An Easterly Album Part 2

Homeward bound from my down east trip, and I was pleasantly surprised to get a whole series of additional photos unlike any I have gotten before.

You can see my previous album here if you didn't see it yet:  An Easterly Album Part 1

And now, here are the additions from the Halifax to Montreal trip from yesterday and this morning.

Between Amherst NS and Sackville NB the track traverses the huge expanse of the Tantramar Marshes, one of the biggest salt marsh areas in North America.  A large part of the marsh near the rail line is "intertidal", and regularly fills with water twice daily.  This is the first time I've ever gotten some really good pictures of this remarkable land-and-waterscape at high tide.  At low tide, the water you see here will disappear leaving behind tiny puddles and a lot of scummy residue around and between the plants.

In the middle of the marsh area, the train stops at Amherst which has a beautiful Victorian stone railway station.

Another imposing building as the train arrives in Moncton is the Cathedrale de l'Assomption.

One of the little pleasures of this expedition is sipping a nightcap in the dome car as the train rolls westwards along the shore of the Baie de Chaleur, heading into the sunset.

In the morning the train approaches its final destination in Montreal.  I've ridden trains in and out of the city to or from the east ten times now -- but this was the first time I ever saw an actual ship in the St. Lambert Lock of the St. Lawrence Seaway as the train rolled across the canal.

And that's a wrap for this quick little trip to Nova Scotia!

An Easterly Album Part 1

No doubt some enquiring minds want to know what I've been doing in the way of travel!  Well, I've been on a lot of short runs in and out of Toronto and up to Ottawa a couple of times, but nothing exotic and nothing to write about here.

But this week, I went -- for the third time in a year! -- down to Halifax again.  No question about it, I am thoroughly hooked on this city by now.  Once again, I made the entire trip, down and back, by train.  Nothing really new to say about that process, except that I love it as the most civilized way to travel overland.

For anyone who wants to know more about my previous travels to Halifax and area, here are the links to the earlier blog posts from 2014 and 2015.

October 2015:  Countryside Trips from Halifax

July 2015:  Tracking Our History      City of the Sea      The Immigrant Route

June 2014:  To Atlantic Tidewater by Rail      At Large in Halifax

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In this post I'm just sharing some more pictures of places and views that haven't made it into my blog before this.  Enjoy!

First, some views from the train windows on the downbound trip.  Collins Bay, outside Kingston.

The Ste-Anne rapids, where the Ottawa River empties into the St. Lawrence.

Downtown Montreal arrival in mid-afternoon.

Sugar Loaf mountain, outside Campbellton NB.

The Nepisiguit River outside Bathurst NB.

The Miramichi River at (where else?) Miramichi NB.

Bedford Basin, as we arrived in Halifax -- late afternoon of the second day.

Now, some pictures in and around the Halifax area.  A coastline shot near Lawrencetown.

A tide race, with the incoming tide pushing under the bridge and battling against the waves pushing down from the north on a landlocked inlet.

Shoreline homes near Lawrencetown.

Fishermen's Cove, a combined working fishing harbour and tourist development with multiple shops and art galleries.

View of Halifax Harbour from my 7th-floor room at the Hollis Doubletree Suites.

A unique children's playground, on the waterfront boardwalk behind the Maritime Museum.

The Immigration Museum at Pier 21, originally built as a processing facility for immigrants arriving by sea in Canada.

Outside the museum, an old railway car of the type ridden by immigrants travelling westwards across Canada in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

And finally, a monument to Samuel Cunard, the Halifax man who founded the world-famous ocean shipping line whose name today is synonymous with luxury afloat.

And that's all for now, folks!  I may again hark back to an older trip from before my blogging days, or I may just leave it at that until I hit the road again in the summer.