I arrived in Montreal yesterday after a 20-hour train ride from Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Halifax is an absolutely beautiful and surpringly cosmpolitan city of about 370,000 people. It was founded by the British in 1749 along the world's second largest natural harbor (The Chamber of Commerce literature doesn't say what the world largest natural habor is but it must be really big!!!) Halifax is Atlantic Canada's largest city and busiest port, with merchant and cruise ships all around. (An aside: There is such a thing as Atlantic time, I've learned, which is an hour ahead of Eastern Standard Time. Nova Scotia and Bermuda are some of the places on Atlantic Time). Anyway, this city is full of historic building, harbors, basins and a lot of Maritime history. Nova Scotia has its own memorial to 20th century immigration, Pier 21 - similar to America's Ellis Island, where immigrants were processed prior to entry to the country.
There are presently two Disciples churches remaining in the Halifax area, Wyndholme Christian Church, in nearby Darmouth and Coastline Song Disciples Church in Portuguese Cove, which is still in formation. About 90 minutes away is Milton Christian Church in Milton and Summerville Christian Church in Summerville Centre, Queens County. Neil Bergman, who is the new church pastor at Coastline Song, along with his wife Shirley, were my gracious hosts in Halifax who gave me a city tour and drove me down to Milton.
My train ride into Montreal was actually quite pleasant but l-o-n-g. It's been decades since I've been a passenger on a train. The crew and the passengers were all pretty congenial. Quite a few of them were on cross-country leisure trips so their pace was pretty relaxed . We could eat meals in a dining room and although the selection was very limited, movies were available in a recreation car. But sleeping on a train isn't the easiest thing to do, so getting a room with a real bed and mattress seemed like a special treat once I arrived in Montreal.
