - do better homework, don't let yourself get into those situations again (and I didn't).
I did make it to Nanaimo after a rather silent, long ride from my spurned courtier. I remember the scenery as gorgeous, but I just wanted to get to Victoria. I luckily caught the train and was in Victoria by evening.
I had reached my goal, my far point.
VICTORIA
the trouble with expectations
I reached Victoria and found the youth hostel there. "Victoria, more British than England," I heard that repeatedly. At that point I hadn't been to England and after arriving in Victoria, I felt most people who uttered those words also had never been. Glorious Victoria was at best "pleasant". Once again, a place had been built up so much in my mind that the reality simply could not match what I expected.
One of the main sites of the city is the Empress Hotel, right down on the Inner Harbor. It was another of Canadian Pacific's grand railway hotels (like its twin, Château Frontenac in Quebec City).
Opened on 20 January 1908, the Châteauesque-styled building is considered one of Canada's grand railway hotels. Since its opening, the hotel has undergone two expansions, the first from 1910 to 1912, and a second expansion in 1928. The building was designated as a National Historic Site of Canada in January 1981.
...
Designed by Francis Rattenbury, the hotel was built from 1904 to 1908. Rattenbury's initial plans featured a seven-story hotel similar to the Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City. Incorporating elements of French Renaissance architecture, his designs featured an enormous entrance hall, and a glass-roofed palm garden decorated in a Chinese motif. After months of delays, Rattenbury was relieved as the building's architect on 5 December 1907, with design responsibilities falling to William Sutherland Maxwell, the chief architect for Canadian Pacific Railway.
(Wikipedia)
The grande dame of Victoria, the Empress Hotel was its symbol and having high tea there was de rigueur for a visit. I passed on the high tea, but I did have a look around the interior which was gorgeous. The hotel, however, seemed to be Victoria (along with the Legislative Assembly Building nearby). Both buildings certainly impressed, but there was not much more to the city that made me swoon. Without the build-up, I think I would have given Victoria high marks simply because it was beautiful, but as a traveler's "must see"? I was not so sure.
The other place to see in Victoria (and insisted on by Bill P) was Butchart Gardens. Again, a place touted as "amazing" failed to live up to expectations. If I compared it to Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania, it was smaller and less interesting. Butchart Gardens WAS gorgeous, but it was not one of the most incredible gardens in North America (although it was very beautiful).
Its history, however, is a great story of sustainability and repurposing:
Robert and Jennie Butchart moved to the southern tip of Vancouver Island from Ontario because of its limestone deposits. Robert had made his fortune in Portland Cement. The site of his later abandoned quarry became the pallet on which Jennie would make Butchart Gardens!
In 1909, when the limestone quarry was exhausted, Jennie set about turning it into the Sunken Garden, which was completed in 1921. They named their home "Benvenuto" ("welcome" in Italian), and began to receive visitors to their gardens. In 1926, they replaced their tennis courts with an Italian garden and in 1929 they replaced their kitchen vegetable garden with a large rose garden to the design of Butler Sturtevant of Seattle. Samuel Maclure, who was consultant to the Butchart Gardens, reflected the aesthetic of the English Arts and Crafts Movement.
(Wikipedia)
I did love Butchart Gardens. They were so well-manicured and cared for. Anyone visiting Victoria MUST see them. However, are they English gardens set in a quintessentially British city somehow misplaced on the southern tip of Vancouver Island? No. Once again, I felt disappointed.
Luckily, Victoria did have one hidden gem for me.
Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
Empress Hotel
Empress Hotel
Empress Hotel
Legislative Assembly Building
Butchart Gardens
Butchart Gardens
Royal British Columbia Museum - a delightful discovery
The bright spot of Victoria turned out to be the museum, which had been enthusiastically recommended by Bill. The museum was labeled as "Natural and Human History '', but for me was a huge anthropological treasure trove of information and artifacts from the Pacific Northwest Native Americans. I knew nothing of the Haida, Tlingit, and Makah. The museum felt like having surprisingly been transported to a foreign country. I realized I knew next to nothing about the indigenous people of the region. In my mind, "native Americans" were all something like the First Peoples of the Great Plains. Those who first lived along the lush and abundant coasts of Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska were totally alien to me. That museum visit totally redeemed Victoria for me. I loved everything about it (not to mention the visual arts were so striking).
a nod to the influence of the early Japanese immigrants
Realizing that Victoria was something of a bust except for the museum, I was ready to move on. I was tired of traveling, too. I would be meeting up with old friends Bill and Val from Sendai days soon. I was so looking forward to meeting them after several years.
I caught the boat to Vancouver.
VICTORIA TO VANCOUVER
The BC Ferry to Vancouver left neither from Victoria nor arrived in Vancouver. I had to make my way to Swartz Bay north of the city to catch the hour and a half ferry to Tsawwassen Terminal on the mainland (south of Vancouver, right on the US border). I recall the weather was fabulous, but the scenery was far less striking than the Inside Passage of a few days before. Many of the islands sat low on the water and were not all that remarkable. I was just happy to be headed to Vancouver, one of the highlight cities of the trip.
VANCOUVER
I made it up to Vancouver from Tsawwassen Port and somehow managed to connect with Bill and Val. In these days of mobile phones and GPS, I look back and wonder how on earth I ever met anyone anywhere in the past.
Back in the Japan days, Bill and Val came to work at the Sendai YMCA and ended up living down the street from me. Their house became our informal meeting point (much to Val's frustration at times). A lot of heady conversations of youth were had at their place in Kawauchi, Sendai.
Bill and Val had lived in Taiwan for several years before I knew them and traveled a lot in Asia, so Bill truly was my mentor/guru in the early travel years. It was from Bill that I learned about British Malaya, Hong Kong, and Macao. He also knew a lot about the ex-European colonies in China. The guy had studied Library Science with a dream of becoming an Archivist. I have to say so many of his descriptions and explanations of places I took straight to heart in my youth (he was about 10 years my senior). Not only was I inspired to travel more, but I desired to do "intelligent traveling" where I would visit meaningful places with some kind of historical import. Looking back, beyond being the master of the house where we all went to complain about work, he was also someone who influenced how and where I traveled. That has lasted with me until today.
Val was his third generation Japanese-Canadian wife whose parents had lived through the horror of life in an internment camp during WWII. She was a feminist and bristled at what she perceived as the subservient attitude and low position of women in Japan. In spite of her heritage, I don't think she ever liked living there. If it were up to Bill, I think they would have remained expats in Asia the rest of their lives, but for Val - Canada was the only place that would ever be home.
So, I was going to be in Vancouver for a week sleeping in their small guest room which was soon to become a nursery because Val was heavily pregnant. I was extremely happy to meet up with them again - it had been a couple of years since I left Japan. Equally importantly, Vancouver quickly became one of my favorite cities in Canada, in North America, and ... anywhere!
Vancouver skyline
With Bill on his parents' lovely deck overlooking the city.
Gastown
Of Expos and Immigration
Two big topics were on everyone's lips in Vancouver. One was the lingering effects of the 1986 Expo, and the other was about the immigration crisis coming out of Hong Kong prior to the 1997 handover to China. Both were connected to real estate. The Transportation Expo of 1986 was wildly successful for a World's Fair. Compared to the couple of expos prior, Vancouver's had been a great success in attendance and income. It had left a few permanent buildings in its wake and one of the most striking was "Canada Place" down on the waterfront. After the Expo it was turned into a convention center and a cruise ship pier. Three years after the event, Canada Place still cut a daring figure on the Vancouver waterfront. Vancouver was proof that an expo could transform a city and leave a lasting mark. In the case of Vancouver, it promoted the city and left behind some good infrastructure. However... Locals did not want to be THAT promoted as a great city right at that moment. As a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations, Canada was somewhat obliged to accommodate Hong Kong Chinese who were starting to immigrate to Canada in droves. These were not the "masses" of Hong Kong - they were the rich elite. They got Canadian citizenship or at least permanent residency, bought a home in Vancouver at an inflated price, and went back to live in Hong Kong. If things went belly up after the handover, they could just migrate to Canada. No worries, right? Well, so many "Hongkies" bought real estate in Vancouver that they created a bubble market. The locals found that they could no longer afford to live in the city proper. When we visited Bill's parents in a close-in suburb of the city, they explained that their home (with a fabulous view) had gone up in value exponentially. If a Hong Kong Chinese bought a property in their neighborhood, they tore down the original modest home and put up a huge mansion built nearly to the edges of all the property lines. Their little neighborhood was up in arms about what was happening and were powerless to do anything about it. As for Bill and Val, they had already resigned themselves never to live in the city they grew up in. They were sanguine about it and did not bear ill feelings to the new immigrants. What they resented was that most of the places just laid empty with the owners maintaining them as holiday residences or "back ups" in case Hong Kong imploded.
Canada Place
Granville Island
One of my best explorations of downtown Vancouver was Granville Island which had a shot of development during the Expo. It was Vancouver's own little patch of reclaimed industrial blight and the place I first drank beer from a microbrewery in North America (it was not even a "thing" in 1989 down south). The island's centerpiece was the Public Market.
The Granville Island Public Market was established in 1979 as a location where farmers and other food vendors could sell to consumers. It operates year-round in an enclosed facility where customers can purchase fresh produce, meat, fish and seafood, cheeses and other products, many locally sourced. There are generally 50 vendors in the market. The market includes retail food vendors, selling a range of items from Mexican, Asian, Greek and deli food to candy and snacks. The market attracts both local residents and tourists. The market includes a "kids market" designed for children.
Granville Island Brewing Co. is the name of a beer company which originated on Granville Island in 1984, but whose main base of operations was moved to Kelowna, British Columbia, some time later. In 2009 it was purchased by Molson's Brewery and continues to brew small batches of its varieties at the Granville Island brewing original site, and offers beer tasting and tours of their brewing facilities.
Ocean Concrete is the longest-established tenant on the island, having set up shop there in 1917. In 2014, OSGEMEOS (Portuguese for THE TWINS), consisting of brother duo Gustavo and Otavio Pandolfo, revamped the concrete silos with their ongoing mural project, 'Giants'.
(Wikipedia)
Granville Island beer remained in my pantheon of good beers until the rest of the USA and Canada caught up. In Canada, people were still hostage to ancient liquor laws that forbade inter-provincial beer sales (Americans had a better selection of Canadian beer than Canadians) and in the USA, we still drank Coors and thought it was good because it came from Colorado and not Wisconsin or Missouri.
Granville Island bridges
Vancouver Aquarium and its randy whales
To that point I had never been to Sea World in the USA and the Vancouver Aquarium was not only an excellent aquarium, but it also had trained orcas that performed in a show. I wanted the experience (although these days frowned upon) and it came highly recommended. After viewing the fish tank exhibits, I bought a ticket for the Orca show. The trainers came out and something seemed wrong. The whales were swimming very quickly around the pool and doing a lot of thrashing. The trainer/performers quickly announced, "Very sorry, but today's show is cancelled, but if you want to see something amazing go down to the viewing room below the stage". What was up? We descended to the viewing room with its huge panels of glass to see the Orcas darting around like crazy. They were in heat and ready to mate. The trainers knew better than to attempt a show when the whales were in that state. They swam rapidly in the tank occasionally meeting and copulating after which they engaged in more rapid swimming. There were several groups of very young school children thrilled with the impromptu show. One little girl asked, "What is that thing hanging off the whale's body?" I thought I was going to die of laughter and wanted to tell the teacher "good luck explaining that one!" So, I never got to see the trained marine mammal show (which actually was the main point of the visit), but I did get to see Orcas mating which I guessed was something almost no one sees.
Queen Elizabeth Park
Bill and Val lived on Cambie Street and their neighborhood was called "South Cambie". Just up the road (uphill) was Queen Elizabeth Park which they both recommended. I walked up the hill to find a FABULOUS urban park that was, like Butchart Gardens, an abandoned quarry. Going with no expectations, I found it lovely. I actually preferred it to Butchart (which was pure heresy). The gardens were tastefully laid out and visiting in midsummer meant many blooms were at their peak. The garden also gave sweeping views over the city. Butchart Gardens were more colorful and had more pizzazz, but Queen Elizabeth Park appeared a lot more regal. It accomplished the same effect without trying so hard.
Wreck Beach
On a headland overlooking the sea and downtown Vancouver was the University of British Columbia. The coastline below the cliffs was forested with amazing old growth trees and the whole area was designated as a park. Famous along that narrow strip was Wreck Beach. It was Vancouver's nudist beach and a bastion of counter culture. People went down to Wreck Beach basically to walk naked in the forest (and I believe do a lot of other activities in the woods). I was curious. I went out to the modern campus of UBC (what a location for a university!) and made my way down the steep stairs and trail to Wreck Beach below. For the first time ever, I got naked at one of those places (where I stowed my clothes, I have no idea) and basically I frolicked amongst the huge trees and on the bits of beach baring it all. There were few other people there (one reason I was so bold) - the experience was liberating. I couldn't believe how great it felt to be in nature, au naturel. I have never again experienced such a rush as I did on Wreck Beach - I swear I was ready to become a nudist. Unfortunately, I was in and out of the shade and it was July. Parts of my body that never saw the sun did that day and I got a terrible sunburn on my bum. The next day I was writhing in pain and had to buy some cream and ask my friends to help apply it (humiliating for me, disgusting for them - although they were laughing hysterically). Another huge life lesson learned - being naked outdoors is not without some preparation and precaution. My main concern was would I heal enough to be seated on the train all the way back across Canada a few days later?! Whatever the case, my few hours frolicking on Wreck Beach remains one of the best things I did on that vacation and maybe EVER from the point of view of personal liberation!
Capilano Lake
We took a one-day trip out of town to the nearby Capilano Lake (a man-made reservoir that gives Vancouver 40% of its drinking water). The dam and spillway were impressive since they gave such a high view into the gorge below. The rushing water down the side of the dam was mesmerizing. The lake itself was a lovely recreation area and a park. It all seemed ironic to me to designate it a park since most of BC was vacant and park-like already!
Cleveland Dam spillway
Howe Sound
High on my list to visit was the ski resort of Whistler, but to get there I had to take the train which followed the gorgeous Howe Sound for about half of the journey. Bill highly recommended the Britannia Copper Mine tour on the way. Bill had yet to lead me astray, so I went downtown, caught the train, and was off.
Howe Sound is gorgeous beyond belief, but the result of all that copper mining also rendered the fish inedible. It was amazing to think such a pristine area could be so toxic just under the surface.
In 1888, copper was discovered in the mountains around Britannia Creek, south of Squamish. Large scale mining began at Britannia Beach in 1905, and by 1929, the largest copper mine in the British Empire was located here, beside the shores of Howe Sound. The mine closed in 1974, but part of its historical legacy has been the large amounts of toxic effluent it has deposited into Howe Sound. In September 2021, Howe Sound was designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in recognition of its recovery from industrial pollution and to promote sustainable development.
(Wikipedia)
It is a relief to know that Howe Sound is recovering, but I am not sure how long it will take for the fish to be edible again?
The Britannia Mine Tour was one of the best tours I ever took in my life! It not only took people into the claustrophobic bowels of the earth, but it also gave a real taste of what working in a mine was like. Bill had not oversold it - the mine tour was one of the high points of the whole trip across Canada.
The museum oversees 23 historic industrial, administrative and domestic buildings, over 7000 artifacts, 9500 archive photos and 3000 archival documents and maps. Visitors are given a train ride through an historic haulage tunnel, driven in 1914 to transport ore from the original mill buildings to the shore. Historic mining and lighting equipment is demonstrated to the visitor. The historic nature of the site has resulted in many feature films and TV productions being filmed there, most notably Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, the episode "Paper Clip" of The X-Files, Okja., The Man in the High Castle (TV series) and MacGyver.
I never would have thought an old mine would be of interest, but it turned out to be something unexpectedly fascinating. With old age comes claustrophobia - I am happy I did it young.
Benefitting from the long summer days, I still had time to press onward to Whistler.
Whistler
I finally made it to Whistler and was struck by two things - one, it was in a gorgeous setting; and two, not much of anything was going on there in the off season. In fact, I was surprised at how absolutely dead the place was (and how small). The one thing still running was one of the chair lifts which took people to a nearby mountain top for a stunning view. I had a walk-about and enjoyed the scenery and the clear weather which I was quickly learning was never a given in the mountains. I would have loved to return in the ski season.
I also managed to stop off at the spectacular Brandywine Falls along the aptly named Route 99 "Sea-to-Sky Highway". The falls stood out in their uninterrupted drop without splashing off on any rocks on their descent.
The combined Howe Sound and Whistler trip were another high point of the Vancouver visit and the whole journey, but I look back somewhat amazed at how I managed to do everything without a car in a country that is as car-dependent as Canada. The train certainly only made the journey to Whistler once or twice a day, yet I stopped at the mines, a waterfall, and spent time in Whistler. How did I manage it? No hitchhiking for sure, the Vancouver Island experience put an end to rides with strangers. Somehow I did it.
I look back with amazement at the places I traveled before information was readily available. I remain grateful for my travel optimism and spirit of adventure at that age!
Brandywine Falls
LONG ROAD BACK
The time in Vancouver had drawn to a close. It was great to visit my old friends from Japan on their native turf. I am quite sure I overstayed my welcome because having hosted many friends myself, after three days (as the adage goes) things become tiring. I believe I stayed with Bill and Val for nearly a week! Vancouver became one of my new favorite cities, ever. I was surprised it was not more well-known, but as usual, the overly-hyped cities further down the coast sucked all the attention away. No worries, though - with the exception of an escape hatch for Hong Kong Chinese, I liked that Vancouver was somewhat undiscovered. It made the place all that more manageable. Bill and Val took me to the old Pacific Central Station and I boarded the transcontinental train once again for the 36 hour ride to Banff. I was already dreading the long trip back. The scenery was lovely, but the train left late afternoon and a lot of BC was passed through in the dark. There was no way a journey that long could have all the best parts in daylight. The train passed by the waterfall pictured - I mean, it passed right in front of it. It was probably one of the most dramatic train views I have ever had and since we were climbing into the Rockies, the train was moving quite slowly anyway. I was tired from all the travel and even though in Vancouver I had a nice place to sleep, I had been on the go there, too. I continued to dread the long ride from Banff back to Toronto and then New York City. Last stop would be the most famous place to see the Canadian Rockies iconic scenery. I was excited, but I was exhausted.
Vancouver Train Station
Vancouver Train Station
the train!
(from the train window) somewhere in British Columbia
CANADIAN ROCKIES (again)
Banff
Back to staying in youth hostels (the last one), I discovered the one in Banff was not only huge, but extremely well-run. Everyone who wanted to see the Canadian Rockies stopped in Banff, so unlike Jasper, the town was set up for people who might have arrived without a private vehicle. The guests were extremely international, too. It reminded me of the hostel back in Ottawa.
Banff was basically a small place surrounded by towering peaks - more dramatic than Jasper. On a hill overlooking town was the huge "Banff Springs Hotel" - another railway hotel like the Empress in Victoria and Château Frontenac in Quebec City. David G., my ex-roommate had loved Banff and Bill P. also said it was a great base from which to explore. I was ready for adventure!
I met a group of people in the hostel and the days I spent there running around with them were a lot of fun. We must have taken tours because I did manage to get out to Lake Louise and Lake Moraine as well as exploring some of the nearby countryside. How did I manage to get around? Like my trip to Howe Sound, always a retrospective mystery.
We had some great nights of drinking to excess in Banff and I recall walking the streets late at night returning to the hostel "more than tipsy" and running into a towering elk. I literally turned a corner and ran straight into him. The creature was HUGE (and unfazed by my presence). I was later told I was lucky it was not a moose who are famously aggressive and dangerous. Good helps fools and drunk people I guess?
Lake Louise
David G. was a huge fan of Lake Louise and its hotel. That love might come partly from it being a huge destination with Japanese travelers (as was Banff itself which, on my visit, was bilingually sign-posted in Japanese). I had heard about the beauty of Lake Louise from David ad nauseum in the time we spent together. Bill P., on the other hand, recognized the importance of the railway hotel historically, but much preferred Lake Moraine.
The original hotel was gradually developed at the turn of the 20th century by the Canadian Pacific Railway and was thus "kin" to its predecessors, the Banff Springs Hotel and the Château Frontenac. The hotel's wooden Rattenbury Wing was destroyed by fire on 3 July 1924, and was replaced by the current Barrot Wing one year later. The Painter Wing, built in 1913, is the oldest existing portion of the hotel. The Mount Temple Wing, opened in 2004, is the most recent wing and features modern function facilities; these include the Mount Temple Ballroom.
(Wikipedia)
I made it out to Lake Louise and the weather was not totally cooperative. Perhaps that dimmed my enthusiasm (no rain, but clouds). I was expecting the Château Frontenac along the lakeshore, but the hotel architecture (partly due to a fire in 1924 and partly due to renovations over time) fell totally flat. Rather than a classic hotel on a lovely lake, it was an unremarkable building that marred the landscape. I didn't even find it photo-worthy.
My expectations had simply been too high. I wouldn't even recommend Lake Louise to anyone given all the other great scenery around Banff. I even returned with Brian on our trip to the Canadian Rockies to give the place a second chance and the weather was better, but we were both underwhelmed. Clearly, I was not fated to be a Lake Louise fan.
Nonetheless, Lake Louise, like Butchart Gardens in Victoria, is famous for being a location of great beauty. If someone is told a place is beautiful, then it will be.
Lake Moraine
Bill P. had waxed lyrically about Lake Moraine. It even used to grace the back of the 20 dollar note. I had to see it and I was glad I did. There remains not much to say about it except that it was, hands down, one of the most beautiful spots I have ever visited. I was awed and dumbstruck. Thank God no one defiled the place with development - just a small parking lot. For me, it still defines what is a mountain lake - blue water, and towering snow capped peaks directly behind. Lake Moraine is one of my top places anywhere!
On Brian and my return visit to the Rockies [see: Rockies], which I found crushingly disappointing, the weather was awful. I was so desperate for Brian to see the place in its full glory. After that, I felt even luckier that I saw it in good weather.
BACK ACROSS THE PLAINS, ONTARIO, TORONTO, NEW YORK
I dreaded the ride back. I would be nearly three days on the train just to get to Toronto. I was already out of time and could not afford to make any stop-offs. I missed Calgary (admittedly, it was not high on my list, but I would have liked to explore it) and Regina (the train must have stopped there overnight because I don't remember even passing through - no chance for a Winnipeg-type dash to see the Legislative Building). It was a long, uncomfortable slog. On the train I met up with a couple of French guys who were on a farm exchange program. They were extremely frustrated because no one could speak French, so we struck up a conversation. They said they were happy to finally meet a Canadian who could speak French because they were told Canada was a bilingual country (really??? signage, yes; population, no). When I said I was American their faces fell. I asked their destination and it was Red Deer. I could only imagine how two French farmers with almost no English were going to fare in Red Deer, Alberta. At any rate, talking to them helped pass the time. And the time just dragged crossing the Prairies and Siberia-like Ontario. Upon arrival in Toronto, I had lots of time to kill before catching the "Maple Leaf" service across upstate New York and back to the City. By that time I was so punky and out of it, time literally didn't matter (and I stunk). I hardly remember crossing New York, but I recall thinking Albany had a nice location. The ride down the Hudson Valley was lovely, but I just didn't care. I arrived at Grand Central (back in those days just a few Amtrak trains used that station) and made my way up to Washington Heights.
I had crossed North America both ways. I was exhausted, but triumphant.
REFLECTIONS
I came back to New York exhausted but also with a sense of accomplishment. I had just finished traveling the landmasses of the Northern Hemisphere, surface. I crossed Eurasia and North America. In addition, I learned a LOT about my country's gigantic (yet tiny) neighbor to the north. As author Ogden Tanner in The Canadians said, "Americans are benignly ignorant of Canada while Canadians are maliciously well-informed about America". That very much summed up my interactions with Canadians during the trip. Minus everything I learned from Bill P. and David G. about their country, I knew very little about Canadians except they were "pretty much like me with funny money and better beer". The Canadians I met had a much better understanding of the US and US Politics than most Americans. "America sneezes and Canada catches a cold" - I heard that repeatedly. In sum, I think Canadians are proud to be Canadian, but they are not exactly sure what it means to be a Canadian with the exception of - "We are not American". Is it possible to define a national identity in the negative? What is a Canadian? Not American. Ok, then what are you? Silence. I hope one day Canada does come to define itself as something more than the "anti-America". I think the relationship between the USA and Canada is very much one of siblings that don't get on all that well but essentially love each other - Australia and New Zealand, Germany and Austria, maybe even China and Taiwan. In a world where I have lived in countries where people are often desperate to immigrate to start life afresh, they ask me how to immigrate to the USA. I usually reply to them, "Try Canada - they need people, it is clean and beautiful, and the people are nicer."
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