We arrived in cold crisp Edmonton at 6 a.m. The train station that services the Canadian VIA train is quite a distance from the city centre so there was little to do but watch the addition and subtraction of carriages: a Panorama viewing car was added while a couple sleepers were removed.
Today brings us to the highlight of the Canadian train journey: the Rockies.
The sun was shining as we pulled out of Edmonton, giving a sheen to the passing landscape that was lacking the last couple of days. This was good, as I was starting to hear some grumblings from visitors to Canada that they were disappointed in the lack of wildlife spotted and that the scenery was not as dramatic as they had expected. A bonus was the mountain goat spotted, standing erect as if it were a statue.
The 1 1/2 hours in the town of Jasper was only enough for a good stretch of the legs and a bit of window shopping. I would have liked to have a few days here to do some hiking instead of continuing on to Vancouver. If only my schedule were not so tight. Maybe next time? When I embarked on this journey, it was meant to be a one off thing. But I have been quite content sitting in the train these past few days and would consider a repeat in the future. I didn’t get half the reading in that I had planned, what with the interesting people that I’ve been meeting along the way.
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