First Amtrak ride. (I'm at Penn Station.) I think I'm a fan.
The Deleware River at Penn's Landing. I thought of George Washington crossing it, though I don't know where he did it-pretty sure it wasn't in Philly--and am too lazy to look it up.
Saw NPS historic sights like the Liberty Bell. Most sights were a bit anti-climactic (the bell is a bell with hundreds of tourists gathered around it), and I'm sick of Ben Franklin. The stuff I found in the archives was way more fun. Still, the historian in me is glad I saw them. 
Amtrak can't compete with Russian trains!!
ReplyDeleteAwesome! Just awesome. I agreed with Ms. Golina up there, you just can't compete with sweaty Russian men and smoke. You just can't. Don't you miss it?
ReplyDeleteHahaha! Let's talk Amtrak v. Russian trains.
ReplyDeleteAmtrak: 1) clean, 2) roomy--as in 2x as much room as a seat on an airplane, 3)use a pretty blue color scheme, 4) affordable, 5) ALWAYS LATE-not a good choice for a cross-country trip if you need to get somewhere quickly but not bad for city-to-city travel on the east coast. (It beats trying to find and pay for parking.)
Russian trains: 1) I only travelled in sleeper cars, so I can't compare with #2. They're brownish and oldish. They are also affordable. There are more of them, so I am going to guess they're more reliable. BUT, YES, they have smelly Russian men and smell like cigarettes. Ugh! Of course, trains are better than the bus! I think some of my most traumatic experiences in Nizhni occurred when my face was crushed into the armpit of an unwashed Russian man. I always wondered if they could smell themselves as well as I could smell them. How did they keep from gagging? It took a lot of control (and holding my breath) to keep from vomiting some days.
On a side note, in the summer Philadelphia's metro/train stations are dirtier and sketchier than Russian metro/train stations are in the winter. They smell just as bad. I had to explain to someone that really, this is as bad as it gets and they shouldn't swear off all metros. Public transportation is a good thing most of the time!