Cornwall or Alexandria?

Me and my girlfriend are going to Montreal in 3 weeks. And we decided to make a small, 1-day trip to Ontario. Since we have a low budget, We have to ''limit'' ourselves to either Alexandria or Cornwall.

I've been to Alexandria in November 2011. I love it, but quite franckly, I don't think it'd be a nice place for a ''date''.
Cornwall would be new for both of us, however, it's slightly more expencive than going to Alexandria, and, acording to Lance Campeau (If you know this guy from youtube) the view in the train is less exciting than if we were to go to Alexandria.


This would be my GF's first train trip ever, so which one should I choose? Cornwall for being a much larger town (And therefore, likely more stuff to do) or Take the supposedly more scenic route o Alexandria and have a slightly cheaper (but likely ''quiter'') experience, but with less things to do?

I suppose that depends on what the real "purpose" of the outing is.

Is the focus on the train trip specifically? With it being your girlfriend's first trip, I suspect you may be looking to make that part the most interesting.

If that's the case, then I'd agree with Lance Campeau that the Alexandria trip is a nicer route. I've done the Cornwall-Montreal leg countless times coming from Brockville, and the most interesting part (that isn't just mostly trees) is the last part coming into Montreal, which is shared with trains coming from Ottawa-Alexandria. The Alexandria sub is more interesting. I've done it a few times on Brockville-Ottawa-Montreal runs, and it's very nice. Now don't get me wrong...the train through to Cornwall is still a nice ride, it's just a little less scenic than the run to Alexandria.

However, if your focus is to be more on the date when you get there, then you might find there to be more options in Cornwall (although that depends on what sort of date you're planning!)

Either way, you'll have a great time, and I hope your girlfriend will enjoy the train.

As an side note, I took my girlfriend on her second train trip ever 3 years ago (her first was as a child, during which she broke her nose! Not pleasant memories ), and she was skeptical at first about how it could be as amazing as I had played it up to be. Well I can say now, after several round trips on the Ocean (Budd and Renaissance, with both coach and sleeper experiences and plenty of meals in the diner!) and a couple of Corridor trips, she has come to love riding the train almost as much as I do

Well, Actually, I was aiming both the ''Awesome date'' and ''Awesome train trip'' That's why I was asking (Otherwise, it'd be easy to choose one town over the other)

By the way, we are probably going to Montreal a second time later this summer (probably mid-august) And she ''demanded'' that we make, at least the return trip to Québec City, by train. I think I made a new VIA Rail fans (As she apparently loved going to go ''Trainspotting'' yesterday.

So I just got back from the Quebec City train station to buy my and my GF's train ticket. There are a few things we found weird though.



(I Censored my GF's name because she didn't want you guys to know her name)

I Never noticed that until my Girlfriend told me, but what's the ''<V>'' that's printed on the same ''line'' as her class (economy)?
Also, why is her VP# is labeled as ''Premier'' when she has her own VP number (She didn't even have to give her name, she gave her number and all her info were on the ticket automaticly), I must also note that this will be her first train ride ever, thus, there is NO way she can be a Premier member. Especially since the trip costs only 48$ (Not including taxes)



Compare it to mine. Although the <V> is still there, we can clearly see my VP number. It's been a very long time (at least 3 or 4 years) since my first trip with VIA after I got myself a VP number, so I don't remember.

Is her VP number labaled as ''Premier'' because it's her first train trip? Or because she is available for the 500 bonus point if she spends at least 250$ within 6 months (He account is like 3-4 days old only)?


EDIT: My girlfriend just noticed the ''<D>'' on the same line as the ''Photo id required'' line. What does it stand for?