Monday, May 11, 2015
My friend Carol Rizzo (my ex-husband’s wife) took me to the Trenton train station and very graciously helped me with my bags and sat with me on the platform in front of the track until the Northeast Regional – basically a commuter train from New York (I think, or is it Boston?) to Washington DC came. (Yes, Carol took me because she’s a caring, giving friend, not because she wants to see her husband’s ex-wife get out of town on a long-distance train – ha! In fact, we’re all very good friends!)
I’ve been on this 2.5-hour trip many times. There’s nothing particularly special about it – no dining car or sleeper cars. It does have a café car. Because I hadn’t eaten since the night before, I was starving, so I made my way to the café car. I asked for yogurt but there was no yogurt left. Then I asked for a cup of noodles but they didn’t have that, either. Finally settled for a glass of milk, that always soothes my stomach when I’m starving. I figured I would wait until I got to Union Station in DC to get lunch.
Union Station, Washington DC
I’ve been to the Washington train station many times for business meetings; this is the first time on a leisure trip. After getting off the Northeast regional, I managed to stack one bag on top of the others and rolled my way to the Acela club which is a first-class waiting area. I checked in one of my bags and took the other for a stroll through the train station, which is beautiful, covered in marble and wood just a gorgeous, clean train station as befits our nation’s capitol. I had a nice shrimp caeser salad at the main restaurant in the front part of the station. Afterward I stopped a bought a beautiful pink shawl from an old Chinese lady in one of the kiosks who was very happy to take a picture of me wearing it. Fortunately, the Acela club people got a “red cap,” (baggage handlers) to carry my bags and load them into my room. Sure wish I had thought to bring a lot more $1
bills to handle all the tips I’m going to need to give out!
v
v
Capitol Limited
Monday, May 11 – Tuesday, May 12
I was on this train, which goes from Washington to Chicago for about 21 hours. It travels through Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. The redcap who helped me with my suitcases laughed at me because I insisted on taking a photo of the train from the outside before I boarded it. It’s quite imposing looking when you’re standing outside at the bottom of a double-decker train – seems tall, massive, and of course, extremely long. I found out though, that this train as well as the next one, the Southwest Chief, are only 11 cars long. Attached are some views from the observation car. 
The Roomette. At first I insisted on having both suitcases with me in my room, which is called a “roomette.” It’s about 4.5’ wide by 6.5’ long. Comfortable, cushy seats face each other and a folding table in the middle comes out. I am typing on that table right now. (Except now as I write this, I am on the next train, the Southwest Chief.) The two seats fold out to make a bed. If you have a second person with you, a bed on the ceiling folds down. There are an awful lot of really old couples in roomettes on these trains. For the life of me I can’t figure out how the person on the top gets up there. For privacy, there is a sliding metal door with a window that locks very securely with curtains that can be pulled to cover the window. There are velco strips to assure the curtains attach very securely. However, the doors do not lock on the outside. You either have to bring all your stuff with you every time you want to leave your cabin or you simply leave your stuff in your roomette and trust that no one will try to steal anything. I’ve taken the latter approach – so far, so good.
Good thing I love a hard mattress – because the beds on the train are certainly that! I actually slept very well. I woke up a few times and checked our location on the compass app on my phone. I said a mental hello to my son Emon as we were going through Cleveland. I woke up about 4 in the morning and when my app said we were in Cleveland, I was surprised because we were supposed to have been in Cleveland at about 1 am. Turns out there were severe thunderstorms in Pittsburgh which caused some trees to fall on the tracks so the train had to be stopped for a while. This set us behind schedule significantly.
On this train I insisted on having both my suitcases in my room with me which was a big mistake – simply not enough room. I didn’t realize on that train that you could store them in large shelving units adjacent to your room. I thought it was either have them with me or check them in, which I didn’t want to do. No one explained anything on that train.
Dinner on the Capitol Limited. I was very surprised and disappointed that there was no wifi on the Capitol Limited. I thought surely a train from DC would have wifi, but nooooo. Maybe that’s what they mean by “limited”! I spent some time hanging out in the observation car enjoying a drink and getting caught up on TIME magazines, sending a couple of text messages and watching the scenery. For dinner I sat with two gentlemen – an older man about my age and a young black man about 22. He seemed to be a transgender guy in the process of transitioning – I didn’t ask, I’m just guessing. He was very sweet and friendly and is a neuropsychology student at the University of Iowa. We talked about mutual acquaintances we knew there – specifically a neurosurgeon I worked with. And small world, he told me about how was the second author on a paper that is being submitted to a pediatric neurology journal (I can’t remember which one).
I told both my dinner companions that I had borrowed a laptop and had earlier tried to watch a movie on it but couldn’t get any audio and couldn’t figure out why. The older gentleman told me he was really good with computers and that after dinner I could bring the computer and meet with him in the lounge car and he could figure out why the audio wasn’t working. So I brought the laptop to him after we were done eating and turns out he knew zilch about computers! I think he was just hoping for some sort of hookup . . . flattering, but not interested! He asked me to come back to the lounge after I put the laptop away we could meet in the lounge for a drink. I decided to go back to my car and go to bed – alone – instead! I asked Carlos, my cabin steward, if he could figure out why the laptop had no audio. He pointed out that the mute button was on! Ooops!! Doh!!
Breakfast. The next morning I got up and got a shower and headed rather leisurely after most passengers were done eating, to breakfast. At first I had the entire table to myself – a rarity in the dining car, which usually seats 4 to a table. After a few minutes however, another gentleman was seated with me. I think he asked if I had ever taken a long train trip before. I told him yes, once, when I went to an endocrinology meeting in Atlanta. So we talked a little bit about my career. I then asked him about his story and what he does. I don’t know why, but for some reason I had it in my mind that he was going to say he was an accountant. Imagine my surprise when he said quite seriously that he was a comedian and was traveling in between gigs. I had never heard of him before – Scott Thompson – his comedy troupe is called “The Kids in the Hall.” Afterward I looked him up on my cell phone on Wikipedia and found an entry. I’ll have to look up more about him after I get home or at least to a place with wifi. We had a very nice breakfast together. He was actually a very serious kind of guy, as I understand, most comics actually are.
michellerenerizzo 