glimpses of Hamilton, ON

...as seen from the train.

glimpses of Ontario

...as seen from the train.

Canadian Cheese Plate

Upon entering Canada the train remained the same, but humorously the food, signage and staff all changed - adding a Canadian veneer to the same old Amtrak train. Also humorously, all announcements were repeated in French spoken with a strong Anglo accent.

crossing the Niagara River

The most stunning highlight of the Maple Leaf train was crossing the Niagara River into Canada. I'm really glad I was able to get these pictures. The geography is confusing but if you look it up, this river flows from south to north, from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. The above photo is looking north. The bridge we were on is called the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge and the one to the south of it (below) is the Michigan Central Railroad Bridge. So there you have it.

Amtrak Maple Leaf

This was my first time on Amtrak's Maple Leaf train, which runs between New York City and Toronto. The route is similar to the Lake Shore Limited, which I have taken many times. A major landmark on both routes is the old Buffalo Central Terminal, seen here.

Clinton's Ditch

So I was standing on the platform in Schenectady when I caught sight of an establishment called "Clinton's Ditch" (above). What on earth? Well, the establishment is a bar and grill and the name is a reference to the Erie Canal, the pet project of New York Governor DeWitt Clinton. When construction of the 363-mile canal began in 1817, there were plenty of critics and opponents of the project. The canal opened in 1825 and soon proved it to be a success, facilitating commerce between New York City and the Great Lakes and bringing much growth and prosperity to the state.

Schenectady Station

This was a very decent small station, inside and out. It is an architectural success story because although it was built in 2018, the design honors the original 1908 station. That was torn down in 1971 and turned into a parking lot. Then from 1979 to 2017 a rather plain and arguably ugly station occupied the site. Could it be that history is now moving in the right direction?

Graham's Coffee Parlor

Another nice thing about the Stockade Inn was their in-house "coffee parlor", so after our stroll around town we settled in for a quick and simple breakfast (it may have been an açai bowl). Did I mention that they also served coffee?

 

Yates House

The Abraham Yates House, said to be the oldest house in Schenectady, built in 1725. It's also said to be "one of the oldest existing Dutch homes in the nation"*, meaning an example of traditional Dutch architecture and building methods. One sometimes forgets that New York was Dutch before it was English. They haven't forgotten in Schenectady.

*https://union.manifoldapp.org/projects/pearson-diary-1ed/resource/yates-house-in-schenectady-n-y

more Stockade District

We wandered down to the Mohawk River, which was pleasant. We also encountered the 1759-built St. George's Church (which served as barracks during the American Revolution) and the famous 1887 statue of Lawrence the Indian - a local member of the Mohawk tribe. In 1661 the Dutch built a stockade here, thus founding the city and giving the district its name.

Schenectady, NY

We went for an early morning stroll and my first impression of the historic Stockade District was a good one. As a native New Yorker steeped in the state's history, I was shocked that I didn't know that this district has - to quote the National Park Service - "the highest concentration of historic period homes in the country."

Stockade Inn

Although the train arrived in Schenectady, NY at a scandalously late hour, the Stockade Inn was some of the best lodging of the trip. The staff went above and beyond to pick us up at the station and help us with our luggage. The bed was profoundly comfortable and, after the ordeal of the delay, we slept exceptionally well. The building is very solid and historic, having been built as a bank in 1814. Later it was a school and a men's club and just a few years ago was remodeled as an inn.

 

a doozy of a delay