Took The Train To Toronto

Hi there folks. I gather that it was a long period of withdrawal for all of you. But worry no more, I got your new dose of travel experiences.

Tschu-tschu to Toronto

The train ride from New York to Toronto was a unique experience. If you have time to spare it’s definitely an alternative to taking the airplane.

After a boarding procedure not unlike the one when boarding an airplane, I entered a nearly empty wagon. The first thing you notice is that there is much more room than in European trains. The seats are very generous and you have to really stretch in order to reach the seats in front with your feet. There is free Wi-Fi which was fast enough to even stream Netflix on good quality.

We did have a delay of 40 minutes upon arriving at Toronto. The delay was caused by some American sheriffs. Somewhere in the middle of nowhere the train stopped and nothing happened for quite some time. Then some policemen with a dog went down the rows and checked the whole train. As it turns out they were looking for a suspicious person and halted and checked all trains in the region. That’s one way to do it.

At the Canadian border all passengers had to leave the train and go through customs. And because I had paid 1 dollar more I traveled the remaining route no longer in the spacious normal coaches but in the even more spacious business class with leather seats =)

Pennsylvania station in New York

I visited Amsterdam, at least in the US

Do you see the clouds in the background? That’s from the Niagara Falls

Business rules

Arrived in Toronto

Toronto

Compared to New York I got to know Toronto at a slowed down pace. That’s why I present only an extract of what I did not necessary ordered by date.

Toronto is like a more quiet and smaller New York. It has a few European touches (much more bicycles driving around and a more or less reliable public transport system). I didn’t have a closer look at the climatic conditions of Toronto but I think it can get pretty warm in the summer and pretty cold in the winter.

The reason why I think it gets warm in the summer is that even in my budget bedroom I had a ceiling fan and that I could have easily walked around in short trousers if I would have wanted to make them dirty (means the weather was warm, Toronto is on the same height as Spain or Italy).

During my first explorations I wondered where all the Subways, Burger Kings, McDonalds and Tim Hortons are. Given that Toronto is about a third of the size of New York you really don’t see that much restaurants and small shops in the streets. Only after walking down some stairs I found out why. Toronto has one of the largest underground cities in the world. A quick search reveals that you could walk 27 km underground, connecting nearly all of the Downtown area. Quite useful when the streets are full of snow.

Beach at Lake Ontario

Metro in Toronto

Machines used to make my clothes wet and dry again

Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada

There was an aquarium listed on the best things to do in Toronto. I thought I have a look at some fishes as long as these Aquariums are still allowed to exist. There were some nice fishes and other aquatic animals. Even a shark tried to sneak up on me =)

Totally not timed photo

Big screen

One night I went to the cinema. It was an IMAX cinema, the screen was enormous and the sound exhilarating. And compared to the cinemas in Zürich or Konstanz they put in quite some effort in order to entertain the watchers. Right before the film started you were able to play some games together with the other people in the cinema. One of these games was probably the most Canadian thing ever in a cinema. Everyone with the app installed was able to shoot pucks at an (ice-)hockey goalie. You could see the shots and score on screen. The film itself was Deepwater Horizon, probably not the best film of the year but nonetheless well worth watching.

Steps long enough they sent me a warning that the downward escalators didn’t work

Most Canadian thing ever in a cinema

Steam Whistle

The third and last thing I want to share with you was a brewery tour. The brewery hasn’t really a long history but it was recommended on tripadvisor and the tour was cheap. For 10 CAD you can drink a few samples of the beer they brew, get a tour through the brewery and can drink one of the freshest beers you ever drank: Bottled only 2 minutes ago taken right from the line. This brewery only produces one kind of beer and follows the “Reinheitsgebot” from Germany.

Sample of Steam Whislte

That’s it from Toronto. Right now I’m sitting in a bus headed to Montréal where I’ll be staying for a few days before I will make a little road trip in a rented car. I promise I won’t let you wait this long for the next post.