Just a bit more about the train journey, (from Alan). The roomettes on The Zephyr are a little cramped and the on-board staff acknowledge they do not meet the standards of the old prestige train of that name. Getting into the top bunk was a bit of an art! Trying to sleep exposed some of the shortcomings of passenger train travel in the USA. Amtrak runs over the lines of various private railroads (which carry only freight) so the quality of the track (and thus the ride of the passenger cars) is highly variable to say the least. If you do drop off to sleep a bad rail joint or junction hit at 80 mph will soon have you awake! So, I was pretty tired when I started to admire the pleasant Iowa countryside after a reasonably okay breakfast. This bit of the US is surprisingly like England. There are two parallel tracks for much of the way over the Burlington Northern Sante Fe for much of the route from Denver to Chicago, but a bit of study revealed another bit of craziness. They seem to be operated as two independent bi-directional single lines, one mainly for passenger and one mainly for freight, and with a pretty sparse service on both. Now just how wasteful is that? Once we got to the huge Union Station in Chicago with its cramped, exhaust-fume filled, concrete-roofed platforms it could be appreciated what a state of the art-user friendly place Birmingham New Street station really is! By contrast the nineteen-twenties classical concourse area at Chicago Station is a period gem which has been used in a number of feature films. The Untouchables being the most memorable.
Monday 17th September 2012, Chicago, Illinois , USA. Bad, bad bad nights sleep in the Mile North Hotel room 306. Not good at all when we have train sleeper experience either side of this Hotel. We really needed a good night sleep. The problem is, whilst most of the party were put way upstairs on 14th or 15th storey we were on the third and right outside the window were the air conditioning turbines. They were going all night. It was so loud.
Today we are going to queue up to get the boat ride up the Chicago river into the Michigan Lake and back. Alan says it is one of the Great Lakes which were formed partly by an enormous meteor collision in combination with later continental uplift and glaciation. Maureen our guide last night said it is 118 miles across the lake. Obviously, our boat will not take us that far, but we will be in the open on a different mode of travel (thank goodness).
We will walk from the Hotel as we are right in the heart of Chicago, up a few blocks from the river and will pass lots of the sights we passed last night on the quick coach tour.
Here we go again, Tuesday, 18th September 2012. Another overnight on the train. The sleeper was a little better, wider with a loo and sink. I got up 5.18 am went all the way through the dining car to find a general population loo, which stank by the way. I think someone missed in the night. Then I came back through the dining car to the end of our carriage to the shower. The shower had no hot water, perhaps it was too early - the attendant was still in her pit. Anyway, can't wait as I would rather get done whilst few people are about. The night before last I got up at 5.15 am on the Denver/Chicago overnight so today I got a 3 minute lay-in. Breakfast is at 6.30 so I am ready. Much later James, Beth's Husband, showed me where a spare loo was in our own sleeper compartment: hence did not have the hike through the dining car any more!
We get off the train at 9 am at Buffalo, NY state, then board a coach to the Sheridan at the falls Hotel, NY. We only get the rest of the day, one night and morning of the 19th to see Niagaria Falls then we will be on the last leg of our journey, which is 3 nights stay in New York. Pam booked us on the 6pm Ground Zero tour so we will meet them and have dinner with them afterwards. For the moment I am looking forward to seeing Niagaria.
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