THE CANADIAN | Days 2 & 3: Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta

In May and June 2023, we travelled from east to west across Canada. From Halifax in Nova Scotia to Montreal in Quebec, to Toronto in Ontario, to Vancouver and Whistler in British Columbia. Along the way some night trains and commuter trains, the Niagara Falls and – imagine this – a bus journey. A true Trans-Canada Train Trek.

While we ended day 1 with over five hours delay, we woke up near Hornepayne, Ontario with 2.30 hours day. Overnight we had changed timezones. Not outside, but within the bubble of the train. So I was up really early and took an early shower.

Breakfast on day 2

As I was fifthwheeling anyway, I decided to have breakfast on my own. Breakfast is without a fixed seating time.

The options were:

The Transcontinental: available every day. It’s the train’s specialty. Eggs any style, bacon, ham or sausage, hash.
Daily changed chief’s omelette.
Sweet waffles.
Vegan hash.
A continental assortment.

Obviously you can have coffee, tea or hot chocolate, water, juices. And toast: white bread, brown bread or rye bread. Beware: they are already buttered. Not nice for lactose-intolerant people.

Lunch on day 2

Fir lunch, we had the choice of beef burger, tuna mekt, falafel pita or quinoa salad. It was preceded by minestrone soup and for dessert it was vanilla ice cream or a brownie.

Dinner on day 2

The dinner options were pork loin, potato-crusted cod, chicken Florentine or garden vegetables lasagna. The soup was a chicken broth. Inspired by my table guests from Baden-Württenberg in Germany, I ordered the second starter of a quinoa salad as well. It now strikes the salad is the same as the vegetarian lunch options.

Dessert was Key lime pie.

Between the meals

We did more than just eat. We enjoyed the dome car, we attempted a jigsaw puzzle and I binge-read a book, ‘A Tale of Two Princes‘ by Eric Geron. About Edward, Prince of Canada and Billy, a boy from Montana in the United States.

Stops

We had two stops with a bit of stretching-your-legs time. At Sioux Lookout and at Winnipeg, in Manitoba. In Winnipeg we were supposed to arrive at 7.30 PM and have three hours. But our delay meant we were only let off the train after 10 PM and we had one hour. Just enough to see the station’s rotunda and walk across the station. But what else can you do at that time of night. Quite disappointing.

Winnipeg was also the site for a crew change. So bye Ben, hello Patrick. Bye Bobby from the dome car, hello Jeanette. Part of the crew would now be students.

Meals on day 3

Breakfast doesn’t change much. I had pancakes.

For lunch, I had the ginger beef with rice. I don’t remember which soup it was. But the dessert options were apple crumble or chocolate ice cream. Another option for the main was shrimp and scallops. So we had two recurring items.

For dinner, prime rib of beef was a fan favourite, vut I had the sole with fruit. The soup was a tomato soup and for dessert I had chocolate fudge cake. The alternative was some sponge cake.

In between meals

Manitoba and Saskatchewan are known for the prairies and the agriculture. But we found the landscape not to be boring. So there was a lot of looking outside, but we also played Rummikub and partook in a wine tasting. In the doom car, we tried to get nice shots of the train in a bend.