June 29, 2006
It was an early day today, I got up at 4:30 am, and my husband dropped me off at 5:45 am at Toronto’s historic Union Station. Several buses of young students were already unloading their luggage and ready to enter the train station. At about 6 am the Via Rail counters were opening up and since I had a first class ticket (called Via 1), I was directed to Via’s Panorama Lounge, a special section with comfortable armchairs, free newspapers and soft drinks. This was my first time on a Canadian train and I was very excited about experiencing train travel and not having to fight my way through traffic driving to Montreal.
Via 1 passengers received their own special priority boarding announcements and off we went to the first coach behind the locomotive. I made myself comfortable in the seats and stretched my legs. The seats recline very far back so a tired traveler will have a chance to get a good rest. Shortly after I was joined by a gentleman, a businessman from Edmonton who had some appointments in Toronto and was now heading to Montreal for other business duties. Ray kept me entertained with his family stories and humorous tales of growing up in Montreal and time passed quickly as we started rolling through the suburbs of Toronto.
We stopped at the Guildwood Station and then headed off into the green farmlands of Ontario farm. My ticket also included meal service and in a short while we received breakfast, starting with a fruit plate. For our main breakfast dish we had a choice between a Ranchman’s Breakfast (a Cheddar cheese omelette and grilled beef steak served with mini r