(note: this is a continuation of my trip begun with the eastbound trip in January)
Thursday 2/22:
Wednesday morning, my sister parked her car “Tessie” at South Station, and we spent a couple of hours strolling around downtown Boston. She had an errand at the registry in City Hall, we got a popover at City Market, and then we walked the Greenway from Faneuil Hall back to South Station. I checked in to Club Acela with Debby as my guest. She had never been in there because, even though she and her hubby take the train frequently, the RTE station is so convenient fto their house and they have always (so far) been headed south to NYC and points beyond.
We drank some tea and coffee, and headed out as soon as they announced the platform. Coach passengers were heading out as well, but we were all stopped by the coach attendant at the rope and not allowed to proceed to our cars. It seems the conductor was not yet there. My sister gave me a hug and departed. Eight minutes before the train was due to leave, the conductor appeared and we all streamed towards the open doors. It amazed me when our train left right on time.
About 5:30, we passed our sister train in the woods of eastern NY. We were close to on-time, but they were nearly two hours late. In Albany, I went in to the station for awhile. I browsed the newsstand, and checked out the schedule for the bus to Vermont at the bus station on the first floor. Still no same-day connection to Burlington by any means that I can see, sigh. I got back on the train for the forward/back connecting maneuver, and soon after that, we were on our way – still on time.
Dinner in the diner-lite occupied the rest of the evening. I sat across from a charming French/American woman who was headed out to sunny SoCal for an interview with a tech startup. We, conversed in French first, as I always love to practice the language, but switched to English when she admitted she needed to improve her skills more before the interview. We debated about whether Victor, the LSA, had forgotten our dessert order or not, but agreed we had no place better to be and weren't in a hurry. Eventually, we asked, and found he had indeed forgotten. We also asked how long till Victor's retirement (not long at all), and whether he thought he'd get the new diner before he retired (not a chance, they have promised it so many times he knows they are lying about it ever coming). Eventually, the chocolate tarts arrived and we enjoyed them with the last of the red wine. I wonder why the cafe car has chamomile tea, and the diner only plain black Red Rose tea? Different stocking commissaries, I guess. I also wish they would practice community seating more rigorously on this route. So far, I have only sat with one other person at the table, even when other tables nearby were half-full.
I worked on photo editing in my roomette till 10 pm, and then climbed upstairs to sleep. I love the Viewliner setup, where I can leave my suitcase open on the rear-facing seat, and my “office” set up on the table, while I sleep in a loft with windows. Slept well – my body must still have the “muscle memory” of the train, from the trip east three weeks ago. I woke to find us a little more than half an hour late. Looking at dixielandsoftware (http://dixielandsoftware.net/cgi-bin/getmap.pl?mapname=Midwest), I see that we lost the time between Syracuse and Rochester, just after I went to bed. At breakfast, I asked for more tea water, and Victor forgot. I tipped him anyway, and got it from the cook as I passed by the kitchen. Victor caught up to me there with the fleece vest that I forgot on the seat. We all get old.
More later.
Thursday 2/22:
Wednesday morning, my sister parked her car “Tessie” at South Station, and we spent a couple of hours strolling around downtown Boston. She had an errand at the registry in City Hall, we got a popover at City Market, and then we walked the Greenway from Faneuil Hall back to South Station. I checked in to Club Acela with Debby as my guest. She had never been in there because, even though she and her hubby take the train frequently, the RTE station is so convenient fto their house and they have always (so far) been headed south to NYC and points beyond.
We drank some tea and coffee, and headed out as soon as they announced the platform. Coach passengers were heading out as well, but we were all stopped by the coach attendant at the rope and not allowed to proceed to our cars. It seems the conductor was not yet there. My sister gave me a hug and departed. Eight minutes before the train was due to leave, the conductor appeared and we all streamed towards the open doors. It amazed me when our train left right on time.
About 5:30, we passed our sister train in the woods of eastern NY. We were close to on-time, but they were nearly two hours late. In Albany, I went in to the station for awhile. I browsed the newsstand, and checked out the schedule for the bus to Vermont at the bus station on the first floor. Still no same-day connection to Burlington by any means that I can see, sigh. I got back on the train for the forward/back connecting maneuver, and soon after that, we were on our way – still on time.
Dinner in the diner-lite occupied the rest of the evening. I sat across from a charming French/American woman who was headed out to sunny SoCal for an interview with a tech startup. We, conversed in French first, as I always love to practice the language, but switched to English when she admitted she needed to improve her skills more before the interview. We debated about whether Victor, the LSA, had forgotten our dessert order or not, but agreed we had no place better to be and weren't in a hurry. Eventually, we asked, and found he had indeed forgotten. We also asked how long till Victor's retirement (not long at all), and whether he thought he'd get the new diner before he retired (not a chance, they have promised it so many times he knows they are lying about it ever coming). Eventually, the chocolate tarts arrived and we enjoyed them with the last of the red wine. I wonder why the cafe car has chamomile tea, and the diner only plain black Red Rose tea? Different stocking commissaries, I guess. I also wish they would practice community seating more rigorously on this route. So far, I have only sat with one other person at the table, even when other tables nearby were half-full.
I worked on photo editing in my roomette till 10 pm, and then climbed upstairs to sleep. I love the Viewliner setup, where I can leave my suitcase open on the rear-facing seat, and my “office” set up on the table, while I sleep in a loft with windows. Slept well – my body must still have the “muscle memory” of the train, from the trip east three weeks ago. I woke to find us a little more than half an hour late. Looking at dixielandsoftware (http://dixielandsoftware.net/cgi-bin/getmap.pl?mapname=Midwest), I see that we lost the time between Syracuse and Rochester, just after I went to bed. At breakfast, I asked for more tea water, and Victor forgot. I tipped him anyway, and got it from the cook as I passed by the kitchen. Victor caught up to me there with the fleece vest that I forgot on the seat. We all get old.
More later.