加拿大國鐵Via Rail
Canada，簡稱VIA
VICTORIA AND CANADIAN ROCKIES TRAIN TOUR：Rocky Mountaineer 奔馳在卡爾加里、賈斯珀和溫哥華之間，火車從溫哥華出發，旅客通常要在甘露市過夜，第二天早上才有開往賈斯珀和卡爾加里（經班夫）的火車。
太平洋西北美景SEA》VAC 10:45a Sea》3h 30m 2:15p
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Across the Pacific Northwest and the Canadian Rockies
2004 西雅圖、溫哥華與洛磯山脈之旅
Our journey began in Seattle（西雅圖）, a city of water, hills, ferries, and distant mountains. The cool air of Puget Sound（普吉特海灣）carried the scent of the sea as we boarded a cruise for whale watching.
Standing on the open deck, we watched the waves rise and fall beneath a pale northern sky. Everyone waited quietly for that magical moment when a whale might break the surface. Then, far across the water, a sudden breath rose like white smoke. A dark back appeared briefly above the sea before disappearing again into the deep. It lasted only a few seconds, yet it became one of the journey’s most enduring memories.
From Seattle, we crossed the water to Vancouver Island（溫哥華島） and entered the graceful world of Victoria（維多利亞）. Victoria Harbour（維多利亞港）was alive with ferries, sailboats, seaplanes, and waterfront buildings. The stately Parliament Buildings（省議會大廈）stood beside the harbour, while flowers softened the streets with the quiet elegance of an English garden.
At Oak Bay（橡樹灣）, the city became gentler still. The road followed a peaceful shoreline lined with old houses, gardens, rocks, and quiet stretches of sea. It seemed a place where time had learned to walk slowly.
We then continued to Vancouver（溫哥華市）, where mountains, forests, and modern buildings meet the Pacific Ocean. In Stanley Park（史坦利公園）, immense trees sheltered the paths, while the Seawall followed the changing edge of forest and water. Across the harbour, mountains rose behind the city as if nature had drawn its own skyline beyond the towers of glass.
On Robson Street（洛遜街）, however, Vancouver displayed its lively urban face. Restaurants, cafés, shops, languages, and people from many parts of the world filled the avenue. The city seemed both Canadian and international, western and Asian—a meeting place shaped by migration and the Pacific.
Crossing the harbour to North Vancouver（北溫哥華）, we arrived at Lonsdale Quay（朗斯代爾碼頭）. From there, Vancouver appeared across the water like a long silver wall of buildings, with ships moving slowly through the harbour. Behind us stood the North Shore Mountains（北岸山脈）; before us shimmered the city.
A journey of about two hours by tour bus carried us north along the Sea-to-Sky Highway（海天公路） to Whistler Village（惠斯勒村）. The road curved between mountains and ocean, with forested slopes descending toward deep blue water. Waterfalls flashed briefly between the trees, while snow-touched peaks waited in the distance.
Whistler Village lay beneath the mountains like a European alpine settlement. Wooden lodges, pedestrian lanes and flower-filled squares gave it a festive charm, but beyond the cafés and shops stood the quiet majesty of the Coast Mountains（海岸山脈）.
Returning to Vancouver, we also visited Richmond（列治文） and the historic fishing village of Steveston（史蒂夫斯頓）. At Steveston Fisherman’s Wharf（漁人碼頭）, fishing boats rested beside the pier, and the smell of salt, nets, timber and fresh seafood carried memories of the Pacific salmon industry.
Here, Vancouver’s modern elegance gave way to an older maritime world—a place shaped by fishermen, immigrants, canneries, changing tides and generations of hard work.
Into the Canadian Rockies
From Vancouver, the journey turned inland. After approximately four and a half hours of travel, we reached Kamloops（甘露市）, where we stayed overnight. The coastal forests gradually gave way to a drier interior landscape of broad valleys, open hills and winding rivers.
Kamloops was more than a place to sleep. It was the threshold between the Pacific Coast and the Canadian Rockies（加拿大洛磯山脈）—a pause between two days of magnificent scenery.
This was the classic rhythm of a Victoria and Canadian Rockies Train Tour（維多利亞與加拿大洛磯山脈火車之旅）. The celebrated Rocky Mountaineer（洛磯山之光觀光列車） travelled between Vancouver, Kamloops, Banff and Calgary, with other routes reaching Jasper（賈斯珀）. Passengers leaving Vancouver would normally spend the night in Kamloops before continuing through the mountains the following morning.
At dawn, the rails once again carried us eastward. Rivers flashed beside the train; forests climbed steeply from the valleys; bridges crossed wild water; and distant mountains slowly grew into walls of rock and snow.
The train passed through Glacier National Park（加拿大冰川國家公園） and the dramatic country around Rogers Pass（羅傑斯隘口）. Glaciers rested high above the valleys, waterfalls descended from dark cliffs, and endless conifer forests covered the lower slopes.
Seen from the train, the landscape unfolded like a moving scroll. There was no need to hurry from one viewpoint to another—the mountains came to us, filling the windows one after another.
Eventually we entered Banff National Park（班夫國家公園）, where the Canadian Rockies reached their most majestic form. Grey peaks rose sharply above forests and turquoise waters, their summits still holding snow beneath the summer sky.
Banff was not simply beautiful; it possessed a grandeur that quieted conversation. Looking from the train or standing beneath the peaks, one felt how small a traveller was—and how fortunate—to pass through such ancient mountains.
From Banff, the route continued toward Calgary（卡加利）. The high mountains gradually opened onto the immense western plains. Calgary appeared where the Rockies meet the prairie—a modern city beneath a sky that seemed larger than anywhere else.
After so many days of ships, buses and trains, we flew approximately three and a half hours from Calgary back to Vancouver. From above, the mountains that had taken so long to cross became a vast succession of ridges, valleys, snowfields and clouds.
We then returned to Seattle, completing a great circle through the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada.
The Trains That Carried the Memories
Canada’s national passenger railway is VIA Rail Canada（加拿大國鐵）, usually shortened to VIA（維亞鐵路）. It connects distant Canadian cities and regions, carrying travellers across a country whose enormous scale is best understood from a railway window.
The Rocky Mountaineer（洛磯山之光）, however, is a separate luxury sightseeing train rather than a VIA Rail service. Its purpose is not merely to reach a destination, but to make the journey itself the principal attraction. Travelling only in daylight, it allows passengers to see rivers, canyons, forests, glaciers and mountain passes, with an overnight stay in Kamloops before continuing toward Banff and Calgary—or, on another route, toward Jasper.
Our cross-border rail journey between Seattle and Vancouver belonged to yet another service: the Amtrak Cascades（美鐵瀑布號）. Leaving Vancouver（VAC）at 10:45 in the morning, the train travelled north for approximately three and a half hours and arrived in at Seattle（SEA）2:15 in the afternoon.
The route followed the waters and forests of the Pacific Northwest. Through the windows came glimpses of bays, islands, small towns and distant mountains. The international border appeared almost quietly; one moment we were travelling through British Columbia（卑詩省）, and soon afterward we had entered Washington State（華盛頓州）.
Years later, the exact order of every bus, ferry and train may grow indistinct, but the feeling of the journey remains vivid: the first whale rising from Puget Sound; the flowers beside Victoria Harbour; the forest shadows of Stanley Park; the fishing boats of Steveston; and the long train turning through the Canadian Rockies.
It was a journey joined by many forms of movement—cruise ship, ferry, tour bus, railway and airplane. Yet the train remains strongest in memory. Sitting beside the window, watching rivers, forests, glaciers and mountains pass slowly before my eyes, I felt neither the impatience of departure nor the sadness of arrival.
For those precious hours, travelling itself was enough.
