O Canada

Western Canada June 2016 And now for something completely different. First of all, for those of you waiting impatiently to learn if Don ever returned from Asia, the answer is yes. For those waiting for details on the end of his trip, you will have to wait until he finishes digesting his memories.

While that is happening, we decided to escape briefly to our neighbor to the north. We are so lucky to have a civilized, democratic, diverse, well-led and stable country so very close. 

Our motivation is the promise we made to visit Don’s cousin Pamela in Vancouver BC. We first met in Osaka, then had Christmas together in New York. Now we get to see her part of the world. This is a mini-review of all we saw.

We landed in Calgary, the oil center of the country, with a wild west flavor. Like the oil industry itself, the city has gone through a variety of boom and bust cycles.

Today it looks like a lot of North American cities, a hodgepodge of high rises and parking lots, with no particular master plan in evidence.

We started getting acquainted by spending the day at the Heritage Park Historical Village. This is a recreated town with no building later than 1915. It is a well-done representation of a frontier prairie town, and a major draw for school groups.

Everything was cleverly curated and the costumed staff was enthusiastic and engaging.

(As an aside, we were struck by the range of children in the many school groups we saw. We don’t come from some isolated part of the world, but we have never seen such diversity and such a harmonious melding of races and ethnicities. It was heartwarming and gives one hope for the next generations.) Nice fantasy?

The next day was spent in various parts of downtown Calgary. It has the inevitable mall-ified section with trendy restaurants and shops. Unfortunately, it also seems to have a real drug problem with homeless people shooting up across from said trendy restaurants. There is a visible underclass here, as with any large city. Sad.

We moved next to Banff, a resort town inside Banff National Park, which is highly regulated as a result. While tourism is the engine that fuels it 12 months of the year, further growth and commercialization are quite restricted. 

We stayed in a typical mountain lodge inn, and had a sweet suite to cozy up in. It was particularly welcome on our first full day, which was very cold and very rainy. We had booked a 4-hour tour of the must-see sights of the region, so most of the time was spent on a small bus. 

Our first stop was Lake Louise, a gorgeous body of water surrounded by cloud-capped Rocky Mountains.  The huge Fairmont Hotel must be a great place to stay.

Our next stop was smaller Emerald Lake, Mineral runoff from melting glaciers gives it a lovely color. Plus, the rain had temporarily ceased, which made it even more charming.

The last wonder on the tour was closeup view of a rushing riverfull of ice melt that clearly demonstrated what the force of water can do. Scary but gorgeous.

The next day’s event was billed as a wildlife tour through a nature preserve. It started at dusk and had all kinds of possibilities. But alas, no big-horned sheep, or grizzly bears were in evidence. We did see mule deer and white-tailed deer, one elk and a small black bear. But it was a pleasant evening with other natural wonders. One daredevil on our tour instisted on climbing over the barriers to get up close and personal with the falls. Somehow, he made it back.

We also fit in a local museum, which had a real charm, except for an extremely racist vintage ad for Pear’s Soap.

Banff has a lot of charm, but one thing we noticed everywhere on our trip was the scarcity of public restrooms. Even some public buildings and restaurants were unequipped. Having a real washroom available was a big deal.

Next day we took a small bus to Jasper, with several stops along the way, which included another spectacular waterfall. Jasper seemed to be a smaller version of Banff, and not quite as affluent.

Jasper suffered a major fire in 2024 and there are signs of rebuidling everywhere.

We were only there briefly, and had a train booked the next morning for Kamloops. No, we were not on the Rocky Mountaineer. That costs thousands and is already booked through next year. We were on a regular train using the same tracks, with several domes observation cars. How bad could it be, we said. We didn’t get a sleeper car because we were to leave Jasper at 9:30 in the morning and arrive in Kamloops at 3:30 in the afternoon. 

First problem – the train coming from Toronto was delayed, ultimately departing at 1:30. Okay, that’s four hours behind. You would think that would put us into Kamloops in six hours. Nope. Every time freight trains were coming through and our train had to stop and let them pass, once for 45 minutes. 

We crawled into our hotel room 11 hours later, thinking uncomplimentary things about training through the Rockies. A group of the Rocky Mountaineer passengers was staying in our hotel. (News flash: you don’t get to sleep on that train.) They arrived five hours earlier, having left Jasper after us.

We had a dome car in our train too, and a sparsely filled train car. It was just the constant stopping…

Our first day in Kamloops was gorgeous, sunny and warm. I got to put my winter gear away as we walked around town. This place could be charming,  but there are about 20 different and differing architectural styles, with everything from old buildings with tacky facades to high-rise apartment buildings. If they would just restore some of the buildings, it could be charming. The town also seems to have as many big-time public accounting firms, banks, attorneys, investment consultants and the like as Grand Cayman. Makes you wonder.

We went to the local history/cultural museum and learned more about the history of the area and its indigenous people, who suffered the same indignities as First Nations everywhere.

I’m not a big fan of taxidermy, but this collection was impressive.

We opted for a bus trip for the last part of our journey, having lost some faith in rail travel through the Rockies. It was a good decision, as we had losts of spece to spread out on a nice substantial bus, which had a washrooom (!) and made several rest stops.

And then we arrived in Vancuver. It’s a large and very modern city — walkable, but with lots of transportation options, including very cheap Ubers. It was getting ready for the World Cup, and doing a great job of it. Now, just a week later from our visit, FIFA hit town and the city exploded. It is now considered the top host city of the World Cup.

Our main reason for being here was to connect with Don’s cousin, Pam, who took our Vancouver experience in hand. We started with a lovely dinner at her very impressive house in a charming older neighborhood in the city. So good she doesn’t inhabit one of those glass high-rises all over town.

Then our adventures began. On a Saturday, we drove to Whistler, the iconic ski resort outside of Vancouver. We had lunch at the Fairmont Hotel, the epicenter of the resort.

No food commentary from Don – get over it – but a nice meal was had by all. The setting is beautiful — a nice combination of vast wilderness views and ski village commercialism.

The next day was more of a journey. We headed to Vancouver Island, which I thought would be right next door. Oh no. This trip involved a ferry ride and lots of driving, which I gather is nothing to speak of for the natives. But it was worth the trip.

Our key destination naturally involved food. In this case, i was afternoon tea at the also iconic Empress Hotel, a Vancouver Island institution.

Lots of strolling around precious shops and boutiques after being sated by sweets and sandwiches. Retail therapy, of a high quality!

On Monday, we started at another island, this one quite close since it is actually part of Vancouver. Granville Island is a big market area with great shops, fooderies and artisanal goodies. We left far too soon, but with a satisfying shopping bag.

Our next stop was the astonishing Museum of Anthropology, filled with traditional and contemporary art from Northwest Coast First Nations and other cultures across the world. It features magnificent Indigenous carvings, weavings and contemporary artworks in a spectacular building overlooking mountains and sea.

When we first arrived, my heart sunk to see a massive brutalist-style building. My least favorite architectural style. But when I saw the collection up against cold cement, all the artifacts seemed to be set off perfectly, and I forgave the architect for his/her choices. The use of glass is also stunning, and the collection feels like it is in a natural setting with nothing to distract from its power.

There are many galleries with special collections, which move seemlessly into indigenous art from other cultures. Itwas a magnificent museum.

The next day we stayed in town to visit the Vancouver Art Gallery, also known as the art museum. It was interesting, and featured works from the Canadian Group of Seven, but perhaps not the most well-known of their paintings. Some fun and whimsical pieces throughout.

Our final touring spot was Gastown, with a whistling Steam Clock and mix of souvenir shops, indie art galleries and decor stores in Victorian buildings. It’s a trendy food and drink destination and a great remnant of one of Vancouver’s older neighborhoods.

Yes, we had some great meals, as Pam knows the food scene well. No reviews here, but enjoy some glimpses. I seem to have missed capturing our Chinatown meal, containing reimagined and reconstructed dishes that were totally new to us, but fresh and delicious.

Okay, so that was our trip to Canada. We had an incredible amount of fresh air, amazing views of mountains, lakes, rivers and wildlife, and so many things that were almost familiar – but not quite.

Canada is a foreign country, for sure, and at the same time one that makes you feel at home.

Highly recommend.