Three Different Cities and Long Train Rides

As our trip progresses, I'm finding it harder to find time to write this blog. Since my last post we have spent time in three large but very different cities – Washington, which is full of American national pride, history and museums; New York which is just chaos & grime; and Chicago, which a clean & tidy architectural showpiece.

The Capitol from Pennsylvania Av, Washington

Coincidentally, the accommodation we had in each city characterized the cities themselves. We had a very comfortable and stylish B&B in Washington – more like an apartment, as the owner was away – from which we were able to walk or take the Metro to sights and museums. Despite rain on a couple of the days there, we were able to take a bus orientation tour, visit the Capitol and the very impressive Library of Congress and several of the many Smithsonian museums. Washington, unlike New York and Chicago, has no skyscrapers, as, we were informed, no building may be taller than the Freedom statue atop the Capitol.

The Magnificent Library of Congress, Jefferson Building, Washington

From Washington we trained it to New York, a 4 hour trip getting brief glimpses of Wilmington, Baltimore and Philadelphia on the way.

Jon at the UN General Assembly, New York

Our accommodation in New York was a shared apartment booked through AirBnB. We shared it with other visitors, the owner living elsewhere. While it was basically sound and well located (29^th St near Penn Station & not too far from Times Square), the cleanliness, and maintenance could have been better. Exactly like New York city! 

Cable Tramway beside the Queensboro (59th St) Bridge, New York

Lower Manhattan from the ferry

We spent our three day revisit to New York taking a ferry ride to Staten Island; visiting the UN headquarters; we stumbled across the cable car to Roosevelt Island next to the Queensboro (59^th St) Bridge which was quite a gem; browsed at Bloomingdales and FAO Schwarz toyshop; Jon went to the Intrepid Air & Space museum while Penny found a quilt & patchwork shop close to our apartment; and we took several rides on the Metro buses culminating in a trip up to & walk across Central Park on our final day there. It was lucky we allowed ourselves plenty of time that day, as there was a half marathon with 1000's of runners in Central Park, and a street parade of Spanish American culture, both of which added to crowds and diverted bus routes! 

Penny showing our 29th St Apartment - ground floor window!

Viewliner car on 'Lakeshore Limited' train to Chicago

We got back to our apartment, collected our luggage and trundled it up to Penn Station to claim our berth on the 'Viewliner' single deck sleeper on the Lakeshore Limited overnight train past a succession of huge bridges over the Hudson River, though Albany, Syracuse, Buffalo, Cleveland to Chicago.

On arrival in Chicago we took a short taxi ride to the hotel that I had booked on hotels.com – The Buckingham Athletic Club: it was medium priced and fairly centrally located, so we really didn't know what to expect. It turned out to be a gem! Four star quality, on the 40^th floor in a very modern building overlooking the very neat, architecturally marvellous downtown Chicago. Our stay in Chicago was planned mainly for us to link up with the train across to San Francisco, and we had not really done any preparation on what to expect or what to see or do there, so we wandered around a bit at first, and stumbled on a booth selling tickets to the local hop-on-off bus tour, of which we partook. 

From our hotel room, Chicago, north toward Lake Michigan

The Willis Tower (R) - 110 Storeys, tallest in N America

There are SO many magnificent buildings in Chicago. We did the obligatory tourist thing and went to the 103^rd floor of the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower, highest building in North America – they've got to have a superlative!), and walked along beside the Chicago River, the flow of which was reversed years ago (by building a canal to the Mississippi R system) to reduce the pollution of Lake Michigan. The one anomaly in the neatness and cleanliness of Chicago is the 'Loop' – an overhead railway system that runs in a rectangular circuit directly above some of the city streets. Built in the 1890s, supported by rusting riveted steel columns and beams, served by narrow stairways and wooden platforms, the system runs what seems to be a fairly efficient service using trains of short stainless steel cars. It just looks so out of place in an otherwise modern and tidy city!

More Chicago buildings and sculpture

Looking down on Chicago - the Loop train running above the city streets

So after only two nights in Chicago, it was back to Union Station for the 2pm California Zephyr train to San Francisco. Unfortunately, due to a faulty dining car, the 2pm departure stretched out to 5.50pm. The train is made up of some double deck coach cars, very comfortable double deck 'Superliner' sleeping cars (though not as spacious as the 'Viewliner' cars from New York), and dining and observation cars (also both double deck). So we eventually settled into our tiny top deck roomette for the 2 night 2 day trip. The meals have been excellent, and it has also been interesting conversing with other passengers and hearing the variety of accents and idiom.

I am writing this post off line on the train near the Nebraska/Colorado border – the train is now 5 hours late, and running at a slow speed due to high winds. So we might get an even longer ride than 50 hours planned! We crossed the Mississippi River late last night – missed seeing it in daylight due to late running, but we saw in anyway – and have passed some interesting and pretty farming country this morning. Out the window are huge cattle feed lots, silos, and a background of dust, blown up by the strong (and cold when I hopped out last stop) wind.

As the day has moved on, we have now crossed the continental divide west of Denver. Great views, and now 7 hours behind the timetable.

When you read this it will be an indication that we finally made it to San Francisco, as we do not have internet access on the train.

Count of US States visited: 27 

... and we made it to SF! 54 hours on the train, arrived 5 hours late. But all OK.