Around The World Without Flying: More of my first Canadian train trip & Ruthin Castle Part 3

First, I arrived in Jasper late yesterday afternoon, very glad to get off the train, despite having met some lovely people at mealtimes and despite the scenery along the way. The landscape changed quite a bit over the second half of the journey, to vast fields of grains, fields of recently harvested hay, and then some picturesque valleys and waterways, occasional farms with cattle and one with horses, some signs of mining and industry - mostly saw mills - and finally, as we entered the Jasper National Park, grey-coloured mountains and high escarpments on which there were lots of ‘Christmas trees’, as well as lakes. I am heading back to the park this morning on a bus trip organised by the Rocky Mountaineer people, though unfortunately the forecast is for rain and low temperatures of about 7 degrees Celsius.

I was glad to get off the train for a couple of reasons in addition to those I mentioned in my last post. We were often delayed for a long time by the many heavily loaded freight trains that take priority over any passenger train, which was why we did not set off from Toronto until 1 am instead of 11 pm. We had to sit there waiting for these trains to come past. And they must have been at least a mile long! Yesterday we were originally due to arrive at Jasper at about 12.45 pm, but because of all these delays we did not arrive until almost 5 pm. Since they chose to go by the original time, however, the train personnel decided to serve a very light continental breakfast of toast or a muffin, then ‘brunch’ at 9.30 am (just one savoury dish per passenger) and not provide any lunch. So there I was for over seven hours without any food. (I could have had a couple of sweet biscuits but it was not worth the long walk through many carriages.) This was not on! In my view they knew there would be delays so they should have provided a proper lunch. What about all the passengers who were not getting off at Jasper?

The other main reason was that I was clearly highly allergic to whatever detergent they use to launder the bedding. Each morning I woke up with my eyes swollen like balloons. What a sight! Fortunately they gradually came back to normal over the day.

By the way, I found out that there are three classes of accommodation on the train, none of which was called Gold Class. These were Economy Class, Sleeper Class and Prestige Class. I have no idea what Prestige Class involved, because I was in Sleeper Class. The bunk beds with a curtain turned out to be the sleeper accommodation for singles and the tiny rooms were sleeper accommodation for couples. Thank goodness I paid extra for that! I could never have changed clothes whilst lying on a small bed, or borne the complete lack of privacy. The Economy Class was worse. Those people sat up all night each night and had to buy their food on the spot. They always had to board and ‘detrain’ after everyone else.

Anyhow, back to Ruthin Castle. The interior of the castle was most enchanting - a veritable maze of different rooms decorated in a classical fashion.

With only half an hour to get ready for the medieval banquet, I almost got lost finding my room, however. “Just go down that passageway. Your room is at the end” said the girl at the desk, handing me a real key. Well, I walked and walked around many bends and still could not find my room. Luckily I was eventually joined by a couple of other group members in the same predicament. We ended up having to go down two steep staircases, through some heavy fire doors then around another bend and finally there were our rooms. By this time I was exhausted, having all my heavy luggage in tow.

But what room it was. Quite luxurious! But the luxurious spa bath was the last thing I needed. because if my ears I am not allowed to have spa baths in case water splashed into my nose or ears. I could only use it as a shower. However, it had such high sides, I wondered how on earth I was going to be able to step into it. And its curtain did not quite reach down to the top the bath. “Uh oh” I thought. “The water is going to go everywhere when I have my shower.” (And it did . . . But at least I managed to get on my tiptoes high enough to get into the bath, which was quite a feat. There are times when I wish I was not so vertically challenged.)

Ironically, when I went to leave my room the next morning, there was no sign of anyone in my group along the passageway, and do you think I could find that blooming staircase? Finally I discovered it was hidden behind a double fire door, which I did not remember seeing the night before. I looked up and wondered how on earth I was going to lift my heavy suitcase etc. up those stairs when another hotel guest walked past. I said to her I was just trying to gather my strength to get up those stairs - what a shame the castle does not have lift. “Oh but it does” said she, and took me around to this very old, tiny cage-style lift. What a relief! But why the receptionist did not tell us our rooms were downstairs but there was a lift, I do not know.

With that challenge overcome I wandered around a little on the ground floor to take some photos, and hope you find them interesting. As I explored the ground rooms near the reception I came across a room set up for a wedding ceremony and sneaked in with my camera. What a romantic setting for a wedding! I guess many girls have dreamed of being married in a castle! At least this lucky bride was about to have her fairytale wedding to her ‘handsome prince’. I do hope her marriage is a long and happy one.