Canada on rails. 4 days train trip from Toronto to Vancouver. Day 3.

Learning from last day's experience I woke up relatively late today. It was around 6 am that my alarm woke me. This was the second night I had slept on the sitting seats and surprisingly I had slept well on both nights. After a good nights sleep I was feeling all excited for the day ahead. I quickly made my way over to the Dome car. Like the day before I found it totally empty. I grabbed a seat and waited for the sunrise. Slowly some other passengers trickled in no doubt waiting for the sunrise vistas to reveal. Having crossed the boundary of Manitoba during the night we were in Saskatchewan now. Around 7 30 am I could sense a change in the sky. Slowly, the black of the sky began to change into a shade of blue. At first it was dark blue but slowly morphed into a lighter shade. All around me the advancing light dimly illuminated the landscape which showed me nothing but endless barren lands on both sides. At the horizon where the sky met the land there was a strip of orange which shone brightly even as the rest of the sky had turned blue. The ground itself was still dark. These different colours presented a surreal picture. 90's kids will remember there used to be a powerpoint background called sunrise which had different shades of colours transforming form blue to orange. This reminded me of that. I watched this spectacle totally spellbound. For miles and miles the view did not change. Gradually though the sun was up in the sky and it was full daylight.      

By 10 am it was bright sunshine now. The landscape had changed completely compared to yesterday. All around me land stretched as far away as the sky can see. Totally unbroken expanse of land. No trees anywhere. Just some buildings here and there breaking the monotony of the land. Theres a joke about the American midwest which could be applied here. They say when a dog escapes from home in these lands you can see it go for 2 weeks.

At around 11 am the train rolled into the city of Saskatoon. As I watched eagerly outside I could see smoke rising from the city. Smoke or steam it was hard to judge yet it covered a good majority of the sky. We had a 30 min stop at the railway station of Saskatoon. It looked sunny outside but when I checked the temperature on my phone it showed it as -28 Deg. The view outside my widows showed no sign of it being so cold. What I saw was a warm sunny day. I had to check it out. This was the lowest temp I ever had the chance to experience in my life so quickly donning my gear I went out as soon as the train came to a halt. The cold did not hit me suddenly but as I walked around the station it crept inside slowly. The Saskatoon station is nothing much to write about. A small building with a fenced compound like an industrial facility. I took a stroll here, took a few photos and then went back to my seat. 

The journey resumed and again the train snaked its way on the flat lands. Barns, Grain elevators and bundles of hay made up the regular feature of the land now. Soon we crossed into Alberta and by 2100 Hrs were near Edmonton. The city lights glittered in the night and the smoke filled sky glistened. The train pulled up in the city and again we had the option of going out. This I promptly did. Careful not to slip on the snow covered platform I took a quick stroll along the length of the train. Edmonton station was also not much to write about and I did not take the trouble to look around much and quickly made my way back into the station. Part of my disinterest in Edmonton was because I was here before last summer during our Road trip in BC and Alberta.  Our journey resumed at around 11pm and the only thing left to do was sleep. This was going to be my third night sleeping in a sitting position and by now I was beginning to grow a bit tired of it. Nevertheless tomorrow was going to be the most important day of the trip. The section which is one of the most world famous train routes in the World was coming up. A feat of Engineering and true grit. I was all hyped about it and willed myself to sleep.