The family house in Orelans, Ontario with some recent garden improvements

 





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Travelling to granddaughter's graduation

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Canada is a vast country. It is about 4500 KM from Vancouver to Halifax by train. We decided to go by train to our second granddaughter's graduation in Orleans, near Ottawa and then carry on the Halifax. Madeleine (in the red dress) had her high school prom before the end of term and before the final exams. She has been buddies with these two girls since kindergarten. Here is a picture of them in their prom dresses. We leave on Friday 20th by bus and ferry to Vancouver where we board the VIA rail train.  There is a lot of smoke from forest fires which we hope will not impair the views from the train or our time in Ottawa. In addition we have heard that VIA staff may go on strike after June 26th. 
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The day before travelling

 Travelling is fun and can be a challenge. There are three phases - planning, doing it and then telling about it afterwards. It seems the more one travels the longer the lists of things to do before setting off. It is more complicated when there are two of you. When I did some single handed sailing I used to say I liked it because "you do not have to worry about anyone else" and "you do not have to worry about other peoples worries". This applies to solo travelling. On the other had there are benefits of having a companion, someone who reminds you of what you might have forgotten to take. This seems particularly true as one gets older. The lists help and get longer with things like medication needs, electronic needs, climate adjusting clothing etc. Penny and I leave to-morrow morning - taxi to the Victoria bus station, bus and ferry to Vancouver bus station where we are scheduled to arrive three hours before the train departs. We are delighted that our friends the R...
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Ottawa to Halifax

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 We had  a very comfortable ride in a VIA passenger train in business class from Ottawa to Montreal. At Montreal we boarded the Ocean sleeper train. It was more modern than the 1956 train we rode from Vancouver to Toronto. The carriages had been constructed for the England to France Channel tunnel in about 1990 but for some reason could not be used so they were sold to VIA rail. As before the service was excellent. The food not so good. The cabin’s were more cramped but comfortable. We travelled through Quebec, Prince Edward Island to Nova Scotia. The scenery was mostly small towns and small farms. The we approached the Bay of Fundy and glimpsed that from the train.   VIA rail we are told is consistently late. We arrived in Halifax two hours late at 8.15 pm. Then we took a Uber cab to the hotel. It is only the third time I have ever used Uber and impressed with the technology. These are the two engines that pulled us from Montreal. Montreal all seen from street level. The...
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