The Train is Ready and Raring to Roll ......April 16th, 2018

This was truly an exciting day for everyone at our hotel because this morning, our group was boarding our motor coach for the 10 minute ride to the train at Vancouver Station. Little did we know there would be such a celebration awaiting us at the station because this was the first journey into the Canadian Rockies for 2018 (and the 29th anniversary for the Rocky Mountaineer) doing this.  The station had a bit of a look and feel of New Years Eve.

Having never done anything like this, we were not aware of the traditions that evolved over the years. The company had just about every employee on hand for this 2018 inaugural. The employees all lined the tracks with their umbrellas (a cool steady rain) to wave to all the passengers as we left the station. One sense you pick up on is simply how happy all of the employees at Rocky Mountaineer are. Our coach for day 1 was absolutely incredible. All the seats were on the upper deck of the coach and the downstairs was for dining only.

Each coach is rather self contained with restrooms, kitchen, chefs, bar, etc. We were hardly rolling down the rails and it was time for our group to go downstairs for breakfast. The dining room was set up as booths for 4 and the menus had plenty of choices. Eggs Benedict was a no brainer for me. After Breakfast we headed back up stairs where the scenery started changing from city to farmland to mountains and rivers. Every turn on the train has something new to reveal. We were headed to Kamloops today and would travel 285 miles to get there. While the train ride lasted 10 hours, it honestly felt like 2 or 3 hours. It seems like the food, snacks, drinks, etc. just keep coming. It was fun to go outside between the train cars for pictures, etc.

 

Vancouver, a City of Many Heights, Sunday April 15th, 2018

After a great night of sleeping in an extremely comfortable bed, we woke up to get ready for a day of city touring. We met most of our travel mates in the lobby before getting picked up by our motor coach at 8:45 AM. We had a very entertaining bus driver (named Bill) who first took us into Stanley Park where we stopped to visit the very artistic totem poles.

We toured the city including sites of the 1986 Worlds Fair. Expo 86, was a World's Fair held in Vancouver. The fair theme was "Transportation and Communication: World in Motion - World in Touch", was held on the north shore of False Creek. It still stands as the last World's Fair to be held in North America.

We also drove by some of the sites used for the 2010 Winter Olympics where approximately 2,600 athletes from 82 nations participated in 86 events. We saw where all the athletes lived and the bus driver told us it was an awesome site to see the flags of so many nations hanging out the windows of the Olympic village apartment buildings.

Before long we found ourselves at Canada Place, a multi-million dollar facility where cruise ships dock at the edge of town. We noticed all sorts of things to do (within walking distance) once a passenger exits the ship. Our group was all treated to the Fly Over Canada attraction. This attraction was a was an amazing experience where you feel like you are flying over the country from east to west. It is a bit of a 4D experience where you'll feel the water soaring over Niagara Falls, you smell the wheat of farm fields as you hover over combines harvesting the fields in central Canada. You may need to close your eyes in the Canadian Rockies as the cliffs you fly over can be overwhelming.

  After our visit we were taken to Granville Island where we had a great seafood lunch and browsed around the arts and crafts stores before heading out to the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park. Peg had stressed over this for a while knowing it was on the agenda. Bouncing and shaking the whole way, we made it across the bridge only to find there was a tree top adventure awaiting us on the other side. People basically go up a stairway along side a mountain to about 40 or 50 feet high and then you  take a series of small suspension bridges from tree to tree. The rope bridges swing and bounce and sway....all to Peg's dismay. Eventually Peg just raced to the front of the line and walked around or through anything that got in her way. She clearly was on a mission, and that was to get down. The Douglas Fir trees supporting the tree top adventure were anywhere from 200 to 250 feet tall!


















After we boarded the bus for a short ride back to the hotel, we had a chance to relax before the group cocktail party at the Sheraton Hotel a few blocks away. The Wall building where the Sheraton is located represents the tallest point in the city but is not the tallest building, it just happens to be at the top of the hill in the center of the city. We took some great sunset pictures at the Sheraton and met some of the Rocky Mountaineer management team before heading back home for an early night in anticipation of the train leaving the station in the morning.

Entering Canadian Airspace, Saturday April 14th 2018

We opted for a single suitcase each this trip, keeping in mind we would not be staying anywhere for more than 2 nights over the course of the next 8 days. It was an early morning off to the airport and a crowd-less check-in at the airport. It was also crowd-less at the gate. Looking at the monitor, Peg and I were on the list as 1. ANDWA and 2. ANDMA for a first class upgrade (that almost never happens). First class was a special treat given the flight to Vancouver would be over 4 hours long. When our names were called for the upgrade, we were not able to sit next to one another but we didn't care....a hot tasty breakfast was awaiting in row 3.

After landing in Vancouver we made our way to the customs area (did you ever notice how quickly people move after they exit an international flight, knowing they have to go thru customs, and head towards the customs lines)? As Peg would say, there is no dilly-dallying thru the concourse.

After scanning our passports and answering NO to everything at the automated kiosk, we got in line and basically enjoyed the fact there were only 40 or 50 people in front of us. By the time we passed through, our bags were waiting for us and an empty taxi line awaited us at the curb. The cab fare was about $32 CAD to downtown Vancouver and the Sutton Place Hotel where we would call home for 2 nights. After dumping our bags we had plenty of daylight left so we had an appetizer at our hotel bar and headed out to Robson Street (one block away).

Robson street is Vancouver's mecca for retail shopping. The locals claim that brick and mortar will never die on Robson Street. The second largest Victoria Secret store in the world can be found here. When you get near the entrance however, you'll find the retail space was actually the Vancouver Public Library at one time and the sign is still engraved into the storefront. You know you're not in a typical Victoria Secret store when you see the 100 square foot video monitor on the wall showing women walking the runway and modeling the latest fashions.

One more block over from Robson Street there was Gucci, Tiffany's, Louis Vuitton, etc. We made our way to a great chop house and seafood restaurant called Joe Fortes. We learned later Joe Fortes was not the actual owner of the restaurant.  Instead, he was a rather famous home town hero in Vancouver who became famous by helping other people (served as a lifeguard, saving lives and teaching people to swim at a local beach). The locals back then referred to him lovingly as "Old Black Joe" or "English Bay Joe". The stocky, dark-skinned man was a friend and teacher to the children, a guard for the bathers and a hero to people in distress. He has been officially credited with saving 29 lives, yet it is believed that the real number is considerably higher. In any case, Joe Fortes is my #1 recommendation for a great downtown dinner in Vancouver!

After dinner .....and some window shopping, we closed the curtains in our hotel room because it was still daylight outside,  and called it a night. Peg decided she wanted to live on Central Time the whole trip  so it was almost 10PM in our conversations despite what the alarm clock on the bedside table said (and we were exhausted from the day). If I ever referred to the real local time, I was quickly corrected.....