I literally climbed into bed a little after one, before
finally getting to sleep just before 2. Lachie woke up coughing at 3 and Tim
joined in for a while, but I went back to sleep until 5:30, dozing on and off
until 6:15. Tonight it will be drugs.
When Lachie got up, he tried on his hats- all of them at once and then insisted on bringing
his gold treasures with him to the train station.
Outside it was snowing lightly, but an almost reasonable 3C.
We drove down to the station- a beautiful 100 year old building, where I said
goodbye and went onto the platform to catch the train to Montreal. Window seat,
free WiFi, power point for computer, little table and reasonable interior. We
set off exactly on time and chugged slowly over the St Lawrence River, to
Sainte Foy and other small towns, until the town of Charny. Once those passengers
were on board, it was full speed ahead.
The journey takes you through kilometres of flat farmland.
Trees mostly bare of leaves, some farm land harrowed up, some ploughed, some
with dry feed waiting to be harvested. All looked very wet. We crossed large
rivers and small streams and passed through small towns, with the horn being
blasted along the way.
While there were some lovely scenes, I was unable to capture
most of them because of the speed of the train and the poor light at times. But
it was a bonus being able to access emails while cruising along.
We arrived at Montreal, on time and I asked the staff about
bag storage and if they could recommend a map about the train routes. I wanted
to know where we were as went along and the maps on the computer were useless. They
directed me to both the bag depot and the book shop. $6 per bag. I left my pull
along bag behind and set off to find the book shop. The instructions for the
subway were not as specific as I needed, so I went up the steps to the street
level. It was freezing cold up there and not a lot of people. Everyone wanders
through the huge underground city and after experiencing the cold up there, I
can understand why. I was keeping a careful eye on the time and didn’t want to
go too far. But on my short walk I found a most wonderful Anglican Cathedral.
After picking up my bag, it was time to catch the next
train. Exactly on time again, but this time with a “slight complication” Two
people who had the same seat number and one of them was me. We sorted it out
with the conductor. My seat was now different. Never mind, off we went, but
this time even faster at times, so even less opportunity of capturing the
countryside on film. The scenery was very similar to the morning’s views. The
snack man came around several times during this trip, because it was a long
leg. In retrospect a very long day on a train possibly made worse by jet lag
and not enough vegetables. Despite my new map, I had problems, locating the
first stop, but after that it was ok.
We had a spectacular sunset at 6- on the other side of the
train. I kept waiting for a bend in the track which didn’t eventuate. The
darkness came on very quickly, after the sun sank. By that time we were almost
at Kingston, so I didn’t see any of the famous Thousand Islands. Because it was dark, there was no point in
trying to take photos, so I typed up today’s diary, which was slightly tricky
given the speed of the train and trying to perch on the edge of my seat to
access the table attached to the seat in front. Unlike airlines there is a good
space between seats.
Luckily I just remembered that Tim said that Daylight
savings ends this weekend. Apparently tonight. So I asked the lady next to me
if the clocks went back/ forward. BONUS an extra hour of sleep.
We arrived at Kingston at 6:30 pm and pitch black. More
track to go, so I switched to reading my book. Couldn’t even hand sew, it was
just too bumpy. Soon it was the second last station and a slightly slower ride.
Finished the diary up to this point
8:30pm, downloaded and edited today’s photos, but it was too bumpy to upload.
Fingers crossed for Wi-Fi tonight. There better be a good breakfast tomorrow!
My GF sandwich at lunchtime was a long time ago.
Arrived at Toronto train station and caught a taxi to the
hotel. LOTS of people in the streets, many at a concert at one venue on the
route. Arrived at the hotel at 9pm. Quick check in, up to my room to throw down
bags, then down to get some dinner. It was no choice but to have cream of
mushroom soup, which was delicious, but is adding to the lactose issues. Then I
walked “next door” to the big variety store and bought fruit and water for
tomorrow’s journey.
Up to the room to try to solve the alarm clock complication
tomorrow caused by the end of daylight savings. Not sure if my always reliable
phone will switch to the new time zone? Room alarm clock came out of the ark-
not sure if it remembers how to work? But I set it too. Then to ensure it all
happens and I get breakfast and a taxi back to the station on time, I asked for
a wake-up call. One of them must succeed.
Finally a shower and washed out socks and undies. Not
expecting them to dry overnight, but the socks were fairly smelly. Took a
tablet tonight, because the brain is whirling around about waking up on time. I
have to catch the train at 8:20. Hopefully the wake-up call will solve the
mystery. Then I had problems trying to log on, which reminded me of Cuba. Eventually
got on but it was so slow I couldn’t upload anything. The train was brilliant.
Time to sleep. 10:30 new time. I’m hoping tonight that taking the tablet will
begin to break the jet lag.
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