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mitchy at 09:57am on 07/09/2005
mitchy at 09:57am on 07/09/2005Yesterday I had the perfect day. The weather was gorgeous, nothing went wrong, I saw everything I wanted to see, did everything I wanted to do, was in good company, with good food and good booze. *sighs contentedly* It was just wonderful.
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jenni411 and I spent the day in Baltimore. We started bright and early when we left the house at 9am, having made travel plans the night before. We were heading to Union Station where we were going to catch a train up to Baltimore. Baltimore is really close to D.C., I always forget how close, and the trip was only going to take about 40 minutes all told. Even allowing for the fact Amtrak (the national rail company) are slow and next to useless, as any American will tell you.
A short scamper from Jana's house got us to the nearby Metro - I LOVE the D.C. Metro!! - and it was only two short stops to where we changed from the green line to the red and then two more stops to Union Station. It was still busy, being morning rush hour, but the journey was quick and painless. At Union Station, we needed more tea and a snack, so browsed some food stalls until Jenni found one that appealed to her. She bought tea and a muffin and I simply had to have tea and a cookie called a "snickerdoodle". I am none the wiser as to why the cookies are called that, but it was delicious! Soft and chewy in the middle, crunchy on top and tasting faintly of cinnamon. Mmmm!
After a short pause to demolish the cookie and muffin, we headed up to the main concourse of the station to claim our train tickets, which we'd booked online the previous night. It was a matter of seconds to swipe my credit card through the ticket claim machine (my credit card whimpers now whenever I use it :P) and two tickets were duly printed out. I was interested to note that the tickets had to be signed on the train and presented to the conductor along with picture ID. I have no idea if this is a new security thing or if Amtrak were always this paranoid about fare dodgers.
We next scampered in two different directions - Jenni to go and find a disposable camera, as she'd left her digital camera at Jana's, me to go and see if I could book a DC Duck tour for the next day. Jenni was successful in her quest, but I learned that internet tickets for the tour could only be redeemed on the day, not in advance. Meh, minor problem, we'll do the tour Wednesday or Thursday depending on which day we got up early enough, we decided. So, having met up again, clutching tea in hand, we went to stand in the queue for the train at the gate. Train was due to leave at 10.30am: at 10.28am they started letting people on. See why Amtrak are not spoken of fondly?
Having got settled in to our seats, we dutifully presented our tickets to the conductor, who confirmed that we wanted the second stop. As he was punching our tickets, I could almost hear wheels turning in his head. "Say, ladies, can I ask? I've got a woman with a baby in the Quiet Carriage and I need seats for them. Would you be willing to swap?" We looked at each other and agreed that we would. It was no big deal for us, I was too busy looking at scenery to talk and Jenni was engrossed in the paper, plus we wouldn't be on the train long anyway. So we moved carriages for the conductor and he was ever so grateful. He made a point to come round just before the Penn Station stop to thank us again and remind us this was our stop. Jenni, who is the first to admit she's a bit of a nervous nellie, asked him anxiously if all the carriages stopped at the platform or if we'd have to move up a carriage or two to get out. He was highly amused, assured her we'd be fine where we were and looked at me with a smile. "She worries a lot, doesn't she?" All I could do was giggle and grin, even as Jenni warned me to answer that question really, really carefully.
This post will be finished later. The PC crashed and I lost everything I typed earlier and I don't have time to finish it now. Must go be a tourist! Check back later for the continuing adventures! :)
jenni411 and I spent the day in Baltimore. We started bright and early when we left the house at 9am, having made travel plans the night before. We were heading to Union Station where we were going to catch a train up to Baltimore. Baltimore is really close to D.C., I always forget how close, and the trip was only going to take about 40 minutes all told. Even allowing for the fact Amtrak (the national rail company) are slow and next to useless, as any American will tell you.A short scamper from Jana's house got us to the nearby Metro - I LOVE the D.C. Metro!! - and it was only two short stops to where we changed from the green line to the red and then two more stops to Union Station. It was still busy, being morning rush hour, but the journey was quick and painless. At Union Station, we needed more tea and a snack, so browsed some food stalls until Jenni found one that appealed to her. She bought tea and a muffin and I simply had to have tea and a cookie called a "snickerdoodle". I am none the wiser as to why the cookies are called that, but it was delicious! Soft and chewy in the middle, crunchy on top and tasting faintly of cinnamon. Mmmm!
After a short pause to demolish the cookie and muffin, we headed up to the main concourse of the station to claim our train tickets, which we'd booked online the previous night. It was a matter of seconds to swipe my credit card through the ticket claim machine (my credit card whimpers now whenever I use it :P) and two tickets were duly printed out. I was interested to note that the tickets had to be signed on the train and presented to the conductor along with picture ID. I have no idea if this is a new security thing or if Amtrak were always this paranoid about fare dodgers.
We next scampered in two different directions - Jenni to go and find a disposable camera, as she'd left her digital camera at Jana's, me to go and see if I could book a DC Duck tour for the next day. Jenni was successful in her quest, but I learned that internet tickets for the tour could only be redeemed on the day, not in advance. Meh, minor problem, we'll do the tour Wednesday or Thursday depending on which day we got up early enough, we decided. So, having met up again, clutching tea in hand, we went to stand in the queue for the train at the gate. Train was due to leave at 10.30am: at 10.28am they started letting people on. See why Amtrak are not spoken of fondly?
Having got settled in to our seats, we dutifully presented our tickets to the conductor, who confirmed that we wanted the second stop. As he was punching our tickets, I could almost hear wheels turning in his head. "Say, ladies, can I ask? I've got a woman with a baby in the Quiet Carriage and I need seats for them. Would you be willing to swap?" We looked at each other and agreed that we would. It was no big deal for us, I was too busy looking at scenery to talk and Jenni was engrossed in the paper, plus we wouldn't be on the train long anyway. So we moved carriages for the conductor and he was ever so grateful. He made a point to come round just before the Penn Station stop to thank us again and remind us this was our stop. Jenni, who is the first to admit she's a bit of a nervous nellie, asked him anxiously if all the carriages stopped at the platform or if we'd have to move up a carriage or two to get out. He was highly amused, assured her we'd be fine where we were and looked at me with a smile. "She worries a lot, doesn't she?" All I could do was giggle and grin, even as Jenni warned me to answer that question really, really carefully.
This post will be finished later. The PC crashed and I lost everything I typed earlier and I don't have time to finish it now. Must go be a tourist! Check back later for the continuing adventures! :)
bouncy
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