Itinéraires

A train departs a modest Quebec station, its wooden platforms humming with the chatter of travelers—English‑speaking and French‑speaking Canadians alike—each clutching a single suitcase and a cigarette. The narrative opens with vivid observations of the surrounding streets, the rustic wooden houses, and the looming fort that crowns the old town, capturing the bittersweet melancholy that clings to the city’s stone walls and bustling quays.

As the locomotive rolls onto the prairie, the prose turns its eye to the newly‑built Canadian railways, describing the spacious, heated cars that promise comfort against the harsh, snow‑laden landscape. The journey becomes a moving portrait of a country on the brink of modernity, where endless forests, frozen rivers and the distant calls of wolves hint at both the beauty and the unforgiving nature of the north.

Through meticulous detail and gentle humor, the first act invites listeners to travel alongside the narrator, feeling the excitement of a fresh adventure while sensing the lingering echo of an old world fading behind the window.