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| At 0130, we backed into a siding in Edmonton and for the next 2 hours, we cut five cars off of the train, though the last four (dining B, 2 prestige and the bar car) are still with us. At 0615, we’re in Viking, AB, about 4 hours behind schedule. At 0900, we’re stopped, again, on a siding, 30km west of Wainwright and the Alberta/Saskatchewan border. At 0918, we’re moving, again. We're using, exclusively, Canadian National track, and much of it is single-track. Therefore, whereas freight has the right-of-way (on track that they own!), this procedure of diverting to a siding and waiting for a westbound freight to pass happens frequently and pretty much destroys any sort of "schedule" for passenger trains. The train on which we're riding, when designated as #1, and westbound was 22 hours late arriving in Vancouver earlier this week. 1040: We crossed the border into Saskatchewan. At 1130, we answered first call for lunch. I started with a nice rice and barley soup. We both had the shrimp/scallop skewers and then followed with a moist chocolate brownie and whipped cream. Following lunch, Claudia brought us drinks to the dome where we enjoyed a fresh rain on the dome windows. More about the Park Car: The last car on the train, the forward half of the car has some storage and a bar on the lower deck, with 2 dozen seats on the upper deck with a glass dome covering both sides and over the top of the car. The back half of the car has couches on both side, and electricity! The presence of continuous conceirge service made this my spot of choice. With much of the route in wilderness, WiFi was spotty much of the time. About 1330, we both went down for 2 hour naps. At 1730, we answered first call for dinner, served, for the last time, by Galinda, Shannon and Jan. We each had a glass of merlot and the house salad. Lew moved on to the prime rib, and I had the halibut. We returned to the park car and Marty made a decaf and Bailey’s for Lew. We also said goodbye to our concierge team of Marty, Gab, and Claudia. The serving crew will depart, tonight, in Winnipeg, with a new crew to greet us in the morning. At Marty's suggestion, they made up our bed so our feet faced the bathroom insted of the window. This allowed us to get to the bathroom without disturbing each other; gave us more room side-to-side, but had our feet sticking off the bed if we stretched. It was a better arrangement |