Posts Tagged ‘VIA-Rail’
Crossing Canada by train gave me three reasons to hate Calgary
We called it The VIA-Rail, 50 Canadians, Ocean-to-Ocean, Book-Tour Extravaganza. By using voodoo magic, my book publisher, Harper-Collins Canada, had worked a deal with VIA-Rail to send me and my artist-photographer-wife, Sheena Fraser McGoogan, back and forth across the country by train to promote 50 Canadians Who Changed the World. All I had to do was…
Read MoreAnd the $5,000 VIA-Rail Travel Voucher goes to . . .
My all-time favorite moment as a hander-out-of-prizes came late last year. At the Toronto launch of 50 Canadians Who Changed the World, I was honoured to give The Best Little Boy in the Whole Wide World Award to James P. McGoogan, who by good luck happened to be in the audience. That would be James…
Read MoreOcean-to-Ocean Book Tour Extravaganza Heads East
Part Two of the journey begins in Toronto next Thursday (Nov. 7). Yes, we’re talking The VIA-Rail, 50 Canadians, Ocean-to-Ocean Book Tour Extravaganza. We’re promoting 50 Canadians Who Changed the World by train. So far, we have whistle-stopped through Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Calgary, Canmore, Banff, Jasper, and Vancouver. Now, we travel east: Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and…
Read MoreThree reasons why I hate Vancouver
–> You knew it was coming. And now, having been here almost 24 hours, I stand ready to deliver. Why do I hate Vancouver? The first reason is the Seawall that encircles Stanley Park. Today is nothing but sunshine here and of course we went walking along that wall. Yes, in T.O. we have the…
Read MoreJasper marks the spot where the railway meets Canada’s most spectacular drive
Jasper has had a 40-foot Haida totem pole since 1915. The original Raven Totem arrived four years after the railway, and ten years before the train station in which I sit. I know these things because we contrived to spend a couple of hours rambling around Jasper after driving here from Banff. Yes , the…
Read MoreCalgary set to join ocean-to-ocean, 50 Canadians extravaganza
–> Great to see this article turn up in today’s Calgary Herald. Looks like my old home town is ready. I’ll be at Pages on Kensington Tuesday evening, at Global TV on Wednesday morning, and then at Cafe Books in Canmore that evening. By Eric Vollmers, Calgary Herald Pride is a peculiar thing. It…
Read MoreThis castle on the river is a Canadian landmark
–> Which grand railway hotel turns up on an album cover? Answer: the Delta Bessborough, a Saskatoon landmark known as The Bezz. The album is Clouds by Joni Mitchell, who grew up in this town on the South Saskatchewan River. She painted a self-portrait for the cover, and there, in the upper right-hand corner, we…
Read MoreSaskatoon Global TV: 4 minutes, 50 Canadians, and $5K can be yours
Turns out Saskatoon IS ready for me. This morning, 7:45 a.m. at Global Morning TV, host Kevin Stanfield got Our Hero talking. Cutting-edge Canada, 50 Canadians, almost 40 per cent women, Joni Mitchell of course, Margaret Atwood, Leonard Cohen, the VIA-Rail ocean-to-ocean book-tour extravaganza, the train ride itself, the easy-to-enter contest that can win you…
Read MoreFort Garry Hotel works contest magic for 50 Canadians
You’ve got to love the magic of Canada’s grand railway hotels. Soon after we checked into the Fort Garry here in Winnipeg, the first such hotel on our list, we discovered a fantastic contest announcement in the Globe and Mail. This year marks the 100th anniversary of this hotel, which was built in the chateau…
Read MoreNotes from an upper bunk while rocketing towards Winnipeg
–> At Hornepayne, while the train took on fresh water, we got out, strolled around, took photos of ourselves with The Canadian (21 cars) and also of the old brick train station, its boarded windows decorated with art. At Longlac, a site well-known to fur-trade voyageurs of the 18th and 19th centuries, we rocketed beneath…
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