July The Hudson

In the past I have probably only associated the Hudson River with Manhattan - the Hudson and its neighbour the East River, but it is 500 km long, a big water way (not as mighty as our own mighty Murray though!). It once married up with the Erie Canal at Albany to form a major shipping route between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean and thus the world.  I guess I forgot my history lessons and also that great Pete Seeger song......

I've got a mule and her name is Sal

Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal .......

We know every inch of the way

From Albany to Buffalo

(If course that’s more than 15 miles, more like 600 km).

The Mohican tribe who formerly inhabited both banks of the lower part of the river called the river the Mahicantuck meaning ‘great waters in constant motion’ or ‘river that flows two ways’. Why? the estuary of the river stretches around 250 km from New York Harbour - and it is tidal. It’s source? Lake Tear of the Clouds (love that name) on the slopes of Mount Marcy, New York’s highest point in the Adirondack mountains. 

We travelled south along the river on the Lake Shore Ltd train from Chicago to NYC and then north along its banks 4 days later from NYC to the Ile de Montreal on the Adirondack train. The route is reputed to be one of the most scenic train routes in the world. I’m in two minds about that as I reckon the journey we took through the deserts of Nevada and Utah and through Colorado river valley would be hard to top. But I have to say that over the course of the day and 600 odd km we did pass some beautiful scenery along the Hudson River valley and beside Lake Champlain. We were travelling close to the border between New York State and Vermont.

Our carriage was not air conditioned properly and with an outside temperature of over 30 C it was a little uncomfortable but we finally rolled into Montreal Gare Centrale in Montreal, the largest city in Québec province and supposedly the oldest city in Canada being settled in the 1600s by the French. Montreal is set on an island in the Saint Lawrence River. 

We were there 2 days but couldn’t get on a river cruise which worked ok for us because we really needed a rest! Maybe another time. 

And then we arrived in Oslo. Over the last  few days I have been reminded how much I hate airports and flying. Airports one of my most unfavourite places - walk walk walk wait wait wait. And planes are noisy, airless and either stifling or freezing. A means to an end Heather so get over it (but you can see why land travel is so attractive to me)!

Oslo is rather gorgeous particularly around the port. The low sweeping building houses the Norwegian Opera and Ballet

Yesterday we took to the skies again this time into Spitsbergen, the largest island in Svalbard, in the Arctic Circle.