Canadian Pacific may have used menus featuring cover images of the Empress of France only on that ship and the Empress of Scotland only on that ship. But otherwise menus found on one would likely be found on the other. That is illustrated by the menus presented today, at least two whose covers were also used on the Empress of France.

Click image to download an 855-KB PDF of this menu.

First is a menu featuring the Hotel Frontenac in Quebec City, where some of the passengers would disembark and perhaps stay at that hotel. This may be why images of that hotel were used on so many Empress menus. This dinner menu was used on May 28, the third evening out. Continue reading →

Today we have the last menu used on the April 27-May 3 voyage of the Empress of France and the first menu used on the May 24-May 31 voyage of the Empress of Scotland. Steamship arrival times were probably a bit more unpredictable than train times, so Canadian Pacific timetables specify departures from Montreal at 11:00 am and from Liverpool at 6:30 pm, but don’t specify arrival times.

Click image to download an 855-KB PDF of this menu.

The arrival of the Empress of France in Liverpool was late enough that the crew planned for and served “dinner au revoir” that evening. I count just over 40 items on the menu, a few more than on the previous night’s menu. The menu featured the Empress of France itself on the cover, a cover image we’ve seen before on a 1956 menu that was used on the same ship. Continue reading →

Today’s Yoho Valley lunch menu was used on April 29, 1957, the fourth day of the Empress of France‘s voyage from Montreal to Liverpool. The menu has the usual amazing range of foods.

Click image to download a 768-KB PDF of this menu.

I am particularly intrigued by Mexicorn for an hors d’oeuvre, Scotch barley broth for soup, Irish stew with dumplings for an entrée, puree of turnips as a vegetable, endive salad, and cherry pie a la mode for dessert. I hope the ship had some exercise rooms because otherwise people would end up gaining 10 pounds on the journey. Continue reading →

On April 26, 1957, someone left Montreal on a seven-day trip to England on the Empress of France. After staying in England for about 20 days, they returned on the Empress of Scotland, arriving in Montreal on May 31. Along the way, they collected well over a dozen lunch and dinner menus from Canadian Pacific steamship service.

Click image to download a 786-KB PDF of this menu.

We’ve already seen the covers of most of those menus and I’ll be presenting them in groups of two and three over the next few days. But I’m showing this one, dated May 2, out of order because it is one I have never seen before. The cover image looks a little like a painting but I’m pretty sure it is a photo, which means it was probably taken by Nicholas Morant, a “special photographer” for Canadian Pacific who took more than 12,000 images of its trains. Continue reading →