Today had minimal action. I packed my bags for the hotel, using a small weighing device to ensure I met the 23 kilogram limit for each of my two suitcases, and 11 kilogram limit for my large carry-on bag (the backpack with all my camera gear). I got the suitcases to 22.9kg and 22.7kg, and the camera backpack to 11.1kg. I thought that was pretty good. I took a couple of photos outside the hostel, including this one, as a goodbye.

I then caught a taxi to Gare du Palais, the Via Rail terminal, booked in my suitcases and awaited my trip. I also took a photo of the entrance to the terminal, where I stood a week earlier in the dark awaiting a taxi when I arrived. What a great week it has been.

The first leg of my trip was from Quebec City to Montreal. I was in an aisle seat so had no chance to take photos through the window. And I felt really sleepy anyway so just closed my eyes and listened to Christmas albums. When we got to Montreal, there was a 30 minutes period before the next train (Montreal to Toronto) departed. So I found out where the departure gate was and headed there. The queue was already at least 60 metres, snaking through half of the terminal. It was the longest of all the train queues, so I got in line with everyone else. I the end we boarded pretty quickly and left on time. By then it was dark and again I had an aisle seat. The trip took 4.5 hours, so I used the time to do some Sudoku and listen to a few lessons from the Great Courses’ Behavioural Economics course. Very interesting.

We ended up getting to Toronto around 10 minutes after the ETA, but that wasn’t a big deal although some thought it was. I checked out my suitcases and caught a taxi to my hotel (the Comfort Inn City Centre) and checked in. I was glad to get into the room, have a shower and drop onto the bed. The mattress and pillows were great. I watched a bit of the news (mainly about the UN vote of 14-0 that USA abstained, regarding the Israeli settlements in the West Bank; the USA President-elect Trump’s intervention in that decision; and a decision by the Prime Minister of Canada to purchase some fighter jets and why retired military generals think it’s a bad idea). Like our morning and late news, there seem to be only 3 or 4 news articles that just get repeated constantly.

So I switched the TV off and went to sleep.