VIA TO THE WORLD'S

April 11 – 13, 2009

For the next three days all our attention is on the Men’s World Curling Championship.  There are games to watch, autograph sessions to attend and of course there is the famous “patch” to go have a pint, listen to music and eat at.  We meet very nice people at the Coliseum, have some major discussions about the curling shots and laugh lots with Jolene Despres and her husband Chris throughout the weekend.   In the end Scotland beats out Canada to take the trophy.  Shirley is proud to have her picture taken with the skip of the Scottish team and also has a program from the event autographed as well as a Canadian flag signed by nearly every team taking part.  The evening of April 13, 2009 sees us back at the Montcon, New Brunswick Via station boarding the “Ocean” for our westbound trip back home.  This first leg is done mostly through the night with a late morning/early afternoon arrival in Montreal.

April 14, 2009

We board the “Corridor” train from Montreal, Quebec to Toronto, Ontario for the early afternoon trip and experience two of what we feel are the hardest working Via employees we have encountered.  We are pleased to have Mourad and Marc working the car we are in on this route.  They go non-stop for the entire 5 plus hours.  No request is too small for them and it is all done with a smile and pleasant conversation.  Via should be very proud to have these employees representing their company. 

We arrive in the “big smoke” with a few hours of daylight left so take the opportunity to explore.  We go for a brief walk and view the CN tower and some of the skyscrapers before retiring to the seating area and having a meal, checking e-mail and a short period of relaxation before our boarding time on the “Canadian”.  At promptly 10:00 pm we pull out of Toronto’s Union Station and head off through the city lights and into the dark Ontario wilderness.