To New York By Train

Our train at Niagara Falls station, New York State
see all photos »

Amtrak operates a train from Toronto to New York that runs every day, leaving Toronto at 8:30 a.m. and arriving in New York at 9:45 p.m. It runs on time, and in fact we found that after almost twelve hours on the rails it was actually two minutes early. But thirteen hours and fifteen minutes! This is not a trip for the impatient. So who would go to New York this way? Cheapskates, that's who. We enjoyed the trip. We had the time, and it cost us $170 each in Canadian dollars, instead of over $400.00.

Beneath a central skylight, a ramp circles around inside the Guggenheim to display the art exhibits.
see all photos »

The train pulls up at the station in our home town just after nine, and within two or three minutes we were off. We crossed the border on a high bridge over the gorge of the Niagara River just downstream from the Falls. We could not see the Falls itself, but the churning water far below and the deep gorge with high cliffs on each side was impressive. Then we waited an hour and fifteen minutes at Niagara Falls, New York, while armed customs officers checked our passports.

A great trip

Manhattan as seen through a less than clean window on the Staten Island Ferry.
see all photos »

If you take this trip, do what we did, once the inspection was over and we were free to walk outside until the train left the station. For some reason the coaches are not washed on the outside between trips and the windows get so dirty that on a sunny day your view is obscured. Take a wet towel from the washroom on board, find one of the little steps that the crew uses to let passengers on and off -- there were lots of extras sitting around -- and step up on one to wash your window on the outside.

Grand Central Terminal
see all photos »

We traveled in mid October and the dark came on long before we arrived in New York, which is 544 miles from Toronto by rail. The best sights are along the Hudson River from Albany to New York, and the train runs right along the river for over 100 miles. We were able to see this on the way back. Even so, the trip down was still quite pretty through the lush countryside of Upper New York state, the Finger Lakes area in particular, and the hilly regions west of Albany with the trees in their fall colors. The passengers were interesting, a lot of young people, and older people getting on and off at various stations along the way, and the crew of a freight train, in grimy work clothes, taking the train back to a division point after working a full day on the railroad.

Crossing Brooklyn Bridge
see all photos »

We arrived at Penn Station after nine at night, but the streets were crowded and we felt quite safe walking the two blocks to our hotel in midtown Manhattan. We stayed at the Hotel Stanford, which we highly recommend.

We had a wonderful time in New York. We started at the Empire State Building after breakfast the next morning (get there early, before the crowds), for it was only a block and a half from our hotel. Then we bought tickets for the Grey Line tourist bus, the Downtown Loop, to give ourselves a feel for the city and check out the places we'd like to go back to. The trip takes about two and a half hours and you can buy a one day or two day ticket and get on and off as often as you like at the various stops along the way. We ate lunch at a fast food restaurant (the Cosi) near Grand Central Terminal. There are two or three restaurants right in Grand Central where you can sit and have lunch while you watch the people passing through the magnificent central hall of the largest railroad station in the world. Good idea, but too expensive for us. Then we did what millions have done before and after us, we lined up at Times Square to buy discounted tickets for a stage production that night -- in our case, an off-Broadway production of STOMP. And then we took the subway to see the Guggenheim, a Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece that was somewhat disappointing because the exterior has been altered and rendered far less impressive (the architect would be outraged). The interior seemed a little tacky, but the main feature of the building, the skylight and the great circular ramp that goes around and around upwards for six stories like the interior of a twisted seashell is breathtaking, and well worth the visit. Do not go up the ramp, see the building as Frank Lloyd Wright intended. Take the elevator to the top floor and come down the ramp. The structure is magnificent, seen in this way, a masterpiece of modern architecture. We ate outside, at a delightful restaurant, the Cafe Orlin (see separate review), just around the corner from the Orpheum, the theater where we saw STOMP.

Manhattan from Brooklyn Bridge.
see all photos »

By now we had an excellent map of the subway system, given out by the NYC and Company Foundation and Merrill Lynch, and used it the next day to figure out how to get to the Brooklyn Bridge, and everywhere else we wanted to go. (Check out www.nycvisit.com for more information on New York and helpful suggestions for visitors.) The subway system is superb, and we found New Yorkers are friendly and helpful. The walk across Brooklyn Bridge and the view of the city from there is quite wonderful -- and free. So is the Staten Island Ferry, on both counts. We did not go to the Statue of Liberty -- security, we were advised, is so tight that you cannot get up into the Statue, and even though you don't go up, security is still being checked constantly. We saw a good view from the ferry.

Building draped in black, still standing by the site of the World Trade Center.
see all photos »

In the midst of downtown, right near city hall and the church where George Washington went to pray before he took the oath of office as the first President of the United States, is the site of the World Trade Center. On the south side of the site, a tall building is completely draped in black. Go inside St. Paul's Chapel, just next to the site, and see the various memorials to those who died on September 11. This was where the rescuers would come, in their words to find a bit of heaven in the midst of hell. When you leave the church, you realize that the vibrant life of New York goes on, despite the attempt to stop it. In a way that seems fitting, and the best memorial to the fallen.

Personal tributes to those who died on September 11, inside St. Paul's Chapel.
see all photos »

We enjoyed lunch at The Original Stage Door Delicatessen-Restaurant, a genuine New York deli. The food is good and it is full of New York life. The thing in fact that we most remember about this "flying" trip (even though we took the train) is how vital this city is, how much is happening and how much more there is to see. We ended our second day in a restaurant in the Empire State Building, the Heartland Brewery (not recommended, though the beer was good).

One of our most memorable experiences was the trip back up the Hudson River valley, beside the river, seeing all the commuters going into the city as we were leaving, enjoying the views along the river and the colors of the trees as they flashed by the window of the train. At one point the river becomes narrow as it makes its way through low mountains, and it happened that a freight train was running parallel with us along the river on the other side. We could see the tiny engines and an endless line of cars, so long that the end of the train was hidden from view. Hundreds of freight cars it seemed, dwarfed by the mountains behind them. A model railroader would sell his soul to have something like this in his basement. At another point we raced by a small parking lot beside the river just as a number of commuters were rushing from their vehicles towards a train platform. The tracks were going around a long curve by the river and up ahead we could see a commuter train coming the other way to pick up its passengers. The combination of hills, fall colors, bright sunlight, and a major river with busy commuters hurrying on their way to the city, was striking.

Wall Street bull and friend
see all photos »

This was a great trip, shorter than we would have liked. Next time, maybe it will be longer.