Erin and I are off on a working vacation/anniversary trip to Ottawa, returning to Kitchener on Monday. Thanks to the grandparents for stepping in to look after the kids and Luna. Erin has been invited to the city as part of the Ottawa Teen Authors Festival. She’ll be doing two school visits tomorrow and attending an event at the main branch of Ottawa’s library on Saturday afternoon. We took advantage of the festival comping Erin’s hotel room by having me buy a VIA Rail ticket to accompany. We’re looking forward to our time working and visiting this beautiful city.
While we were on our way, we ran into fellow local author Kristen Ciccarelli, whose debut novel, The Last Nasmara is being featured at the conference. Her publishers paid to fly her down from Pearson Airport, and she was using VIA Rail and the UP Express to access the airport. Personally, I think we got the better deal by taking the train all the way, but that’s just my opinion. We walked her to the UP Express stop and, having a little time before catching our connecting train to Ottawa, went to the lounge “UPstairs” from the UP station for lunch.
I have to say, I think we’ve found an excellent spot to stay and write when we’re stuck in downtown Toronto for a couple of hours. The place wasn’t too busy, but the food was good, and they allowed you to lounge. They even offer power sockets for laptops, and they weren’t pushy about us sticking around. It doesn’t have a direct view of the trains, but it does overlook the loading platform at the UP Express station, so it’s a great place to sit and people-watch.