2013/12/20: New York – Long Island – New London

As I already mentioned, I arrived in New York this morning. I had three hours to get rid of my baggage, have a “luxurious breakfast” at McDonald’s, get rid of my Canadian dollars, buy a ticket for the Long Island Railway and take some picture of Times Square. Easy.



Too much sun and too many trees. These two things, which I missed very much in the last days in Toronto, make it difficult to take good pictures out of the train window. The train runs at a leisurely pace along the eastern part of Long Island. I’m going to the final stop Greenport, which is still 14 kilometers away from the port where my ferry to New London is going to depart. When I booked the tickets some months ago, the schedule said that there’s a bus regularly connecting train and ship. Then, the winter schedule wasn’t available yet. Now the winter schedule is available, and it says that there are no buses at all running on weekdays…



Thank God I found a possibility to store my heavy luggage in New York for the next two days. I only have a small rucksack with me, which makes many things a lot easier than with two rucksacks and an additional bag (think of using a public toilet!), not least bridging the gap between train station and the ferry terminal. Yes, I could have tried to hitchhike, or called a taxi, or whatever. But the weather was so great! The first time since weeks without jacket and gloves! No snow! But sun! I was so happy and I kept on walking, and walking, and walking. A little bit like Forrest Gump, but much slower of course.

The only annoying thing: the schedule in the internet was obviously wrong, two buses passed me… But on the whole walk I’ve seen only one bus stop, and there were no time-table information at all… Anyway, I enjoyed the long hike. Finally nature and warmth. No, I don’t miss the Torontonian winter. Not at the moment.



The ferry was not really spectacular. I enjoyed a tea and talking to Samantha, who I met in the ferry terminal. Wow, I'm able to talk to Americans and to understand them. Obviously I improved my English skills in the last months.



New London makes me looking forward to Boston. Old houses, good pizza, somehow European.

2013/12/20: Toronto – New York

Two black women, both in their 50ies, continue talking to me. One of them, sitting next to me, tries to appease me: “Take your time. Reläääääx. Don’t listen to her.” The other woman, standing in the corridor, continues barking: “Määäääään, you need a ticket. Leave this bus if you don’t have a ticket. Follow me. You have to leave – this - bus. Määääään, you – need – a – ticket!” I don’t find the ticket. I start my laptop to show her the digital version – but the laptop doesn’t boot. Anyway, “your laptop doesn’t help you. I need you ticket printed. Määäään, I – need – a – printed – ticket!”

What happened? Unexpectedly, we had to change buses in Buffalo to continue our trip to New York. Some hours earlier, in Toronto, I was the last person to get a free seat in the bus. Greyhound sold more tickets than they have seats – so a bunch of people had to wait at Toronto’s bus station for another bus to New York. I gave the first page of my ticket – why ever a ticket from Toronto to New York needs three pages – to the bus Driver, put the other two pages somewhere in my bag – I am now in the bus, why should I ever need it again? – and found literally the last place – next to this arrogant Arabic woman, next to the noise of the motor, next to the smell of the toilet. 11 hours on this seat? At least I made it into the bus.

A last view at the skyscrapers of Toronto’s financial district, which I’ve seen so often in the last months. A last view at Union Station. Then the ramp onto the Gardiner Expressway. That was it. Goodbye, Toronto.

Hamilton. Niagara Falls. Border Control. After four month in friendly, democratic Canada (and one day in Detroit) I had to cross the border to the United States again. It took more than two hours. More than two hours in a shabby room where you’re not allowed to eat, not allowed to drink, not allowed to take pictures, not allowed to use cellphones. Welcome to the country of liberty and freedom. As I’m neither black nor a Muslim and no-one asked me to take my T-Shirt off (below was a sweater that shows some heavily armed natives, saying “Homeland Security. Fighting terrorism since 1492”), I was asked only some harmless questions, got my baggage screened and was finally allowed to re-enter the bus. I really, really like the United States, but the border controls are – well, different from Canada.

As it took so long to cross the border, we arrived in Buffalo with an delay of one hour. Greyhound therefore decided that we all have to change buses now (perhaps because our driver was not allowed to continue driving all the way to New York, but no one told us anything). The other bus was less comfortable, but at least I had a friendlier neighbor, who told me to relax and take my time when I didn’t find my ticket. Finally I found it. I put it into my wallet. So I was allowed to stay in the bus and to spend a night with this crazy bus driver who made it to drive so fast that we arrived in New York City according to time-table, at 6.10 AM this morning.

2013/12/18: What I miss now and what I will miss soon

It’s the last evening in my Assiniboine Road apartment. Of course I didn’t start to pack yet, but I started to clean and muck out. What will I miss most when I leave Toronto?

The friendly and polite Canadians.

The people I met here.

Tim Hortons.

The above-average amount of free time I had here.

Rob Ford.
Just Kidding.

Poutine. Of course. I hope it takes not too long until this great invention Québecois will find its way to Europe.




What am I looking forward to, considering that I’ll be back home in Germany in five days?

Bread and beer.

Chees and Spätzle.

Friends and family.

Walkable settlements with a grocery store nearby.

Public Transit.

Nature near the city border.

Mountains and vineyards.

Sportschau and Champions League.

Old towns with cobblestone streets and Christmas markets.

Bakeries.

Cheap, but still good and healthy food on campus.

Drinkable tapped water.

Cooking without fire alarm, i.e. kitchen hood and the possibility to open a window.

Plates and cups.

Three layer toilet paper.

Pizza Chef.

Wow, that’s a lot I’m missing here. Obviously, I could never emigrate to Canada. Not with environmental consciousness and an addiction to black bread and cheap cheese. But I love Canada. And I even more love the Canadians. I’ll miss them.

2013/12/18: Suburbs in Snow

When I left my apartment on Monday morning, it was -15°C. When I came back in the evening, it was -11°C. In between, it was cold. Today it was a bit warmer, but still cold. These were my last days to explore Toronto’s northern exurbs.

In Richmond Hill…



…they are building a Bus Rapid Transit System…



…that is used by the VIVA Express buses.



The extension of the Bus Rapid Way to Markham…



…is currently under construction.



Also “Downtown Markham” is currently under construction. Once a small suburb of Toronto, Markham is today a city of more than 300,000 inhabitants (most of them having an Asian background), so Markham is now in need of a city center.



Going with another VIVA Express bus line to the North, you reach Aurora.



Although it is in the middle of the so called “Greenbelt”, also in Aurora you find a lot of boring suburban settlements, …



…and there is more to come.



But Aurora is more famous for hosting the headquarters of Magna, Canada's largest automobile parts manufacture. According to my favourite Toronto book, "the headquarters building in Aurora is designed to look like a French chateau that with trucks coming and going could well be a set for a James Bond movie."



Bikes as well as cars are stuck in snow:



North of Vaughan, I walked along the “Stadtkante”, the border between built area and agricultural land reserve.



In Vaughan, which also hosts a lot of suburban settlements, …



…I also visited the “Peace Village”. The streets in this settlement around the Baitul Islam Mosque are named for famous members of the Ahmadiyya movement; the houses provide separate living rooms for men and women.



On the way home, I passed Canada’s Wonderland.



The pace of development makes that all the (former) suburbs around Toronto seem to be a kind of Wonderland. But a rollercoster is much more exciting…