Penn Station, a sea of passengers

Tags

Amtrak, postaday2013, trains, travel, voyage

It is 6:43 pm Friday evening and we have just pulled out of Penn Station. We’ll be arriving at Springfield at 10:10 pm where my dear hubby will be waiting for us to take us back home to Blandford. I had a very nice time, I got my haircut, the grey’s were miraculously washed away in their sink at Space Salon, they must have special water at Space because every time I go there, I emerge a refreshed brunette. Funny how that happens.

The baby girl and I had lunch after our hair appointments; she wanted to try the infamous Gyro at Pizza Palace, a gyro is a greek specialty, a sandwich in a pita bread with grilled meat that has been made into a type of meatloaf with several spices and herbs and put on a rotisserie and then sliced off, lettuce, tomato, onions and tsaziki sauce, a cucumber, Greek yogurt, dill and garlic sauce all in the pita bread. She ate the whole thing and loved every single bite. I got myself a souvlaki sandwich with everything on it as well. I can tell you that there are few things that I like more than at the end of the pita bread where the juices from the pork combine with the tsaziki sauce and it becomes a creamy, spicy meaty sauce that impregnates the meat and the bread into the tastiest morsel of food. It is to die for delicious. After that we went off into the city and did a little bit of shopping. We went back to my mother’s to spend some time with her before taking the train back home. My mother answered some more questions that I had about the subject of my book, my great, great aunt and then before we knew it, it was time to say good-bye. I do have to say that as far as visits go, this one was quite fruitful, we got to spend time with our family, had good food, got beautified and saw some of the city. All in just two days, fast and efficient, just as I like it.

Back on Amtrak

Tags

high speed rail, Penn Station, postaday2013, slow trains, train travel, trains

The baby girl and I are on a train heading south to New York to spend a couple of days with Mamie, my mother, and my sister, Tatie. Since the baby girl has her spring break this week, I figured why not take a few days to head into the city, albeit the city is 3 hours away. One of the years perhaps we will see Amtrak putting in a high speed rail line between Springfield Massachusetts and New York City but for now it takes a solid 3 hours to get from Springfield to New York City. It is a comfortable ride with a dining car available for hot or cold beverages and a limited selection of sandwiches and salads. So we can’t complain, it is infinitely better than the bus in my estimation, Amtrak offers free Wi-Fi which I am not sure that the bus offers and the restrooms are much cleaner on the train.

By way of scenery there isn’t much to see because we are still in the throes of winter so the trees are naked and whatever greenery there might have been, has all turned brown or is still covered with some snow. I still took a picture or two to give you the general idea of our adventure down to the big city.

The final leg of my French journey

Tags

family, pictures, postaday2012, tourism, trains, travel

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Actually this wasn’t the last train ride for the baby girl and I, this train ride was the one bringing us to the last stop at a relative’s house. We left Avignon and headed out to Sainte-Etienne to stay with my cousin Vincent, the doctor, and his lovely wife, Veronique and their children. We were invited to celebrate my Tonton and Tantine’s fiftieth wedding anniversary and we also got to see my cousin, Anne who is Vincent’s little sister, and Frederique and their nine children. The baby girl and I really loved looking around the table, seeing all these relatives speaking over and amongst each other, laughing despite huge age disparities and being included within all the loving chaos. Makes you feel real good and happy.

 

The train ride was also eye opening, I had to capture the terraced fields of crops and vineyards, I had seen it before with vegetable and flower gardens but I had never seen it done with vineyards. I thought that aside from being brilliant in terms of efficient cultivation, it is beautiful as well. One thing that I have found to be true of all of my train rides, the French countryside is incredibly beautiful; from sunflower fields that extend for kilometers to olive tree groves and lavender fields and kilometers of vineyards. I know that here in the States and in every country in the world there are gorgeous countrysides and I am reminded with every picture that these are our gifts and it should be our duty to try to watch over our beautiful bounty.

A word on my hematoma, it took three weeks for it to heal, that is how bad I banged my leg against the side of a boulder, all in the efforts to climb up higher to get a view of the magnificent countryside that is shown in quite a few pictures. Thank goodness my cousin, the doctor, who has a gorgeous office by the way, was on hand to treat my wound. He took excellent care of me as did Veronique, she grabbed a huge steak out of the freezer that did wonders in reducing the swelling. The things we do in the name of sightseeing, lol.

 

The dried sausage was included in the photo fest because it is not every day that you see a homemade six foot long piece of dried sausage made in honor of a fiftieth wedding anniversary and my cousin who was showing it off for pictures is a cutie as is young Kristen, one of my younger cousins from Anne and Frederique. The whole celebration was a hit, good food, great company and a flurry of young hands to help serve and clear all the merriment.

It saddens me to think that these are the last photos that I will be showing you of my trip to France but there you have it. My 2012 trip to France, the one that lasted 36 days, the one where I dragged my daughter through old streets, ancient ruins, train station and bed and breakfasts. I loved this trip and I loved writing about it.

Arles

Tags

Arles, France, postaday2012, trains, travel

We arrived in Arles yesterday at 16:30 and got to the bed and breakfast around 17:00. It took awhile because I called a taxi, the days of my backpacking and walking forever burdened with a bag are over. I physically, simply can’t do it. It annoys me that I don’t have it in me to travel as I used to but what can I do? Next time I’ll know to bring someone really strong like my hubby, lol. Whom I miss terribly, by the way, it has been almost thirty days that we have been apart and I miss him. He knows because I have been sending him little love notes almost on a daily basis. I have also been taking mental notes of places and restaurants worthy of a return so that next year when it is he and I traveling together, we have a ton of things to see, do and eat.

This morning I woke up early to go back to the Gare d’Arles to pick up the additional train tickets that I had reserved online for Avignon and Lyons. The walk wasn’t bad at all, I didn’t have a bag weighing me down, and walking by myself, I made excellent time, I also took quite a few pictures along the way. Arles is small and stockpiled with Roman ruins and other monuments. Today’s plan is to walk aimlessly down the tiny streets because no matter where you go, you are bound to walk into something ancient. The Roman Forum and the Amphitheater are the two stops on top of the list and then there is the Van Gogh exposition, there is the Rhone river to walk along and there a quite a few cathedrals and churches to visit as well.

This is our last week in France, so the baby girl and I are making sure to eat all the things that we can’t have in the States such as the fresh ham and butter sandwich on a French baguette and Fromage Blanc with sugar. These two food items probably don’t sound impressive but trust me in that they are so good, so good that when you go home you go through a period of morning because your taste buds know that they will be deprived of the exquisite flavor and texture for an obscene amount of time. I am serious. It is too good.

The bed and breakfast is interesting, our room is in a type of loft. The shower is nice, the bed creaked a bit and we were assaulted by Mosquitos but all in all I slept really deeply, I was dead tired last night, so was the baby girl. The breakfast was lovely, the baby girl and I almost ate the entire baguette to ourselves and we had watermelon and peaches.

It is now time for sightseeing. Off to see the ruins.