ABC Wednesday: U is for Urban

The word "urban" had been playing around in my head, but my friend Wil used it in her introduction and I thought, "Aha, that's the word I've been trying to remember."
If you can tell me any other words I've forgotten, Wil, my life might be a lot less complicated.

Bordeaux, France

Brussels, Belgium

Den Haag, The Netherlands

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Honolulu, Hawaii

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Antwerp, Belgium

Metz, France

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Moscow, Russia

Paris, France

San Diego, California, USA

St. Petersburg, Russia

Vancouver, BC, Canada

Photos by Kay Davies and Richard Schear, except Vancouver Olympic photo, courtesy of Mr. Google


Posted for
ABC WEDNESDAY
Mrs. Nesbitt's alphabetical meme, hosted this week by our friend Wil, whom we met when we visited her beautiful country, The Netherlands. Thanks, Wil.

U is for Union Station, Toronto

© Not for use without permission.

My friend Paulette took this photo of me in Toronto's Union Station, May, 2010, as I embarked on the second leg of my solo cross-Canada train trip. Don't I look like an adventurer in my Tilley hat and my Tilley clothes?
In 1967, when I lived with my family in White Rock, BC, my brother Clint joined the Royal Canadian Navy along with two of his friends. They were put on a train in Vancouver and sent to Halifax, Nova Scotia, while boys from the east coast were sent to Victoria, BC.
Mother and I thought the idea of a train trip across the country sounded great, so, off and on for the next 40 or 45 years we talked about it, always saying, "We must do that some day."
Of course, "some day" never came. What did come was a time when Mom no longer felt up to doing it, and then, in 2007, she died. Dad died in 2009. They had done pretty much everything they ever wanted to do, and, as a family, we had no regrets. I still had one dream, though: I wanted to make the trip Mom and I never got around to making.
By then, I had already travelled by train from Vancouver to the Rockies, and I was living here in southeastern Alberta, so instead of going back home to Vancouver to start my journey, I went up to Edmonton to take the train from there to Toronto, from Toronto to Montreal, from Montreal to the Gaspé Peninsula and back, then from Montreal to Moncton, New Brunswick.
First, I spent a few days visiting my friend Paulette at her home near Toronto, before she accompanied me to Union Station to wave me off and to mark the occasion with the above photo. (It was the profile picture on my blog for the next year.)
I highly recommend a trans-Canada train trip with Via Rail. It isn't cheap, and it isn't fast, but it is wonderful. This is old-time train travel, folks. The journey is part of the destination. I had a lower berth (very roomy and comfy) so my fare included three delicious meals a day in the beautiful dining car, where I could meet with, and eat with, my fellow travellers.
It was a veritable trans-Canada cruise!
If I needed help getting on and off the train, there was always a Via staff member to help me with my luggage or with my three-legged cane (I don't leave home without it). The phrase "give me a hand" doesn't need to be spoken, it just happens. The service is great.

Between Toronto and Montreal.

Traveling alone, I had no fear of scrambling unaided on and off Via trains, as I often had to do this year when dealing with European trains, especially if my husband was busy with our luggage.
Yes, European trains are faster (some are a great deal faster), and quieter (because they're electric) but I so enjoy the clickety-clack of the train cars in Canada, the 360-degree beauty from the scenic Park cars, the conviviality of the lounge areas, the luxury of the elegant dining cars, and the gracious help of Via personnel.
Most of all, I love the soulful sound of the train whistle, which, rather than waking me up, lulls me to sleep instead. I'm glad there isn't a sign like this one (right) for the CP Rail freight trains coming through our town. If I'm not asleep yet, the whistle of the midnight train is like a lullaby.

Posted for ABC Wednesday, the meme started by Mrs. Nesbitt in the UK

and carried on by her talented team of photobloggers. Thanks, Mrs. N., and thanks, team!

To see how other bloggers made Use of the letter U, please click HERE!

A little yellow, or a lot, depends which Seattle piggy

Carrying on with the Seattle theme I started on Shadow Shot Sunday (hi, Sylvia!), these piggies are from our 2007 visit to Seattle. It was that city's second display of pig statues. The first was in 2001.
We were there to see the Toronto Blue Jays play the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field, and the colorful display of piggies turned out to be a bonus for our cameras. We often check the baseball schedule and plan a trip to Seattle followed by a visit to the Vancouver, BC, area to visit my family. We also timed our 2007 trip to be followed by a Holland America cruise to Alaska out of the port of Vancouver.

Posted for Mellow Yellow Monday hosted every week by Drowsey Monkey.

To see the yellows other cameras found around the world, please click

HERE!

V is for Vancouver, host to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games

I lived and worked in the Vancouver area most of my life, but when I tried to get Games tickets through the Vancouver Olympic Committee's lottery system of ticket sales,
I was a genuine gold-medal loser!
So I stayed home in Alberta with Dick and Lindy.

However, here's my brother Clint with a big fish in downtown Vancouver.
Dad would have loved this picture!

Clint, who lives in the suburbs, looks over his shoulder to see if he's being followed.
Nope, not a bit.

                                                                       Above photos by Maria Davies and Clint Davies. Photo below by Kay Davies.

This isn't Vancouver, this is the letter V in the clouds above the sunset at our house in Alberta.

Posted for the photo meme, ABC Wednesday.

To visit other bloggers and view their choices for the letter V, click

HERE

I miss the wet west coast in my world

The above photo, taken in early July, 2007, shows North Vancouver and West Vancouver.

In the mid-left distance, with snow below them, are the two mountain peaks known as "The Lions".

Rowers on Vancouver's False Creek, with Stanley Park in the near distance.

My world consists of eastern Alberta and western British Columbia.

                                                                                                       Photos by Kay Davies

Posted for the My World Tuesday meme.

To see other worlds on this planet, please click HERE

Seeking shadows in tropical places

On our tour from the Mayan Riviera in Mexico's Quintana Roo state to see the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza in Yucatan, we stopped at this restaurant for lunch. It wasn't easy to find a shady place in which to sit at noon in the tropics.

There was a little bit of shade near this beautiful yellow flower, but not a lot.

In the neighborhood of these gorgeous pink blooms, though, we found a little more shadow, if not exactly a great deal of shade.

Earlier this year, Dick and I joined my brother Clint and his wife, Maria, for a week at a resort on the Mayan Riviera in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. They flew to Cancun from Vancouver, while we flew there from Calgary via Houston, Texas. We spent a night in a hotel near the Houston airport and got our flight to Cancun the next day. I have trouble with long plane flights, and long days spent traveling.

As I've mentioned before, and will undoubtedly mention again, this is one of the best pieces of advice I can offer other unfitties who travel: stop and rest for a night, don't try to do the whole trip in one day. You'll be glad you did. Instead of trying, and failing, to get comfortable in the seat of a plane, you can eat in a restaurant, sleep in a bed, have a good breakfast, and take another comparatively short flight to your destination.

Photos by Kay Davies and Richard Schear. Posted by Kay Davies for Shadow Shot Sunday.

Hey, thank you, Harriet, for choosing our shot of a Galapagos gull and his shadow for your Shadow Gallery this weekend.