One train, four days, four time zones

Well its pouring with rain in Seattle (it always does, apparently!) and so its an ideal time to catch up on the Blog! When we last reported in we had spent a few days in Toronto, this first pictures shows us waiting for the departure of the train to Vancouver. The train didnt leave until 10pm so its long past Janes bedtime as you can see! We are sat in the sleeper class lounge, and she has taken the name to heart.

The space consists of two seats like the one we are sat on, facing one another, which fold down into a bed at night, and the curvy bit above which folds down into a slightly less comfortable bed at night time! To give you an idea of how vast Canada is, we spent the first day and a half on the train in one State - Ontario. In that time we could have travelled up and down UK three times!

Long stretches were very straight as you can see from the view out of the rear window. On the first day we were held up for three hours due to the track being washed out by flood water as a result of the thaw; however they fixed the track very quickly! Also passenger trains have to give way to freight trains as the freight trains are too long to fit into the sidings as much of the line is single track as you can see! Freight trains can be up to 2 miles long and take 5 -10 minutes to pass you.

Upstairs in the observation lounge is a great place to see what is going on - plus they give the occasional glass of free champagne so its well worth being up there. Unfortunately, everyone else knows that too.

One of the longer stop-overs was in Winnepeg - where the weather had come in a little - six inches of snow on the ground and the rivers were all flooded over the paths that ran alongside them. Behind Jane is the new pedestrian bridge they built on the historic site of the Forks. Jane is looking a little chilly - it was about -4 degrees C at the time.

One feature of the journey was the amount of spare land that each little town had - so they proceeded to cover it in lots of scrap cars - the ones shown here are all classics - in UK I am sure we would have snapped them up and restored or salvaged them - rather than letting them rot.

Heres a pic of the actual train - two engines but only about 9 actual carriages, but the second one is in case one of them breaks down or for some of the slightly steeper hills in the Rockies. This is in Jasper at the start of the Rockies. We had a brief stoppover here, and wandered the streets looking for the elk they said did the same, but clearly it was their day off.

Once we set off into the rockies we actually did see some wildlife however - a black bear; some moose (or is it mooses?) and elk (although we are still not sure what the difference is) The scenery was fantastic however, as you can see, and literally takes the breath away. We were lucky enough to be able to sit at the front of the dome car as we went through, and it was fantastic.

Anyway, four and half days later we arrived in Vancouver, but more of that in the next blog, so look out for that one soon - in the meantime,  keep those comments coming!

New York to Toronto

We plucked up courage to go up the Empire State building, Robin couldn't look down so Jane took this one.

We had a very slow journey to the airport due to misunderstanding the NY Metro - a kind lady told us to get off or we would have ended up at Rockaway wherever that is. We missed our flight to Buffalo but got on on standby on the next one. Interestingly one of the passengers then decided she wanted to get off just as the plane was reversing back from the gate, and she was allowed to, so we were a little late in leaving. From Buffalo we easily found the Greyhound Bus stop for the hour or so trip to Niagara Falls. Everyone and their luggage had to get off the bus to go through the customs shed and get back on, but we realised our hotel was just up the road so Robin trundled our bags on the trolley we invested in at Bed Bath and Beyond in New York, which (fingers crossed) is still surviving. The hotel room had the luxury of a bath, and two double beds.

In the evening we discovered the true tacky splendour of Niagara, (think Blackpool without the trams) but the falls are stunning, even though the nighttime illumination is a little colourful.

We decided to sample the Winter Falls Experience - Niagara's Fury is an animated cartoon and 3D experience which involved getting wet and shaken about. The Horseshoe Falls themselves are a fantastic spectacle (free), though the 'Behind the Falls' experience was not, we could only see ice.


On our final day, after checking out of the hotel we decided to visit the final attraction of the Winter Falls Experience, the Butterfly Conservatory. I was a little surprised on waking up that morning, to find a

parking bill stuck under the bedroom door - as we had no car that did nnot prove difficult to resolve. We left our bags in lockers at the bus station and walked the 3 miles or so alongside the Niagara river to the a very pleasant nature reserve and the butterfly conservatory. Robin had very high hopes and it did not disappoint, in fact it surpassed  them. It was full of the most beautiful butterflies from all around the world, fluttering, resting and feeding. His wish to photograph one on Jane's nose was not fulfilled however we did see one alight on someone else's nose, and one did a poo on his camera!

After walking back to the bus station we caught the 3pm Coach Canada bus to Toronto, a couple of hours trip which allowed just enough time to catch up on some sleep. Arriving at the bus station downtown we took a free tram ride (you need exactly 3 dollars so the driver kindly let us off the fare - not the tram).

Our first day in Toronto we hung out in Eaton Square and discovered the PATH, a labyrinth of underground walk ways through shops underneath the financial district. Yesterday we took the ferry out to Toronto Island Park, a series of small islands just offshore and linked by bridges. Mainly a holiday spot but people live there too, on the ferry back we found ourselves surrounded by schoolchildren on their way home from the elementary school on the island. A beautiful sunny (cold) windy day, walking along the boardwalk by the beach it was hard to imagine we were on the shores of a lake not the sea. Ufortunately, we discovered that the season officially starts on Friday, all the cafes etc. were 'closed for the season' - luckily we took sandwiches.

Tomorrow (Thursday) we catch the train to Vancouver - arriving Monday, so our next blog will be from there.

Here we are in New York

 Well, we are finally underway - Keith and Pauline came up to the Premier Inn at the Airport and saw us off with a few drinks - here is Jane sat outside the next morning complete with the bags ready to jump on the Hotel Hoppa to terminal 5.

Thanks to Anna's husband we got to use the Business class lounge which meant free coffee and muffins away from the hoi-polloi.

Made our way from JFK via the air train and the subway  and discovered that our bags are really heavy! Especially after the last three blocks we had to carry them to the hotel (see below for room pic). Room is bit tiny but clean and done out in old style.

Weather has been good until today, with lots of sun. So far we have been on the obligatory coach trips, uptown and downtown, and had a good walk around Times Square and surrounding area. Also had a look round the American Museum of Natural History, but this was rather large and we got museumed out after two floors and had to retreat to a coffee stop in Central Park.

 Saturday in Bryant Park where we had a picnic of vastly overpriced organic cheese and tomatoes from the farmer's market in union square. Won't make that mistake again...!

New York has loads of parks and is surprisingly clean and there are coffee and street food stands absolutely everywhere. Sunday we walked along the West Side next to the Hudson River (where that plane crashlanded a couple of years ago) and down to an old disused railway line that has been turned into another park -at roof top level hence the name - the High Line park. see pic below

 Ideal for a sunny Sunday afternoon stroll. There were even sunloungers alongside the path.

There's so much to see we can't do it all justice, but I think the highlight for me has actually been Grand Central Station. The main hall itself is stunning, see pic below. Especially the ceiling painted with stars and constellations. But just as amazing is the food hall downstairs under the concourse, with every kind of food you can think of. A very welcome surprise to a very tired tourist!

 Here's the main concourse...

And finally, today (Tuesday) we walked across Brooklyn Bridge. See pic below. Great views of the Manhattan skyline, though we almost got blown away (literally) Afterwards the rain came down and we had a soggy walk thro Chinatown and Little Italy on the way back to the hotel.
Tomorrow its Central Park and maybe a bike trip, and possibly out on the river to have a closer look at the Statue of Liberty. Back again soon.