All of Canada

Do a trip report here....go to another city and want to relate it to what KC is doing right or could do better? Give us a summary in here.
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DaveKCMO
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All of Canada

Post by DaveKCMO »

big trip this year starts thursday:

- fly nonstop to toronto (2 nights)
- train across canada (4 nights)
- arrive vancouver (2 nights)
- train across the border to seattle, then portland

any toronto/vancouver suggestions? been to both before, but it's been at least 5 years. we have layovers in winnipeg, edmonton, and jasper, but not long enough to cover much ground.
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Re: All of Canada

Post by earthling »

I've been wanting to do a train trip across that section of Canada. Once did a roadtrip from KC to Buffalo/Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal. It became more clear to me how opposite Americans were about letting many cities decline for a few decades in favor of suburbs and Canadians always took care of their cities. Rural Canada is also way better educated than most of rural US, well maybe most of US period.

Visited Vancouver years ago as the Hong Kong invasion arrived. One of my favorite cities in the world so far even though there's something superficial about it. The friend I was with thought the people were 'robotic'. Is a true world city though. Once walked into a hotel to use restroom - it was a fairly upscale hirise and I had a chat with concierge who spoke many languages - didn't realize until leaving it was a Best Western!

Went to Seattle afterwards, which felt less interesting in comparison, probably should have done it first. Ia don't have specific recommendations other than just walk and absorb Vancouver and Toronto. Good eats I had across Canada were either ethnic or seafood, Canadian food is otherwise often pretty bland and overcooked (think Frans). Transit/cabs effective and plenty there. But you said you've already been.

I'm not sure why but read thousands of Hongkongers are now leaving Vancouver yearly while mainland Chinese are now invading.

Will be interested in hearing about your train trip and if worth doing.
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Re: All of Canada

Post by smh »

DaveKCMO wrote:big trip this year starts thursday:

- fly nonstop to toronto (2 nights)
- train across canada (4 nights)
- arrive vancouver (2 nights)
- train across the border to seattle, then portland

any toronto/vancouver suggestions? been to both before, but it's been at least 5 years. we have layovers in winnipeg, edmonton, and jasper, but not long enough to cover much ground.

I mentioned this elsewhere, but I'll say it again: Meat & Bread on Cambie in Vancouver would make a great lunch one day. It's close to Gastown, on Victory Square. Good stuff. Also, if you're interested in light hiking at all, we took the ferry to North Vancouver (~5-10minutes) and a short bus ride up the hill to Lynn Canyon Park where there is an awesome (free) suspension bridge and temperate rainforest. It was a great time.
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Re: All of Canada

Post by brewcrew1000 »

earthling wrote: One of my favorite cities in the world so far even though there's something superficial about it. The friend I was with thought the people were 'robotic'. Is a true world city though.

Vancouver is one of the hardest places to meet friends and find love in the whole world.
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/melissa-ca ... 06763.html
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/whoare ... story.html
earthling
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Re: All of Canada

Post by earthling »

^Pretty much what I experienced. Vancouver is nearly the ideal built up city with fantastic natural surroundings but the people don't seem to enjoy each other in any meaningful way, broadly anyway. The rest of Canada doesn't feel that way. Rural Canadians I ran into impressed me - smart and live life very consciously, worldly interests and genuine curiosity in who you are.

Ottawa is only around 1M metro yet is much higher % urbane/pedestrian scale than US cities (I suspect Calgary and Edmonton are similar), of course taxes much higher too. Those I ran into are more interested in culture and global issues than the mindless consumerism and instant gratification that most Americans are caught up in (I wouldn't exactly exclude myself from latter two). However the people we stayed with in Ottawa treated that province next door as 'those dirty Quebecua' and they refused to learn French (even though Quebec side of metro Ottawa is French speaking, as is the road signage) - seemed much worse than KC state line issues. Quebec has more gritty depth - as much as I liked Ottawa/Toronto, they seemed relatively sterile after visiting Montreal. Montreal has a great mix of new and old world charm, but we couldn't stay very long.

Methinks what Americans and Canadians have in common compared to Europe/Asia is high individuality and generally anti-conformity, no matter political views.

My 3 cents on Canada. Look forward to Calgary, Edmonton and Canadian Rockies section someday.
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Re: All of Canada

Post by heatherkay »

ALMOST all of Canada. You're going to miss Quebec and the Maritimes, which are awesome.
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Re: All of Canada

Post by DaveKCMO »

heatherkay wrote:ALMOST all of Canada. You're going to miss Quebec and the Maritimes, which are awesome.
did quebec two years ago (montreal & quebec city, along with a day-trip to ottawa). in the next two years we'll do this trip: http://www.viarail.ca/en/explore-our-de ... ifax-ocean
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Re: All of Canada

Post by heatherkay »

Canadian completist! I loved Nova Scotia.
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Re: All of Canada

Post by DaveKCMO »

wow. what a trip! highlights:

- the canadian. despite 4 nights on the train, we never got bored (heavy international presence on board). time melted away as the scenery changed between provinces, at least when viewed from the dome car. decent canadian beer/wine flowed the whole trip. ONTARIO IS F-ING BIG.
- food. amazing restaurants in toronto (richmond station, DYNE, woods) and vancouver (hawksworth, pacific culinary institute).
- transit/urban life. the investment in TOD and transit in these cities has really paid off. so much street-level activity makes KC look (still) like a ghost town. vancouver is my new gold standard, with portland a close #2 for architectural variety.
- grand hotel exhibit at VAG (really, it's the vancouver art gallery). fascinating locally-curated exhibit about the role of the hotel in human history. wished it would travel around, given the broad scope and appeal.
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Re: All of Canada

Post by earthling »

Nice report. Looking forward to a train trip someday from Toronto to Vancouver. If I recall, Vancouver is the 3rd most dense city in N America so yeah, you can't compare foot traffic to most any US city much less KC.
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Re: All of Canada

Post by brewcrew1000 »

Thinking about a trip in August and need some advice. Total trip length is about 7-8 days. We would fly into Bangor Maine for a couple days to visit friends and see Acadia. From there we were either go to the Maritimes or Quebec City/Montreal but not really sure which one or what is the must see place to go? We will have 2 kids with us so Bars, Nightlife and good dinners will be out of the question. Any advice?
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