Portland, Oregon, is either the largest small town, or the smallest big city, and from the moment I got there I knew I was going to love this place more than I did Seattle. I think it’s the small town feel of the place that did it.
…
Like I said last time I was glad to reach Seattle, if only so I could shower and change clothes. Alas the fates conspired against me with a late check-in in the afternoon. I could leave my luggage at the hostel, on the edge of Chinatown / International District, but that was it. The Starbucks didn’t seem to mind my unwashed state, especially looking at the rest of the clientele. They may have tried to fancy up the place by calling it the International District, with a big Chinese gate and dragons on lampposts, but like any other Chinatown I’ve ever visited this was clearly the poor area of town. And at night it got pretty sketchy. When people, such as tour guides, learned where I stayed at they were quick to warn me off from going around there at night. I didn’t need the warnings, my situational awareness passive is pretty levelled up by now.
…
Leaving Chicago I went on the longest train ride so far, Amtrak’s Empire Builder all the way to Seattle. This was a two day trip spent almost continually on the train – I did go outside on two longer stops, for just a few minutes, but that was just enough time to stretch my legs and get some fresh air before it was back on the train again. Long distance train travel has a way of really compressing the world to a microcosm. There’s your seat and your seatmates around you, with the occasional journey to the observation car and the dining car.
…
When I travel long distances within a country I try to do so by train. It may be slower than an airplane, but you don’t have to go to an airport and its security (though at some places Amtrak tries to be like an airport and they really shouldn’t). Best of all, you actually see something of the country you’re travelling through other than clouds. You also have more legroom than on a plane or a bus, at least here in the US you do. As such I took the train from New York City to Chicago, exchanging one big city for another.
…
Some more of my photos from when I was on the east coast of the United States this year.
Links:
After New York I went to Seaside Heights in New Jersey, perhaps best known for the TV show Jersey Shore, all though that is not why I went there. I was looking for a combination of the ocean, beaches and national parks that was close to New York City. And that place was Seaside Heights! I took a bus from the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Not a lot of people use this bus connection as far as I could see. I think there were six other people on the way there and there was only me on the way back a few days later.
The town of Seaside Heights lies on a barrier island with a bay on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other and is part of the huge stretch known as the Jersey Shore. I wasn’t there for long, since I extended my stay in New York and had to get back to New York for the weekend as well, but I think I spent my time quite well.
…
The ride through Upper New York State from Montreal to New York City was beautiful. The landscape changed all the time, going from forests to mountains, lakes, fields and brief outposts of civilization. And then all of sudden, without warning, you find yourself in New York City. I didn’t do much on the train other than stare out the window, which is how scenic trips should be.
Ah, New York City, the place on the American east coast I somehow always find myself coming back to and I still love it. When I was there two years ago I did most of the touristy stuff, so this time around I could relax a bit more. At least that was the idea. In the end I found myself going through long days and short nights. That’s just how life is in New York City.
…
All too soon my stay in Quebec City came to an end and so too did my pre-arranged planning. I’d always intended to do Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City in about two to three weeks, but before I came to Canada I didn’t have a plan for the remaining time there. I didn’t decide on that till I was in Montreal: my last stint in Canada would be to go to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, specifically Halifax and Charlottetown.
…
After a good stay in Montreal I took the train to Quebec City, which was about a four to five hour trip. I was reminded of the previous train trip I’ve done in North America back in 2014 from Boston to Salem (and back). I was particularly reminded of how slow trains are here. When you take a train in North America it’s almost like you’re going back twenty to thirty years compared to train travel in Europe, and the Netherlands in particular. Trains drive very slowly and stop often, for indeterminate reasons. Here they take tickets and put little slips of paper above your seat to show the seat is taken.
This was a nice (or not so nice) harbinger of what was still to come for me after Quebec City, when I took the train to Halifax. But that’s a tale for another blog post.
…
“There’s no Canada like French Canada, it’s the best Canada in the land” – South Park
After my stay in Ottawa and Gatineau I moved further into French Canada, to Montreal. There is no mistaking being in French Canada. Signs are all in French. People first address you in French and switch to English if you answer in English instead. I once made the mistake of answering bon jour with bon jour. Luckily it was at a cash register and I understood the follow up question of whether or not I wanted a bag (I didn’t, I had my own) so I didn’t have to say I didn’t speak the language.
Coming into Quebec Province proper I noticed something that still freaks me out: cars only have license plates on the back, not the front. Outside of Ontario a lot of provinces apparently don’t require cars to have plates on the front. It’s a weird thing to see, it’s almost like the cars aren’t finished, you know? Freaky.
All right, that was a bit of a tangent. Moving on.
…