People & Workers We Encountered During Our Canadian Adventure - June 2026

Aboard the the westbound Train 1 ("The Canadian").

Written by Naomi Friday morning, June 26th: “Last night around 9:45 they announced we would return to Winnipeg going BACKWARDS the entire way. Each car banging into the next with such force I nearly fell off my upper bunk. (That took until about 6:30 AM!)

At 6:30 am they said the train is terminated and there is no way to continue west on the railway—there is only one railway btw.

Hundreds of people on this train are now scrambling for flights, buses, etc. so many international travelers, people going to funerals, reunions, more scenic once-in-a-lifetime Rocky Mtn adventures, now scrapped.

I think I scored flights home today from Winnipeg thru Chicago but I can’t be 100% sure I have seats. (We got the last two).

It’s all sad and very disappointing.”

This debacle made a lot of a flurry on line.

Via Rail delay leaves Winnipeg passengers stranded and angry

And from - https://www.thetraveler.org/via-rail-delay-leaves-winnipeg-passengers-stranded-and-angry/

“The train originally left Toronto 10 hours late. We arrived in Winnipeg about 7 am on 6-26, and spent 12 hours stuck at the Winnipeg station while they changed engines twice. The train just broke down again at 9 pm, about 60 miles west of Winnipeg. Latest news is the train will be heading back to Winnipeg some time tonight. For now, it's just sitting on the tracks. No idea what happens tomorrow.”

Update 6 a.m. Saturday 6-27. Email from Via

"As a result, the train returned to Winnipeg, where passengers will spend the night onboard. Lunch will be provided on Saturday, June 27, and passengers are welcome to remain onboard until 16:00 that day. We recognize the inconvenience and uncertainty this caused. Please be assured that the safety of our passengers and employees is always our top priority…"

Of course this ruined our dream journey but getting here brought us great scenery & architecture, wonderful people, & really good food. It was the people that were the best: other tourists, workers, & locals. We experienced so many wonderful encounters.

Merie's 1st day working at Garrison Brewing Co. - Waterfront Restaurant & Oyster House. She moved here two weeks ago from Newfoundland. Recently graduated college in Toronto & wants to be a chiropractor... Like many of the young folks we met, she’s not leaving the area where she grew up.

Second half of our flight from San Francisco. We were weather delayed coming in to Montréal but our connecting flight was also delayed. Phew!

At the Montréal airport gate we were waiting to board the connecting flight to Halifax. The crews were having a good old time. I liked the pilots’ hats.

Lord Nelson Hotel, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Benjamin Bridges Winery, Gaspereau Valley, Nova Scotia. Established in 1999.

Domain de Grand Pré Vineyards, Nova Scotia. Since 2000.

Domaine de Grand Pré Vineyards, Nova Scotia. The hostess who was excellent & our driver JD. Tidal Bay is an appellation of two valleys here. Note the non- alcoholic choice. The three vineyards we visited had their vintages of non-alcoholic beverages.

"Prices more stable than some world leaders." (Note the billboard).

Approaching the MacKay Bridge. Our driver & guide JD of Halifax based Grape Escapes-Nova Scotia Wine Tours.

The line was long for this soft serve ice cream. I waited until it eased up & got in line.

I didn’t understand the appeal of this place as the ice cream, other than refreshing, was nothing special.

Victoria Garden, Halifax, Nova Scotia c. 1885 across the street from our hotel, The Lord Nelson.

Headed towards Prince Edward Island (PEI) in the middle of the 11 km Confederation Bridge we were stopped for paving work.

Nomi with Eamon in Garden of Good Hope. Eamon, an Irishman who lives in the USA.

At Anne of Green Gables cousin's house.

Cape Turner, Prince Edward Island National Park, on the Rue du Gulf Shore Parkway West in Green Gables, Prince Edward Island (PEI).

Mussel fisherman in a boat. Cymbria, near the Blue Mussel Cafe, PEI. The net for the mussels is between those two buoys to the right of the boat.

The Dunes Studio, Gallery & Cafe, Cavendish Beach, Harrington PEI.

Recent graduates were many & traffic was heavy coming into Charlottetown, PEI.

Home owner gardening in an upscale neighborhood along the Hillsborough River, Charlottetown, PEI

Nomi with Don at the Kiwanis Dairy Bar along Victoria Park, Charlottetown, PEI. Looking out over the Hillsborough River into the outlet to the Northumberland Strait.

Dancers at a party for government workers. Charlottetown, PEI.

Another set of dancers at a party for government workers. Standing on the right must be the supervisors. Charlottetown, PEI.

John Brown Grille in a late 1800's former warehouse an Italianate Commercial style building on Victorian Row, a pedestrian only street. Charlottetown, PEI .

She was selecting leaves for some project. I didn’t inquire. The Gallery Coffee House & Bistro on Great George Street, Historic District a National Historic Site of Canada, Charlottetown, PEI

The Gallery Coffee House & Bistro, Charlottetown, PEI - Note: “CAUTION WATCH FOR FALLING ICE & SNOW”

VIA sleeper train to Montreal. Our attendant, from Morocco.

Supper is served on the VIA sleeper train to Montreal.

From our sleeper car window of the VIA train to Montreal.

Keeping up a degree of levity while awaiting luggage at the Montréal Central Station Gare centrale de Montréal.

Although not everyone.

"The first Mennonites in Canada arrived from Pennsylvania in 1786."

The happy couple photo bombed by Marty’s foot.

Our group of ten lovely folks at the start of the Beyond the Market walking food tour of Montréal. We started in a Salvadorean restaurant in the Hispanic district of Montréal. Who knew?

Our guide Jesse offering us Syrian appetizers. Jesse was going to put down the payment on his 1st house the next day.

Food tour with Jesse - Marché Jean-Talon is one of North America’s largest public markets, located in Montreal’s Little Italy since 1933.

Food tour with Jesse - Marché Jean-Talon.

Food tour with Jesse - Marché Jean-Talon. She’s from Tennessee.

Food tour with Jesse - Marché Jean-Talon. this fellow forages what he sells. In this case mushrooms. We also tasted spinach that was salty because he foraged it near salty water.

Portuguese Restaurant Solmar, Montréal. Wine from Wayne Gretsky Estates & Niagara Peninsula. Both excellent choices.

Italian passeggiata Canadian style. The Portuguese restaurant we had just eaten at is to the left. (different name on the awning…?)

Café Olimpus next to our hotel, The William Gray in Montréal. We were his first customers at 7:00 AM.

Two guys outside Café Olimpus, Montréal.

Taxi cab driver outside the Wm. Grey Hotel , Montréal. Love the taxi company’s name, BONJOUR.

A congenial waiter in a British pub in Québec City that we had ducked into during a pouring rain.

Québec City. They were admiring my fried ice cream dessert.

Folks enjoying a beautiful day on the Lake Ontario path in Québec City.

Le 4 Saison rest stop . Who could resist trying on a muskrat cap, with tail?

Our driver Mo from Syria. Pierre Laporte Bridge over the St. Lawrence River towards Montréal .

Bicycle policeman in Montréal.

Train Montréal to Toronto. He was quite busy the whole trip. Lots of tech conversation.

Cosmopolitan Toronto with a very diverse population of about 3 million.

Graduation time at Toronto’s Exhibition Centre.

We had a lovely long conversation with Brooklyn. She suggested that the next day when we took the streetcar 501, Queen Street line we should go towards Neville Park & the beach.

Foosball in lobby of Novotel Toronto Centre where we stayed for two nights.

Liana checks us in for the Toronto Harbor Tour.

Toronto Harbor. These guys came to each dock to rake up garbage. Their boat was filled with debris that was all branches & such...no trash! No plastic, no cans, no papers, no bottles, no bodies…

Croatia vs. Panama game this day. Croatians outnumbered Panamanians on the streets of Toronto.

Now here’s a story. Toronto Harbor from our perch at AMSTERDAM Brewery - Police encounter... The cabin cruiser was filled up with scantily clad women (not a man in sight) taking selfies of each other & waving to the marine police as they docked. The woman did attract the attention of the Croatians on the deck of the brewery.

People on street car.

Toronto policeman with big beard. Police were a big presence around the waterfront for the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) games.

A FIFA worker.

What to do when we found out our departure on the sleeper train from Toronto to Jasper would be delayed by ten hours? “Toronto’s centerpiece streetcar route, 501 QUEEN, is noted by Nat’l Geographic as one of In 2007, National Geographic listed Toronto’s 501 Queen Streetcar as one of the world’s top 10 trolley rides in its Journeys of a Lifetime book.” Now that would be a neat way to spend some of our ten hours! Brooklyn, last night’s waitress, had suggested taking it in the direction of Neville Park & off we went.

Workers in danger?

From the TTC 501 QUEEN streetcar.

Taxi driver waiting for a fare at the end/start of the 501 line in Neville Park.

From the TTC 501 QUEEN streetcar.

From the TTC 501 QUEEN streetcar.

Many years ago at a pediatric dental meeting in Toronto, I took a bicycle tour & was amazed by the bicycle infrastructure.

Workers downtown wore well tailored clothing.

Men were often wearing ties & pocket handkerchiefs with their suit or sports jackets. Ki modern japanese + bar.

Ki modern japanese + bar.

Our server, who came to Canada from Bengladash many decades ago.

Ki modern japanese + bar.

Hotel Novotel Centre Hotel Toronto watching Canada vs. Switzerland FIFA game.

We arrived at Canada’s busiest railway station, the Toronto Union historic Beaux-Arts landmark Station, a little earlier than suggested & got comfortable seats.

In Toronto Union Station | VIA Rail, people waiting for dining time assignments on our ten hour delayed sleeper train to Jasper. There was no announcement about this. The line suddenly appeared. This presaged the rail line’s poor communication with us for the remainder of the journey. Photo by Naomi.

-

A new style of man bun.

Toronto Union Station | VIA Rail.

Toronto Union Station | VIA Rail.

Boarding car #41, the Jarvis on Train 1 "The Canadian."

Toronto Union Station | VIA Rail.

The sleeper car looked good in theory.

Tight space!

Jenniffer [sic], one of our lovely attendants.

A not so helpful attendant while we had a long layover, (why??? we never learned) in Hornerpayne, "The Geographical Centre of Ontario." We were told we could get off & walk around for a few minutes… that turned into almost two hours.

She wouldn’t let me walk to the last car of the train where I wanted to take a photograph.

After 5:00 we were allowed to enter the “Prestige” lounge in the last car. The German couple were really nice. They were spending months traveling around. The woman in pink sleeves was a “prestige” traveler whose annoying, conservative, heavy into wine husband, was sitting across from us.

The dining car folks served three meals in three sittings per day. All the meals had several choices & were delicious.

That’s 24 four tops or 96 folks for each sitting, six times/day.

Their set list, including Simon & Garfunkel, Gordon Lightfoot…& train songs had folks in the Skyline dome humming along. I was not impressed by them & took my leave.

The crew changed in Winnipeg. Thinking we’d be continuing on the train to Jasper, Jeremy presented us with our meal seating choices.

We left the train at the Winnipeg station having been told we had a few hours “to kill” whilst they changed locomotives! Off we went to explore Winnipeg.

Mennonite family outside the Winnipeg Union Station.

“W” for Winnipeg!

Food hall a short walk from the station.

We finally got to hear some live music. They were good.

Biding our time on the platform. Nathanial, the VIA attendant & a Winnipeg native, had never been called Nato, a favorite nickname for our son Nathan.

Gabriel. I’m glad I got to talk with him as he was quite helpful the next day.

The Canadian woman in pink from Manitoba, had volunteered at several Olympic Games. Her area of expertise was short track speed skating.

At 6:30 AM, Gabriel helping our new friend Lorileigh from Halifax figure out her journey when we were told the train would not continue.

I finally spotted a moose. Nomi had seen on near the tracks, from the train.