Montreal (Part One)

My aunt and I got up a 4:30am on Wednesday morning so I could get to the New Brunswick, NJ, train station in time to get to New York in time to catch the 8:15am train to Montreal. (Let me tell you, I am not a morning person, so this was not fun.)

But we made it. Actually, I ended up with an hour to spare in Penn Station, so in retrospect we could have slept in a little more. Anyway, I climbed aboard the Adirondack, Amtrak's train from New York to Montreal, found myself a window seat in the last car, and relaxed. For a while I watched New Jersey and the Hudson fly by my window.

Eventually, I fell asleep for a bit. Not too long, because I didn't want to miss any exciting or picturesque scenery. I could fill this blog with pictures from the train ride, but I'll just include this photo mosaic of some of my favorite shots. (You can see all the pics in my Flickr set.)

Most of the train ride passed in pleasant monotony. Watching lakes and trees and towns zoom by. Catching a couple of episodes of my new favorite TV show. Brainstorming book ideas. And then ... we got to the border.

Anyone who knows me at all knows that I am: a) very organized, b) rule-abiding, and c) generally afraid of authority figures. So, guess who got yanked off the train for a random bag search?!?

Seriously. Of all the people to search I am: a) least likely to be transporting anything illegal, and b) most likely to have a heart attack during the search.

Gah, it was horrible. And customs officials have those stone faces that don't reveal anything, and they would never say, "No need to worry, it's just random and routine." No, I had to stand there terrified as they looked at every single thing in my precision-packed suitcase. (On the upside, I think I did impress the cute customs guy with my minimalist packing. Sigh.)

Thankfully the whole ordeal was over quickly and I was back on the train and rolling my way to Montreal within minutes. We arrived at Gare Centrale (the central train station).

After getting misdirection and walking ten blocks out of my way and back again, I finally made it to my lovely hotel. When I first reserved my room, my dad said it was very near the Bourget building, the downtown theatre of Concordia University, where he used to work when we lived in Montreal. What neither of us could have known was that the Bourget building would be right outside my window! Such a lovely memory to wake up to.

Next up in the travel saga, my walking tour of Vieux-Montreal (Old Montreal).

Hugs,
TLC