August 20, 2011:

 

����������� I got up just before 8:00 am and got dressed. I went downstairs for breakfast and paid $8.00. I then went back to my room and finished packing. I then went down to the lobby and checked out. I walked over to Edouard-Monpetit and got on the subway and rode to Jean-Talon. I filmed the train departing before I got on a Southbound Orange line train and rode to Barri-Uqam. I filmed the train pulling out before I walked to the Greyhound station. I bought a ticket to Burlington, Vermont. I had just over an hour before my bus left. I saw the bus I would be taking parked at the gate and photographed it.

 

 

����������� I walked over to a convenience store and used the ATM and bought some snacks for the bus. I then walked back to the bus station. I waited around until it was time to board. Boarding began around 10:30. A Greyhound employee asked about my one way ticket. I told him I was flying back. He told me the border agents might like to see my reservation which I had in my bag. The bus was quite full. We left four minutes late.

 

����������� Just like the bus I took on my last trip, this bus had AC outlets and leather seats. We passed through a tunnel near the mural of the STM Metro train I photographed last time I was in Montreal. A few weeks earlier, a large concrete slab had fallen off the tunnel ceiling. Fortunately no one was injured, but it showed that a bit of Montreal's infrastructure was crumbling. Another example is the Champlain Bridge that my bus drove over a few minutes later. Fortunately we passed through the tunnel and over the Champlain Bridge without incident. A few minutes later, we hit traffic.

 

����������� A little while later, I photographed a Suburban Classic.

 

 

����������� We carried on. After awhile, we hit more traffic due to construction. We eventually arrived at the border. There was a long line up of cars. This was a land border; not on a bridge like at Niagara Falls and Buffalo. At one point, the front of our bus was in the United States while the rear of the bus was in Canada! I photographed a post indicating the border.

 

 

Behold the Canada-U.S. border.

 

����������� We pulled up to where buses go. We all got off the bus. I was one of the last to go through. The agent who interviewed me asked about Amtrak's 40^th anniversary train, but was okay and not anal. She did not ask me a ridiculous question like if my parents said I could go into the United States. I then got back on the bus.

 

����������� There were four people that had to be pulled aside for more screening, but at least two of them got back on the bus.

 

����������� We left the border at 1:17 pm; two minutes after we should have arrived into Burlington. The ride was uneventful. We arrived into Burlington 45 minutes late. I got off and got my suitcase. I then photographed the bus.

 

 

 

����������� The Greyhound station is at Burlington International Airport. I walked over and took a cab to where I was staying which was the Burlington Hostel. I went to check in, but found I couldn't check in until 3:00 pm. It was 2:00 pm when I got there. I was told I could leave my bags while I went out. I knew the 40^th Anniversary train was a couple blocks away, so I walked over and saw the train. I boarded the train through Pacific Bend; the crew Dorm. I took some photos of the exhibits and various videos including some HO scale Amtrak trains and some train whistles on display. The exhibits were in the three baggage cars.

 

����������� As I got to the third baggage car, my camera's battery died so I walked back to the hostel to get the spare. I then returned to the train. On the way, I phoned home. Once I got back to the train, I took some photos in the third baggage car as well as the Amfleet 1 food service car.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

����������� I had a conversation with an employee on the train. I then bought a DVD, baseball hat, and a T-shirt. I then got off the train and photographed the equipment from the outside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

����������� I saw some people in the cab of F40 #406. While I was standing by it, they blew the horn on 406 and turned on the ditch lights. I then bought lunch at a nearby hot dog stand and looked around. I saw there was a beach a couple miles away. It was nice to see an entire Amtrak train in the Phase 3 livery again. I photographed the exhibit train again.

 

 

����������� I then went inside Burlington Union Station and filmed a model train layout. I walked back to the hostel and checked in. The hostel was pretty full because of a triathlon. After I found my room, I worked on this trip report some more.

 

����������� Shortly after 4:00 pm, I decided to go out to a beach. I went by the 40^th Anniversary Train again which was closing up. I then picked up a transit schedule book and walked over to the nearby bus terminal. I caught a bus and transferred to the route 7 and rode to Leddy Park. Along the way, I noticed several bike lanes. Burlington is very bike friendly. I commented to myself that if Toronto's mayor Rob Ford were Mayor of Burlington, this might not be the case since he's pro car. I walked over to a beach and went swimming for awhile. I took a photo of the beach just before I left.

 

 

����������� I then walked back to the bus stop and determined I had missed a bus and the next one wasn't due for another hour. I walked several stops until I was in front of Burlington High School and then caught the last route 7 bus to downtown. I photographed it before I got off.

 

 

����������� I noticed a large pedestrian mall which I looked around and had a massage in a massage chair that was similar to what I used at Columbus Airport on my Dayton-North Carolina trip. I then bought supper and made my way back to my hostel. I decided to go by where the Amtrak 40^th Anniversary train was. I photographed it one more time.

 

 

 

����������� I then walked back to my hostel and called a cab for tomorrow. I also worked on this report some more and told another person staying at the hostel about the taxi company making me miss the Lakeshore Limited on my Washington-Cleveland trip back in 2007 and how Yellow Cab had gone to the wrong hotel to pick me up on my subsequent Cleveland Make-up trip.

 

����������� I continued to work on this trip report. I eventually took some Nytol and called it a night.

 

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