The train, “best way” to discover the country

With its slow look and proximity to the landscapes, the train is a means privileged by many Canadians and foreign tourists to discover the country, each at their own pace.

It takes four days and four nights to cover the 4,466 kilometers of railroad between Toronto and Vancouver, against around 5 hours by plane. Four days and four nights during which trees and lakes, meadows then mountains parade before the eyes of travelers, only interrupted by the rare stops in stations of big cities like Winnipeg, Saskatoon or Edmonton.

The train is the best way to discover most of the countrysaid, convinced, Simon Story after three days in the Canadian. This Toronto, accompanied by his wife, is a great traveler, but recognizes that Canada is one of the countries we have visited the least. Its final destination is Vancouver.

It must be said that between the Canadian shield, the grain elevators and the rocks, the train allows you to see a good part of the geography that makes up the country. To this are added small scraps of information on cities crossed or historical facts, provided by Via Rail staff.

Toronto people have to go to the west. In Toronto, we think we are the center of the world, but when we go out and we see the beauty of British Columbia … who would not want to be here?he wonders, looking out the window with a dreamy air.

The first time in the west

The sparkling Quebec retired Réjeanne Blais bought A little at the last minute his train ticket for Cross Canada and go to Vancouver, a place where you never went.

She and her husband go for the first time to the west of the country. When you think that Canada was built with the railway, and precisely from east to west, I think it is a great opportunity to see that and the country’s extent tooshe adds.

We should all visit our country from one end to the other. But most people will not. We have a large country, it’s a lot of distance to cover.

The French student in Quebec who makes a last trip to Canada before returning a few months to France, Lucile Laurent-Martineau, also thinks that crossing the country by train is super important. This is how they were able to try to populate Western Canadashe recalls.

Now that she has completed her studies, the young woman wants to immigrate for good in Canada in a few months. For her, doing this train trip is also a way of Put in the shoes of all these people who came to Canada to live there.

Being able to travel from region to regions, little bit by small end, that’s how we can discover Canada.

Discover the country where we were born, but where we did not grow up

A little further, Rocco Jiang is a somewhat special tourist. This young Hong Kong was born in Vancouver, before his family returned to Hong Kong when he was 3 years old. Now installed in London, in the United Kingdom, this is the first time that he returns to Canada, a country in which he has nationality.

I discovered the existence of the Canadian very recently and I thought it was the best way to discover the country where I was bornhe explains.

If he appreciated seeing a few animals along the tracks, what marked him more is the size of Canada.

We had a whole day in different biomes. We saw the forests of Ontario, the meadows, crossed the Rockies, and it took us four magnificent days to browse everything!he exclaims.

I think that the natural beauty of the country certainly plays a role in national identity. For someone who has grown mainly in very dense urban areas, it is quite crazy, again, to see the immensity of the interior of this country.

Multiculturalism, which is clear among the 377 passengers on the train, also surprised it. As Canadian who has lived most of his life abroad, I think that the beauty of having so many people from all over the world and being united under the banner of being Canadian, it’s specialhe underlines with a touch of emotion.

A stop in Winnipeg because this city dreams

It was 33 years since Annie Champion had not returned to Canada. This Frenchwoman, who fell in love with the country after working for some time in Halifax, decided, this time, to embark in the Canadian with her husband and to stop in several cities, including Winnipeg.

The capital of Manitoba is clearly not the first tourist destination for passengers: most of them stop in Jasper or Vancouver.

I wanted to travel differently and cross the country on the ground. We go through Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Edmonton, so I wanted to stop in one of the three citiesshe explains.

However, Winnipeg’s name has long been a dream. I think I discovered this name in an old Air France catalog that promoted the flights he offeredshe recalls.

Winnipeg, there was this magical side. It is also an opportunity to stop at Manitoba and during my studies, I studied this historic part, with Louis Riel who fought the English during the conquest of Western Canada. I hope to be able to discover traces of this story, and see the French-speaking communitydevelops the Frenchwoman, who, in addition to historical knowledge, also displays deep cultural knowledge linked to the Manitoban capital.

We would probably not go to Winnipeg if we did not take the train. It is a forgotten city and I would like to go and see what it looks like.

A journey that promotes introspection

Comfortably installed in the panoramic car, Mari-Loeiza Verdier looks out by the window, pensive. Seated in front of a notebook, this other French tourist takes the Canadian to take a break in his life and do a transition.

It must be said that the scrolling landscape invites you to reverie and it is very easy to get lost in your thoughts.

I love this land with the first peoples, how it developed … For me it’s important to understand better, to see the landscapes. I find that the train is what is best to take the time to travel. For me it was something importantexplains the one who is in full reflection on the possibility of coming to settle in the country.

Delighted with her trip, however, she has only one regret: the lack of details on the communities crossed by the train. It lacks a bit of cultural information. I think that wanting to understand how Canada has been built, it’s also important and that it is not fair to look at the landscape.

More It already gives a nice overview and it’s great that this train existsshe concludes, a smile illuminating his face.