
I am now sitting on the train in my cute little sleeper compartment. It looks like I will be the youngest person in this compartment by a decade or two. Nonetheless, I am looking forward to this trip.
Today was filled with quite an eclectic schedule. I headed up to Willowdale to meet up with some friends, then headed over to Graceful to satisfy my cravings for sautéed turnip cake in vegie XO sauce--mmm! Today, I just couldn’t get vegie dim sum out of my mind--no matter that Vancouver is only 4 days away.
I had an hour to spare in the evening, so wandered across to check out some klezmer music at the Ashkenaz Festival. Harbourfront Centre is an art centre on the shores of Lake Ontario, just south of Toronto’s downtown core. It spans 10 square kilometres, making it the largest art centre in North America. During the summer, a different culture is featured each weekend as part of the Summer World Festival. The inaugural Fortune Cooking Festival a couple of weeks ago featuring Asian cuisine was a sounding success. I don’t know how they managed to convince such well known food celebrities, but they managed quite a coup to have both Susur Lee and Martin Yan be judges (along with my favourite CBC Radio host, Matt Galloway) at the Asian version of Iron Chef.
What is high on the list of things to do before my train trip? A good hour at the gym. I don’t think my fellow passengers would appreciate me running up and down the corridors of the train. Most of the stops between here and Winnipeg are really just a few minutes long.
Shortly after leaving Union Station Toronto, I went to socialize with my fellow passengers over hors d’oeuvres and champagne (well, I accompanied them while they ate and drank). I met Fran and Pansy, a couple of lovely American women travelling for a month across Canada. Fran has been to places in Canada that most Canadians have never set foot in: Whitehorse, St. John’s, and soon Hornepayne! I also met Hilaire and Monique, a charming couple from Quebec travelling to Vancouver on the train, then up to the Yukon to spend some time with their daughter. I promised them I’ll write a few words in French so here goes:
J’ai rencontré un couple très charmant sur le train.
The dome car is very popular--so popular that it was close to midnight before I found an empty seat. I got a chance to stare into the passing darkness. Perhaps that is why it was empty by then.
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