The first leg of our trip was a Delta flight on May 25th (2017) from Atlanta to La Guardia in New York. The flight was delayed in Atlanta because of bad weather in New York, and it truly was pea soup when we finally landed there almost two hours after we took off. We had descended to about 300 feet before I first saw the ground--or more accurately, the water near the end of La Guardia's runway. Terra firma felt really nice. We took a cab into Manhattan, which was another test of our patience and stamina. The Manhattan traffic is simply horrendous, and sitting in the back seat of a cab while the driver flits left and right, one hand on the steering wheel and the other on his horn, can be an unnerving experience. But we got to our hotel, which was a half-block away from Penn Station, dumped our luggage in our room, then headed out to find something to eat. We ended up at Kabooz's, a nice little restaurant in Penn Station. A glass of wine for Patty, and two for me, along with a good meal, and we were happy travelers.
Our stay overnight at a hotel close to Penn Station was necessary because we were catching an early train--Amtrak's Adirondack--bound for Montreal the next morning. We had decided to take the NYC-to-Montreal train for the next leg of our journey because it was supposed to be one of Amtrak's more scenic routes (and also because there isn't a train I--the train lover--wouldn't take, vide Edna St. Vincent Millay). It was scenic, though the rainy weather kept me from taking any good pictures from the train. Rainy, but still beautiful all the way up the Hudson River, past the Adirondack Mountains and Lake Champlain (where we caught sight of a beautiful bald eagle peering down from the top of a tree next to the tracks). The ride was relaxing, though we did have some small excitement at the border, first from the U.S. Border Patrol, then the Canadian Customs constabulary. All told, between the two we wasted about two-and-a-half hours at the border, arriving in Montreal almost an hour-and-a-half late. But it was worth it. Our hotel, the Montreal Bonaventure, was just across the street from the train station, Gare Central, and it had a wonderful restaurant where we got a delicious late meal as well as a nice breakfast the next morning before we headed to the Montreal docks to board our ship.
We had about an hour in the morning to explore Montreal, although we didn't venture more than a couple of blocks from the hotel. Here are some pictures from our short walkabout.
We headed back to the hotel, checked out (exchanging some U.S. cash for Canadian coins and folding money), and took a short cab ride to the dock where our ship was supposed to be moored. They had moved it to a different dock, but the Holland America folks had vans waiting to transport us to the correct location. The main leg of our vacation was about to begin.