Experiences in Canada, Pt 2

First Evening in Vancouver

We arrived in Canada in no time at all: because of the time difference, the clock only read a couple of hours later than when we left. This would come back to bite us on the return trip. Anyway, the upshot was that we arrived in Vancouver in the mid afternoon, and Denise, Phyllis and I all decided we would stay awake as long as possible, so we went for a walk.

Here are Phyllis and Denise, enjoying the sunshine

Vancouver’s waterfront is very much the garden city, with upmarket residential high-rises and public parks lining the harbour. In this respect, Vancouver differs almost entirely from European cities, which use their waterfronts for cafes, restaurants and hotels, and it was quite hard to find anywhere to eat. While this was a little frustrating, the city looked spectacular in the early evening sun.

 

 

Vancouver Harbour

The hotel was very nice, but for some reason, they had mixed up the bookings and had us in a twin room for some reason. That took a while to unravel, but we were to learn that in Canada, a “double room” is a room with two beds (i.e. what we would call a “twin”): we never did find out what they called a room with a large bed for two people. They are a weird people in so many ways.

We were very central, and within a short walk from the waterfront and as we wandered down there that first evening, we found that the city was very bicycle friendly. All the way round the harbour there was a pathway separated from the road system, which was split one side for cycles, the other for pedestrians. We were going to have some time back in Vancouver after our excursion (more about that below), so Denise and I decided that we’d try to hire bikes on one of those days and have an explore.

Vancouver sits squeezed between coast and mountain, shielded from the Pacific on one side by a number of islands, and with the backdrop of snow-capped mountains behind. It makes the city a particularly pretty place to wander around, with the glass fingers of the skyscrapers contrasting starkly with the dark mountains and the sea.

Train trip up to Whistler
As part of the holiday, we’d booked a return train trip up to the 2010 Winter Olympic village in Whistler. It’s not quite the Rockies, being situated in the Coastal Mountain Range – imaginatively named – but very spectacular nonetheless. Again, we were to be in a town surrounded by mountains.

But first, the train trip up. We were collected, with all our luggage, from the hotel and bussed to the railway station in Northern Vancouver (very select, very posh). The luggage was whisked away onto the guards van, and would be taken to our hotel on arrival in Whistler, so we didn’t have to worry about anything. And that was the tone of the trip. The on-board staff were entertaining, cheerful, friendly and helpful (like the vast majority of hospitality staff we came across), and the only sour note of the whole trip was that, when we arrived at the railway station to board the train, we found that there was a picket line waiting for us. The picketers were on-board staff who had been locked out by the train company after threatening to strike after failing to negotiate a resolution to their dispute about overtime and working conditions. The picketers warned us that we would not be getting the service we had paid for, as the replacement staff who would be looking after us had ‘minimal training’ and were not fully conversant with the level of hospitality and safety required on this premier service. I can’t say anything regarding the safety training the staff had received, but neither can I imagine anything more they could have done for us with regard to our comfort and general wellbeing.

Denise & Phyllis seemed to be enjoying themselves

Once we got underway we had champagne and/or orange juice and a very nice cooked breakfast. We passed through beautiful coastal scenery (through the trees, so photos didn’t really do it justice) before starting to ascend the mountains into the more spectacular stuff. I could soon see why there were two large diesel locomotives at the head of the train: the gradient was quite something for such a heavy train (people + luggage + comfy furniture + heavy wood coach-built carriages!), and we were told that the gradient got as steep as 2%, which is a lot for a train of this type.

Another Rocky Mountaineer train, in a siding near Whistler

That's enough for now: these photos take ages to upload!

Next episode: Whistler, and back to Vancouver (did I say this was to be a short series?!)