CP Holiday Train

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address: 750 Runnymede Road
Date: Nov 2018
Website:  www.cpr.ca

  For twenty years the Holiday Train has travelled across Canada.  This year was no exception.  The train goes across the country to collect food and money for local food banks.  This year we went to catch the train to holiday cheer.
 

  In Toronto the train stopped at Lambston Yard.  It blasted its horn as it crossed a bridge and entered the stockyards. 

A large crowd had gathered to welcome its arrival.  The decorated train cars slowed to a stop.

 

  ​There are two trains in Canada.  One train leaves Montreal and travels down into the US and then makes its way back into Canada to stop in Weyburn, Saskatchewan.

The other train leaves Montreal and travels west through Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta before arriving in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia .

  The train we saw in Toronto would finish its journey in BC about 20 days later.  Until then its flashing lights would shine across the country as it travels province to province.

 

  The train cars were all decorated in holiday lights with animated scenes depicting, reindeer, mountains and winter fun.

 

   Ernest "Smoky" Smith was the last living Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross.  The Victoria Cross is given for bravery in battle.  When Ernest died at the age of 91 a train car was named in his honour.  When the Holiday Train came to town his car was flashing green and red light.

  One train car had a large tarp with the Canadian flag on it.  As the crowd took photos of the colourful train, the tarp suddenly rolled up.

  Inside was Canadian country music star Terri Clark ready to entertain the crowd with her songs as well as some Christmas classics.  Terri is from Medicine Hat., Alberta and a member of the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame.  She would be performing at stops all across the country.

  Even the police cars that were there for crowd control were lighting up the night. Their very bright red and blue lights flashed from the roof of their vehicles.

  The Holiday Train was a nice start to the Holiday Season.  As we write this blog, it is still on track collecting food donations and spreading holiday cheer across the nation.

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Map of Our World
CP Holiday Train

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Post # 235

Alzu Petroport

Location: Middelburg, South Africa
Address: N4, Alzu Petroport,
Date: October 2018
Website:  www.alzu.co.za

  We left Johannesburg and we were headed towards Kruger National Park.  We were still more than half way to our destination when our tour group stopped for refuelling at Alzu Petroport.  So far we had not seen any large mammals on our trip and did not expect to see any until we were closer to the Kruger boundary.  What awaited for us at the rest stop was very unexpected.

  Behind the rest stop was a large watering hole surrounded by animals.

  The closest animals to us was a group of southern white rhinoceros.  Sadly all of these rhinos had been dehorned due to the poaching threat.  Don't worry the horns will grow back in a few years.

  The Petroport has a small museum set up explaining the plight of the rhino.  In the photo above there is a hippo skull on the left and a rhino skull on the right.

  Rhinos are hunted mainly for their horns.  The horns are made of keratin like our toes and fingernails.  Killing a rhino for their horn is like killing a person in order to clip their toenails.

  The Petroport also has a lot of artwork around the grounds.  There was a large rhinoceros sculpture outside.

  On our way to the washrooms there was a beautiful rhino mosaic on the wall.  This mosaic was sponsored by Nando's which was one of the restaurants in the Petroport.

  After visiting the facilities we came outside again onto a balcony.  Below us was a charging elephant bursting forth from the gift shop.  From the balcony we could get a better view of the animals.
 

  We could see cape buffalo as well as a group of eland (above).

  Far back along the fence was a group of antelope called red hartebeest. 

  For some reason there was an emu.  Emu are native to Australia.  Emu are the second largest bird in the world after the African ostrich.

  We also saw a few smaller birds like this cape sparrow which flew onto the fence.

  Greater striped swallow swirled around above our heads.

  As our tour group prepared to depart we had to leave these animals and the very entertaining Petroport behind.   We spotted a triangular spotted pigeon up in the rafters as we left the balcony.  Soon we would be spotting wildlife in the Greater Kruger area.  We never did see any wild rhinos, but hope that there will still be some to see when we have a chance to return.

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Map of Our World

Alzu Petroport

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Post # 234

Robo Sushi

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address:  865 York Mills Rd #9
Date: September 2018
Website:  www.robosushi.ca

  A new sushi place has arrived in Toronto and offers something a little different.  Robots are nothing new, but we are not yet used to them serving us our food.  Robo Sushi still has human workers, but we went there to see the robotic staff and of course to eat all that we could eat.

  As we entered the restaurant we were greeted by a talking mannequin.

  There was another mannequin standing behind us, but despite being plugged in she didn't have anything to say.  We headed through the next set of doors and into the restaurant.

  Three robots waited for us.  Two of them had cute, smiling bellhop heads and one had a head full of trays.  They stood at attention waiting to serve us.

  The human being at the counter greeted us and typed something into the tablet on the top of the purple robot's head.  The little guy rolled away and we followed closely behind.  On a screen on top of his head was a video of a person following a robot.  We felt we were doing quite well.

   Our host turned a corner and then stopped at a booth.  He said something but we couldn't hear him over the restaurant noise.  We sat down and then our host turned and rolled off again.

  We have visited Robo Sushi twice since it opened.  The first time the robots seemed less sensitive to something in their way.  We witnessed a host and trayhead collision and a few near misses between robot and human staff.  One trayhead robot even went straight into a customer's chair.

  On our second visit we noticed that the human staff often had to push a host or trayhead robot until it felt nothing was blocking its path.  Once the robot was satisfied it would roll away again.  Eventually the programming will be just right.

  When a trayhead robot arrived with your food it would turn and face the table with its blinking eyes.  You could start to offload the food yourself, but usually a human staff member would come to assist.

  When you wanted the trayhead robot to leave again you were supposed to tap it on the head.  This worked sometimes because we were probably doing it incorrectly.  We think you have to just place your hand on top of a little hand symbol on the robot's head.

 To order your food you use a tablet placed at your table and submit your request from there.  Soon it won't be long until a trayhead arrives loaded with your carefully selected items.

  We tend to order quite a lot on our first round so when our robot arrived it was fully loaded.  Soon afterwards our table was filled with tiny trays and dishes.

  You could also place a small order and a trayhead would come to drop that off as well.  When it comes to All You Can Eat you need to pace yourself.  At least the robots never gave us a disapproving look based on our food choices or quantities.  They just give the same look all the time.

  We enjoyed our food at Robo Sushi and the robots made our meal even more fun.  As we rolled ourselves out of the restaurant we waved good-bye to our robot hosts.  They smiled back at us.

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Map of Our World
Robo Sushi

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Post # 233