I can really get into an educational vacation, especially when it includes subjects with steep learning curves, like wine tastings.
Even such delicious studies are not without challenges. Holding a glass of wine in each hand means taking notes is pretty well out of the question, which is fine by me. Surprisingly, even my "teacher" considered this casual approach to learning a grand idea.
Learning co-ordinator Francois Cote talks about Nova Scotia wines in the dome car of Via's Ocean rail service.
Comfortably ensconced aboard The Ocean, Via Rail's flagship Montreal-Halifax run, I was discovering the ground rules of the Learning Experience that's available to travellers on the service's premier Easterly Class. There aren't any.
That was made perfectly clear by Francois Cote, Via's genial learning co-ordinator, after we'd boarded the train at Montreal's downtown station.
"What I do is very informal. You can read, sleep or just enjoy the beautiful scenery going by. Or, if you prefer, you can listen as I talk about the history and geography of the places we're passing through," the bilingual Cote explained.
Via has figured out that even with the most attractive scenery in the world passing by, folks eventually get bored staring through a window for the best part of a day. Adding a relaxed educational component has become a cozy diversion for its first-class passengers. It's also proving good for business, presenting yet another reason for travellers to ride the rails rather than tackling crowded airports or traffic-clogged highways.
Passenger rail has been part of transportation in Eastern Canada for 170 years, since the New Brunswick and Quebec Rail Road Company was incorporated in 1836. The Ocean is Via's Eastern transcontinental service and the oldest scheduled train service in the country.
Departing from Montreal, our Ocean voyage is a scheduled downtown-to-downtown 20-hour journey. Curving along the south shore of the St. Lawrence in Quebec, the train crosses into New Brunswick and finally Nova Scotia before delivering us to the Halifax terminus.
More than just cosseting them from A to B, Via's premier Easterly Class offers passengers an opportunity, through Learning Co-ordinators like Cote, to find out about the diverse regions, and the even more diverse people who settled along this maritime corridor.
Our journey takes us through forests, rolling fields, cities and tiny villages. A complementary landscape of colourful history and topography is painted in Cote's wide-ranging conversations.
The Ocean's voyage of discovery is a 1,346-kilometre learning experience, punctuated by meals in the dining car, the occasional nap in your own bedroom, and perhaps a chapter or two of the novel you might have brought along.
Mind you, as Cote smilingly pointed out, there would be no test at the end of the trip. A very fair proposition I thought, sniffing our first subject material, a crisp Nova Scotia white wine.
Our classroom was the train's dome car, a place with so many windows you felt an intimate connection with the ever-changing panorama sliding by. Lots of distractions, perhaps, but I found my concentration little affected. I was able to studiously focus on my new challenge, a silky red from the same Nova Scotia vineyard.
Our learning group was rewarded for its diligence and Cote upped the ante on our studies by introducing a food pairing with our wines. Sampling locally produced smoked gouda and cherries with our vino, we completed the liquid section of our semester with great distinction.
Our class was a mixed group, demographically representative of the Easterly's usual passengers, according to our teacher -- couples, families, seniors and newly-weds. One young couple was celebrating their engagement with return tickets on the Ocean, combining the train trip with a week-long tour of Nova Scotia.
"Our passengers are from all across Canada and from around the world," said Cote. "They want to enjoy time in Montreal and Halifax, but the train adds that certain mystique that makes their vacation more memorable."
Our youngest passenger taking in the learning component was eight, and a dab hand at lobster fishing -- something we discovered when our Learning Co-ordinator inevitably got around to covering this crucial maritime subject.
Using a scale model lobster trap and a rubber lobster, Cote demonstrated how lobsters get themselves captured. The demo was good, but the youngster stole the show, even answering questions on the perfect way to cook the crustacean. Then we realized he was from Halifax and had been practically raised on the delicacy.
With that part of the curriculum safely under our belts, Cote decided we were ready to move on to other maritime experiences. As the lakes and rivers went by, and picturesque villages came and went, we discussed how explorer Jacques Cartier sailed into the waters of New Brunswick in 1534 and wrote home about the warm waters of the Baie des Chaleurs. He should have bought real estate. This part of New Brunswick has become a popular tourist area.
Cote then talked how Acadian refugees in the region escaped English oppression by moving into these forested highlands, an area almost inaccessible until the railroad came through.
We passed by Moncton, Sackville, Amherst and Anne Murray's hometown of Springhill. Then the Ocean pulled into Truro, our last stop before Halifax.
Cote told us it was in Truro where Stanfield's invented shrink-proof underwear, and also pioneered the "trap-door" long john.
I thought that was the perfect point to end the morning's history topic. After our coffee break, Cote had promised to tell us about the infamous Halifax explosion of 1917 and the city's strong connections with the Titanic disaster. But first there were the cookies and coffee to reactivate our brain cells.
If classrooms would have been this laid back in my youth, it's quite possible even I might have had the odd A on my report card.
CanWest News Service
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