Day 4 - Toronto to Quebec City - Part 2

Tuesday May 12, 2009

Someone asked how to pronounce VIA. It is vee-ah.

Back to Tuesday, we arrived in Toronto in the morning and got on a commuter train to Montreal, then switched there to another to Quebec City.

These trains are different. Here, it is like travelling by airplane in that you sit in assigned seats and meals are brought to you. These are not cooked on board as on the 'Canadian' trains. First, the attendant comes around with hot, wet towels for you to wash with, then they bring the food tray with an appetizer, bun and dessert. The appetizers always seemed to have black mushrooms so we never ate them. Then came the main course, one of three choices which can be preordered.

The ride can be very bumpy so we found it a mistake to get full cups of coffee or any other liquid.

After dinner, the attendants come around with chocolates, usually in two flavours. With any luck, they might came around twice.

From Montreal to Quebec City we got a train with Renaissance cars. These are much nicer than the usual commuter train cars. The seats are on a raised platform and instead of four seats across (two on each side of the aisle), there are three (two and one), so the seats are roomier. There is an outlet for computers. You can use the internet on these trains but I think it costs about $30.

One perk of travelling VIA 1 class is that, while waiting for trains in stations, you get to sit in the Panorama Lounge where there are newspapers and refreshments. Otherwise, you'd be stuck standing like a horse in line out in the main station. At boarding time a person comes along and leads you to where you need to go.

A Panorama Lounge

At last we arrived in Quebec City and booked into our hotel that night. The Chateau Frontenac is a very short taxi ride from the train station. As soon as we entered our room we could hear distant saxophone music playing outside, so I sat on the window ledge, looked out at the St. Lawrence River, and enjoyed the music and the muffled chatter of people. It didn't matter that the sax player wasn't the best musician in the world. It was just a wonderful introduction to this city that I knew I was going to love. Migraine and sickness behind me, this to me felt like the real start of our holiday.