I rode the Amtrak train from NYC to Montreal - here's what it's like - English

Ten o’clock on a blisteringly hot morning in New York’s Moynihan Train Hall, and platform seven is buzzing with excitement. The silver Amtrak train – like an elongated Airstream – is purring quietly on the tracks, while travellers heave rucksacks and suitcases up the steps and into the carriages.

After a summer closed for track renovations, America’s daily cross-border train between New York and Montreal is up and running again; a 12-hour journey through the picturesque Hudson River valley and the foothills of the Adirondacks.

Unlike most of my fellow travellers, I’m jumping off at Albany to spend a few days exploring upstate New York, before re-boarding at Plattsburgh to head on to . The towns and villages that populate the Hudson River valley are popular with New York weekenders, but I’m heading further to explore the Adirondacks. My first stop is Lake George – known as the Queen of the Lakes – which, when there are more than 3,000 in the region, is quite an accolade. Stretching for over 50km, its banks are dotted with small resorts and palatial mansions, dating back to when the lake was a summer playground for millionaire industrialists of the Gilded Age.

I rode the Amtrak train from NYC to Montreal - here's what it's like

Along the way, the Daily Mail's Annabelle Thorpe marvels at forested mountains that 'ripple out around aquamarine lakes'.