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.

 

Click here for the last part:   part 3