Leg 8—Montréal to Halifax: May 3 & 4, 2006

VIA Rail's Atlantic Canada: Train 14, named Ocean, travels through the Atlantic Region, which included the provinces of Québec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia: in Québec, Montréal, Saint-Lambert, Saint-Hyacinthe, Drummondville, Charny, Montmagny, La Pocatiére, Riviére-du-Loup, Trois-Pistoles, Rimouski, Mont-Joli, Sayabec, Amqui, Causapscal, and Matapédia; in New Brunswick, Campbellton, Charlo, Jacquet River, Petit Rocher, Bathurst, Miramichi, Rogersville, Moncton, and Sackville; and in Nova Scotia, Amherst, Springhill Jct., Truro and Halifax. Many of these cities, the train stops on request, but VIA Rail schedules stops in Montréal, Charny, Moncton, Truro and Halifax.

The train travels through many charming towns, but many of them I sleep through. I will get to see some of those on the return trip

The VIA Rail train cars are much different than Amtrak. The seats sit about a foot higher than the aisle. There are only three seats across whereas Amtrak has four seats across. The cars look very plush and fairly new. There is not as much leg room as the Amtrak cars. Most of the personnel on this train are women. Frequently, a young lady brings a cart around with drinks and food.

The sun stays up until about 8:00 p.m. I go to sleep about 9:00 p.m. and wake up about 7:00 a.m. When I awake the young lady with the cart is serving coffee. I sleep well through the night. I think we are in Nova Scotia, having passed through New Brunswick during the night.

Most of the trees are brown with patches of green spruce or maybe another evergreen. There are patches of snow still on the ground which probably means that it is cold out there. And the sun is shining. I have not seen Mr. Sun for two days now. Much of the land the train is traveling through is marsh land. However, along the way I can see several beautiful rivers and streams.

I almost forget to take my pill this morning. It is tough to remember your daily routines unless you make a conscious effort. Amtrak has water coolers in every car; this car on VIA Rail does not. I ask one of the young ladies if they had drinking water. All they have is bottle water in the canteen or in the dining car. I did not want to buy a bottle of water just to take my pills, so I went to the dining car for water. On this particular route, coach passengers are not allowed to eat in the dining car. The canteen has the only available food on the train. Amtrak allows both coach and sleeper cars to dine in the dining car. The only difference is that the food in included with the sleeper car price, but the coach cars pay separately.

My knee is hurting from being cramped so long. I hang my left leg off the side to get some circulation. We stop in Moncton for a long smoke bread and/or a chance to stretch your legs. I badly need to stretch my legs so I detrain and walk about 1/4 mile taking pictures.

We are about 30 minutes late getting into Halifax. The sky is gray and has been since noon. My cell phone has gone dead so I wait until I get into the train station to call the owner of the bed and breakfast. The taxi driver that takes me to the bed and breakfast is interesting. He is from Iraq and some of his family was killed by Sadam Hussein. He says that Sadam is worse than Hitler. He is glad that Sadam has been captured but says they should hurry up and end the trial so that they could execute him.

I stay at the Garden View B&B. Garden View is the first bed and breakfast I have ever stayed at. When preparing for my trip, I scheduled several B&Bs due to cost savings and because it sounded like it would be fun.

When I walk inside of the Garden View B&B, I smell bread pudding. The house is an old Victorian-style home with many antiques. I am met at the door by a friendly host, Joe Bowlby-Lalonde. He explains the house rules, how to get in-and-out of the B&B with the my set of keys. He then takes me upstairs to my room, the Rose Room, and gives me a piece of paper to order my breakfast. I choose, ham and eggs with bread pudding, coffee and orange juice--sounds good to me.

I watch television in the parlor for awhile and then try to find a restaurant. I ask a couple of boys skateboarding along the sidewalk. One of them said "Just look around, you will find restaurants. Go downtown. There are a lot of restaurants there." I guess he thinks I have a car or a skateboard. I see another couple who directs me two short blocks from where we were standing. I got two pieces of pizza and a Caesar salad--not the best, but my stomach is full.

After letting the food settle, I took a bath in a whirlpool bathtub. Now I am sleepy. I was given a menu and form to order my breakfast. I place it on the table downstairs and then I go to bed.

I eat my breakfast at 8:30 a.m.
I take a walk into downtown Halifax. Joe says that it is a fifteen minute walk. It takes me 30 minutes. I just don’t walk as fast anymore. The sky is gray and the weather is cool. I take my camera with me to transfer the pictures to a CD.

In the middle of downtown is St. Paul's Church, an evangelical Christian community which is part of the Anglican Church of Canada. The church is 250 years old and is the oldest Sunday School in Canada.

Halifax Regional Municipality, commonly referred to as HRM is a Canadian regional municipality, the largest population centre in the Province of Nova Scotia and the Atlantic region, the provincial capital, and the cultural and economic centre of Canada's east coast.

Halifax, Gateway to Atlantic Canada, has flourished as a prominent port situated on the world's second largest natural harbor.

I enjoy my stay at the Garden View Bed & Breakfast. The breakfast is delicious—ham and eggs, toast and delicious bread pudding with raisins and apples. Joe is an amiable host.