I woke up in time to see the dawn this morning, gorgeous red clouds in the sky. After packing up, I walked to the train station past the car art, the 1976 Olympic flame sculpture (that is the first Olympics I watched on tv- I’ll never forget Nadia Comaneci), and the Dendrites sculptures.
I don’t think I mentioned there are bike lanes everywhere in Montreal (literally on every street I went on, and some streets only have bike lanes, they aren’t open to cars. I learned to look out for bikes when crossing the street -they were more of a concern than the cars!
It is ‘Black Friday’ in Canada, Monday is their Thanksgiving. I didn’t see one sign for a Black Friday sale and the stores all seemed to have the same hours so definitely not the same as in the US. The train to Toronto was longer than the ones I took to and from Quebec and there seems to be lots of students on board, which makes sense as it’s a holiday weekend. I wonder if Thanksgiving is as big a deal here as it is in the States. I’ll have to ask the family I’m staying with in Toronto.
I’m laughing, as people board the train, move into their seats and stow their bags all I hear is a chorus of ‘Sorry, sorry, sorry’. So stereotypically Canadian! Most of the people in my car appear to be students, I see laptops open to recorded lectures, slides, books. I think I’m at least 25 if not 30 years older than almost everyone else. The train was packed, during the 5 hour trip it rained for a bit. It was very cosy being in the train and looking out at the rain, a good day to travel.
When I arrived in Toronto I found the subway, figured out where to go, bought my ticket and managed to get a seat in both trains I got on. Not bad for traveling at 5pm on a Friday! I’m staying at an Airbnb about 15 minutes from downtown Toronto. It’s a nice neighborhood with large houses with big porches. I’ll look around a little more tomorrow, today I just had time to settle in then went out for sushi for dinner and thought about what I might do tomorrow. I’ve only got one full day in Toronto and I’d like to spend most, if not all, of it outdoors as I’ll be spending the next 4+ days on a train. I’ve already ruled out CN tower because of the crowds, price ($44 – are you kidding me?!) and fact that it’s indoors. So we shall see…
