alberta

Dining Around with Gene Burns

Saturday 10am-1pm

Food

Wine

Travel

This week on

Program notes

ROYAL CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY

TRIP REPORT

2005 Summer Trip Report

Ever since my college days when I rode the Lackawanna Railroad’s famous Phoebe Snow from my home in Western New York State to New Jersey I’ve had a fascination with train travel. I’ve taken the overnight train from Moscow to St. Petersburg, ridden the Silver Star from New York City to Florida and sampled the high-speed trains of Europe and Japan. Alas I had never ridden one of the luxury excursion trains. This summer I did!

The Royal Canadian Pacific is a train made up of beautifully restored private cars from the 1920’s and 1930’s which were once the habitat of Kings, Presidents, Prime Ministers, movie stars and the railroad’s top executives. These cars were the private jets of their day, slower but no less opulent. The train is configured to carry no more than thirty-two guests and features different specialized itineraries including fishing, golf, food and wine and a tour into the Canadian Rockies. The Canadian Pacific Railroad, which owns and operates the train also makes it available for private charters. The Railroad will also design custom itineraries and experiences to suit clients’ needs. This train trip is an insight into the life style of the Gilded Age.

The Royal Canadian Pacific is based in Calgary, Alberta. It departs from a special pavilion attached to the elegant Fairmont Palliser Hotel. From the moment that your chauffeured car meets you on arrival at Calgary Airport you are pampered. Upon arrival at the hotel you are whisked to your private Gold Level check in desk and shown to your room. The next morning your bags are removed and delivered to your stateroom on board the train. After breakfast served in the Gold Level lounge it’s a leisurely stroll to the Royal Canadian Pavilion. As the train pulls out you are escorted to your room. The rooms are small but each has its own bathroom with shower and is a model of efficiency. You can spend time in your room of course but the train has many comfortable seating, dining and lounge areas in which you can read, sip a drink, watch the passing scenery and/or converse with fellow passengers.

There were twenty-seven passengers on our excursion, but that number contracted to twenty-five the first night as one couple elected to leave the train and return home. Their departure and the drama, which led up to, it lent our trip an unanticipated frisson of excitement and gave the Railroad an opportunity to demonstrate its skill in handling the unexpected. The couple in question, he a fifty-seven year old Type-A oil arbitrageur and she a thirty-one year old medical school student had been together for eleven years and lived in Texas. From the moment we met them at a reception the night before our departure it was obvious they were the latest incarnation of "the Bickersons". Their verbal tug-of-war percolated throughout our first day and apparently reached its zenith at the dinner table. She demanded her own stateroom. He refused to pay for it. With Canadian Pacific executive Don Heron who accompanied us moderating the couple decided o leave the train and spend the night in a local hotel at our first overnight stop. Don arranged a van to return them to Calgary for the premature flight home. He sensitive and competent manner in which this event was handled speaks volumes bout the lengths to which Canadian Pacific goes to insure a smooth trip. Incidentally the train does park on a siding at night so that passengers do not miss the spectacular scenery while sleeping.

After our bags were unpacked and we were settled, as our train rolled over the Alberta prairie to our first stop, the kitchen crew headed by Senior Chef Alain Maheux and his brother Chef Eric Maheux served a brunch of Quiche Loraine, spinach salad and profiteroles. As we finished brunch our train which had left the prairie and entered the Rocky Mountains pulled into Banff Springs Station. We transferred o a moor coach for a short ride to the luxurious Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. After a tour and time for picture taking we re-boarded our train and indulged in High Tea complete with scones and tiny sandwiches as we made our way to the imposing Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. The hotel soars over the pristine lake. The sun was shining, the air was cool and bracing and to the accompaniment of an alpine horn concert most of us took an hour-long nature hike wit one of the resident rangers. After leaving Lake Louise we climbed higher into the mountains until we crossed the Continental Divide and headed for Golden, British Columbia, our overnight stop. As the train headed for Golden we dressed for dinner and gathered for cocktails and hors d’oeurves in the Lounge car. As the train pulled into Golden we feasted on Stuffed Quail, Rack of Lamb and Royal Cheesecake washed down with a delicious 2002 Mission Hill Shiraz from British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley. The staff continued to serve coffee and after dinner drinks until the last intrepid traveler toddled off to bed.

The next day dawned with an opportunity to see the mountains through which we were traveling "up close and personal". A motor coach took us the short distance to Kicking Horse Resort at which gondolas transported us the seven thousand plus feet up on Eagle’s Eye Mountain where we had breakfast surrounded by snow capped mountain peaks gleaming in the bright morning sun. After breakfast our train headed south through he Columbia River Valley to Cranbrook. Enroute we enjoyed a lunch of Grilled Chicken with Penne Pasta and Cajun Sauce, salad with truffle oil dressing and a warm Berry Compote served with Praline Ice Cream. With lunch we drank a 2002 Jean Marc Brochard Chablis and a 2002 Cedar Creek Merlot. After lunch we arrived at Cranbrook for a much-anticipated visit to the Canadian Museum of Rail Travel.

This Museum is a largely undiscovered jewel found in this community of twenty thousand residents in Canada’s Kootenay Rockies. It is the vision and passion of local architect Garry W. Anderson who has devoted his life to the restoration and preservation of what he views as the rolling architecture of rail cars. Not only is this museum with its collection of over twenty- eight rail cars in various stages of restoration a dream come true for rail buffs but it is a must see for those who are captivated by the style and culture of the Gilded Age and the Roaring Twenties. The polished woods, stained glass and period fixtures cause the lost romance of rail travel to come alive. The museum houses the only surviving complete set of cars from the Trans Canada Limited put into service by the Canadian Pacific Railroad in 1929. Not to be missed is the stunning stained glass dome in he 1906 Palace Sleeping Car, "Omenee". The centerpiece of the Museum’s main building is the restored Royal Alexandra Hall originally built in 1906 as the café of the Royal Alexandra Hotel in Winnipeg. The hall contains a fully restored and usable 1864n John Broadwood & Sons Concert Grand Piano.

As we leave Cranbrook we enter the Elk River Valley home to thriving lumber and coal mining industries. The train heads back to the Continental Divide where we will spend the night in Crowsnest Pass having re-entered the province of Alberta. Along the way cocktails and hors d’oeurves in the Lounge Car are followed by a dinner of Cream of Broccoli Soup, Seared Seabass with Sauvignon Beurre Blanc and White Chocolate Vanilla Crème Brulee accompanied by 2002 Wente Chardonnay and Chateau de Flaugergues in the Craigellachie Dining Car.

Day Three dawns with coffee and Continental Breakfast for early risers. Our train departs for Fort Macleod and one of the most intriguing sights on the trip. Enroute a wonderful brunch of Granola Yogurt and Honey, Baked Eggs with sautéed diced tomatoes, Bacon Sausage and O’Brien Home fried Potatoes with copious amounts of fresh brewed coffee prepares us for Head Smashed-in Buffalo Jump!

A motor coach transports us to Head Smashed-in Buffalo Jump. This place with the strange sounding name is one of a series of cliffs arising from the plain. It is an UNESCO World Heritage Site many thousands of years older than the Egyptian Pyramids. Great care has been taken to preserve the natural integrity of the site. A building is designed to integrate with the hillside and although it is large it is thus unobtrusive. This area was home to aboriginal Plains Peoples tens of thousands of years ago before horses were introduced into North America or the territory native people called Turtle Island and long before the advent of guns. Wise natives who relied on the buffalo for sustenance would gather here each year for a communal hunt. A short film in the theatre explains how the buffalo herd was maneuvered into stampeding over the cliff to certain death. Those who were only injured were killed by skilled bowmen. The buffalo were then apportioned by the Elders and another year of survival was guaranteed. It is a story of cleverness and ingenuity but like so much associated with native peoples and their battles with modernity it exudes an air of melancholy. As you stand on the cliff imagining herds of buffalo the wind blows constantly enveloping you in its mournful embrace.

While we visited Head Smashed-in Buffalo Jump our train went on to nearby Lethbridge, Alberta. Before we reboard we will be treated to a spectacular sight. As we watch from below our train will cross the one-mile long High Level Bridge some three hundred feet above us. Built by Canadian Pacific Railway in 1909 this is the longest and highest bridge of its type in the world. We reboard the train and head for a place the staff admits is truly in the middle of nowhere, Eltham, Alberta in the midst of the vast open plain. As we make our way there cocktails and hors d’oeuvres are served followed by a dinner of Smoked Duck Breast and Foie Gras Ravioli, Grilled Tenderloin of superb "AAA" Alberta Beef with Bordelaise sauce, Potato Gratin and Double Chocolate Cake and to drink a 2003 Henry of Pelham Chardonnay and 2002 The Cover Drive as well as a lucious late harvest Canadian Vidal. A loud and lusty rendition of Happy Birthday toasted one of our traveling companions from Cleveland who was turning a year older. Before we retired for the evening one of our number discovered that we were encamped in the midst of fields of canola and "liberated" some so we could all see that the oil with which we were familiar was once a tiny seed. Finally to bed to prepare for tomorrow – Dude Ranch Day!

Th Province o9f Alberta is Canada’s Wild West. Each year the internationally known Calgary Stampede celebrates all manner of things Western. The province’s plains and hillsides are dotted with cattle ranches. How appropriate then that we should visit a dude ranch on our last day out. After a great a la carte breakfast we headed by motor coach to the Homeplace Ranch in the hill country near Okotoks about an hour away. The ranch, which was homesteaded in 1912, is run by Mac and Jayne Makenny and their family. Their guests come from all over the world to ride, relax, rest and recharge. Some such as a woman I met from Connecticut come for weeks and e3ven sign on to help run the ranch. Mac an affable mover and shaker in the Alberta Tourism Association projects a welcoming attitude that makes you feel at home. Several of our number elected to go riding while others of us walked around the property working up an appetite for the ranch lunch which featured steaks grilled over a wood fire and all he trimmings including Brownie Sundaes for dessert. After lunch we headed back to the train for he ride back into Calgary and another restful night on the Fairmont Palliser’s Gold Level. Incidentally dinner at the hotel the nigh before departure and the night you return are both included in the tour package as are the breakfasts and hotel accommodations.

We were fortunate on this trip to travel with an interesting and enjoyable group of traveling companions. Even the political discussions which were triggered by the realization that I was a radio talk host were lively and fun. In truth there are few things in life more interesting than people being people. Even the hapless participants in the aforementioned "fall/spring" romance which appeared to falter on the first night out made their contribution. The staff was superb, helpful and friendly without being intrusive. The chefs dazzled us meal in and meal out especially given the tiny size of their onboard kitchens. Guests are asked to note any special needs such as dietary restrictions a few weeks before scheduled departure. Those needs are routinely handled discreetly and without fanfare indicating a level of staff skill which others in the hospitality business might well emulate.

The Royal Canadian Pacific is a Five Star Experience, a trip I would take again any time. Indeed a longer specialized itinerary would be a treat!

Since I had never spent any time in the Province of Alberta we arranged two additional days in Calgary to get a taste of the place. It turned out to be a pleasant surprise. The people are friendly and accommodating. In some ways Alberta is Canada’s Texas. Cattle, oil and gas are king. Indeed the province is awash in cash generated by the escalating world oil prices. Calgary a growing city has a population of just under a million people and is home to many Americans who work in the oil business. Although a bit self-conscious and young the Calgary restaurant scene is growing in both size and sophistication.

RESOURCES AND CONTACTS:

Royal Canadian Pacific Pavilion

133 9^th Avenue SW

Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2P 2M3

Telephone: 1-403-508-1400

Website: www.royalcanadianpacific.com

Contact: Jean LeSourd

Travel Alberta

760,999 8^th Street SW

Calgary, Alberta. Canada T2P 1J5

Telephone: 1-403-509-2597

Website: www.travelalberta.com