Before leaving for the big apple and heading to New York, I spent my last afternoon in Canada wandering the streets of Montreal feasting on samples of fine wines, chocolates and fois gras. Shown around by a local, Camilla was one of the lovely new friends I had made the previous week in Nova Scotia. We spend the sunny warm afternoon in one of my favourite ways – wandering aimlessly with no particular place to go. This was the third visit of my trip to this wonderful city, acting as the gateway to Quebec and Nova Scotia, as well as the US of A. A city of festivals, we managed to pause long enough on our eating and walking schedule to watch street performers and acrobats while listening to a number of musicians warming up for performances at the opening Jazz Festival. The two acrobats captivated me particularly, suspended from long red ribbons, winding themselves up and hurling themselves back down again. Incredibly graceful and fluid movements creating a passionate narrative of tryst and torment.

Montreal to New York, Louise Kenward (2014)

Another twelve hours on the train, from Montreal to New York would be the last train journey for me for a while. The journey takes me along great stretches of waterway through the Hudson Valley. The attendants are rather sterner than I have been used to (possibly since Russia!). There are a whole series of announcements about keeping the toilet clean, how it wont be cleaned before we reach New York, so the mess you make will not ‘go away’; of putting your rubbish in relevant receptacles, and in those in carriages not trash cans in toilets; of the consequences of putting rubbish in the toilets…not one you really want to test. And so on. I felt like a naughty teenager, reprimanded before even settling into my seat for the day. As it turned out, the refreshments were not as varied as I had hoped either, although I was relieved to discover that the nice man at the counter had been to replenish the tea bag supply personally. I feared I may be in for a rude awakening and it set the scene for New York leaving me slightly on edge.

Montreal to New York – view from a train, Louise Kenward (2014)

Arriving at night I launched myself at the subway system feeling a little jaded but adrenaline fuelled. I had no idea where ‘uptown’ ‘downtown’ or ‘midtown’ was I just had a name of a station and street address of my accommodation. Of course ‘uptown’ ‘midtown’ and ‘downtown’ now make complete sense and are entirely logical, but arriving at night after a day of travelling, having spent the previous weeks in one of the sleepiest, quietest, most peaceful places I’ve visited, I was not especially equipped.

After sitting at the wrong platform for about 20 minutes a guard came to my rescue and escorted me to the correct platform. I was eternally grateful and felt more than a little bit daft. It also served to shatter any illusions I had of the metropolis of Manhattan and the cut throat nature (figuratively and literally) with which it can be portrayed. I soon negotiated street numbers and learned to identify east from west, north from south, and arrived just in time to go to bed, excited about what I would see when the sun came up.

I think waking up in a new place is one of the most exciting things I have enjoyed. Whether it is on a train or arriving somewhere after dark and getting up the next morning to discover a whole new world. New York did not disappoint…