Riding on VIA Rail

It's fun to ride on VIA Rail. The train goes to lots of places.

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, Grandpa James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know. Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. He's too newborn to eat food. He just drinks chocolate owls' milk from his bottle. I look after Chance, too. He's a handful! Oh! Wait Frankie lives with us, too. He's four, you know.

Sometimes we go to Toronto on VIA Rail. Last summer we went all the way to Halifax. That's pretty far from our house in Windsor, you know. I know where Halifax is. It's in Farewell Nova Scotia. We learn all about geography at the Scruffy Maple Day Care Centre.

Our buddies Yannick and his friend make our train trip lots of fun!

The trains sleep under the CN Tower in Toronto.

We got VIA Rail pins. They're pretty nice but Chance tried to eat his. We don't eat VIA Rail pins.

Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? Grandpa James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! Grandpa James hollers, "Where is Frankie? Where is my Knight of Knewfoundland and my Lord of Labrador? That's Frankie! He's a Knight of Knewfoundland and the Lord of Labrador. We gotta go find  Grandpa James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed.

We have a brand new train station in Windsor. It's very nice.

This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Use your inside voices on the train. Be polite. Then you can eat Smarties and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come and play with us! We can ride home from Toronto together! Okay! Over and out!"

Windsor is the bestest place to live. Grandpa James says Windsor is the centre of the known universe and the nicest part of Detroit. Windsor is in O Canada.

Play Me, I'm Yours!

Charles and Chance with Sebastian in front of Union Station in T.O.

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road in Olde Sandwich Towne with my buddy, James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know.

 Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. Chance is so newborn he doesn't even have a tail or any teeth! He just drinks chocolate owls' milk. We get it at Mac's. I look after Chance. He's a handful!

I'm five, you know. I go to the Scruffy Maple Day Care Centre on Sandwich Street.

Know what? Sometimes we go to Tranna. We ride on VIA Rail to get there.  It's pretty far from our house. The train stops at Union Station. That's under the CN Tower, you know. When we got off the train, there was a pretty blue piano on Front Street right in front of Union Station.

Play Me, I'm Yours

 Sebastian  plays the blue piano. He knows lots of songs. He lets Chance and me sit on top and listen to him play. He's pretty good you know. Lots of people come to listen. I'll tell you a secret. I think Sebastian is a prince.

Sebastian is a very good piano player. I bet he knows all my favourites.

Sebastian lets me and Chance play the piano with him. Sebastian has an important job. When he plays music, people feel good. I could be a pianist when I grow up. Music makes everyone happy.

 Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! We gotta go find James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed.

This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Be kind to friends and neighbours. Then you can eat Smarties and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play with us! We can go to Union Station and play the piano with our buddy Sebastian! Okay! Over and out!"

Our Trip on VIA Rail

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, Grandpa James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know.

Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. I look after Chance, too. He's a handful! Hi climbs way up high on things and then he can't get down. He makes little squawky noises 'cuz he's afraid.

Know what? I'm at VIA Rail. I'm helping Grandpa James buy a ticket. We're going to Toronto. Grandpa James says six million people live in T.O. That's a lot of people, you know. I wonder why they live so far away from Windsor. Windsor is the bestest city. It's the centre of the known universe and the nicest part of Detroit.

 I know that Toronto is the capital of Ontario. I know where Ontario is. It's in O Canada, our home and native land.

We're waiting to get on board. When we ride on the train, we are on our best behaviour. We use our inside voices and we say 'please' and 'thank you' to the nice people with the beverage and food cart. Know what? We always get chocolate milk to drink. I know where chocolate milk comes from. It comes from the dairy case at Sobey's. Grandpa James says it comes from chocolate cows but sometimes he makes up stuff, you know.

I l-o-v-e to ride on VIA Rail. Trains are lots of fun to ride.We can look out the windows and see everything. Trains go fast, you know.  Chance likes to ride on the train, too. Chance doesn't talk 'cuz he's so newborn but he makes squeaky noises when he's happy. Whenever I say, "Train!" Chance makes squeaky noises and runs to get his suitcase.

The seats on the train are very comfy. They have little dinner tables. Chance is so little he has to sit on the table to drink his chocolate milk. Know what? We get bendy straws for our chocolate milk. Bendy straws are special. I think they make chocolate milk taste even better!

Sometimes we climb up high and look at the other people on the train.  Grandpa James says it's not polite to stare at them. Chance stares at me. I stare right back at him. We stare and stare and stare. I make faces at him. If he laughs first, I win. If I laugh first, he wins.  I almost always win that game. Oh. Chance thinks he's invisible when he closes his eyes. He's not. I can still see him. Newborn baby cubs don't know any better.

When the train stops at Union Station we're in Toronto. Grandpa James says all roads lead to Toronto. Even railroads. I know when we're in Toronto 'cuz we can see the CN Tower. It's really tall. I bet Chance would try to climb up to the top of it if he could. I don't know how I would get him down. It's so tall it touches the sky! That's way taller than me. I'm one metre and 41 centimetres tall. That's pretty tall, you know.

We learned about the CN Tower at the Scruffy Maple Day Care Centre. Miss Jackie is my teacher. I will tell you a secret. I think Miss Jackie is a princess. She's pretty. The CN Tower has a restaurant at the top. We can ride up to the top on the glass elevator. It goes really fast and makes my tummy feel funny. The top is 533 metres up in the air. Miss Jackie says it has 181 storeys and is the third tallest building in the whole wide world! When we get to the top I would ask the nice people for chocolate milk with a bendy straw.

Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? Grandpa James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! We gotta go find Grandpa James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed.

 This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Be on your bestest behaviour when you ride VIA Rail. Then you can eat Smarties and drink root beer on the way to Toronto. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play with us! We can ride on VIA Rail together! Okay! Over and out!"

Toronto the Good

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know.

Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. I look after Chance, too. He's a handful!

Look at us! We're way up here on top of the mail box. Chance climbed up here all by himself. He climbs on everything, you know. That's what newborn cubbies do.

We're in Toronto. T.O. is the biggest city in Ontario. It's the capital of Ontario, too. James says the city has a nickname. People call it Toronto the Good.  Toronto is really big. Six million people live here. I don't know how many bear cubs  live in T.O. We only saw two bear cubs on our whole trip.

That's the CN Tower behind us. It's one of the tallest buildings in the world. It's way taller than me. I bet Chance would like to climb to the top! I'll have to keep an eye on him 'cuz it's dangerous to climb something so tall.

We're going shopping. We have to buy things in Chinatown Lots of people live in Chinatown. Most of them are Asian Canadians. They speak lots of different languages. We're gonna buy strawberries and sour sop in Chinatown. We're gonna shop in Kensington Market, too. That's where the TV show King of Kensington was made. We watch it on the CBC.

James needs sox. He says we will find a good bargain or two today. Know what?  I don't need to wear sox. I get to run around bear naked. That's a pun. I'm five. I know what a pun is. I have red-and-white striped Cat-in-the-Hat sox. My friend Tanner gave them to me. He was a big 'ole yeller dog who lived with his buddies Jay and Shaun.  Tanner died last Christmas. He was my firstest bestest friend. I remember him every time I wear my Cat-in-the-Hat sox. They make me run faster than anyone else. I'm the fastest bear cub in Olde Sandwich Towne.

Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario?

That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! We gotta go find James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed.

This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Mind your manners. Keep your hands in your pockets when you go shopping so you don't break anything. Good citizens get to eat Smarties and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house! We can go to T.O. and shop together! Okay! Over and out!"