Two articles regarding mostly overseas train travel have appeared in the pages of "train hating' Wall Street Journal. Since several of us around here have had recent overseas journeys, they should prove of interest:
In the golden age of rail travel, passengers were served decadent dinners at tables set with snow-white linens, fine china and crystal stemware. "In the 1920s and 1930s, many of the best chefs in the country were working for the railroads," said James D. Porterfield, author of "Dining By Rail: The History and Recipes of America's Golden Age of Railroad Cuisine." Any contemporary Amtrak rider is wretchedly aware that's no longer the case—microwaved breakfast sandwich, anyone? Except, that is, on journeys like the one I recently took, a three-hour "dinner cruise" on a train run by Le Massif de Charlevoix, a roughly 90-mile-long railway in eastern Canada
I'm pleased to note that the article regarding the Napa Valley Wine Train has a photo of a Super Dome Car from "my" Milwaukee Road.
WHEN I WAS 15 years old, with a summer and $100 to spare, I bought an unlimited Eurail ticket, a little brown booklet that let me visit as many Western European destinations as I could manage in a month.
For many teenagers it was (and still is) a rite of passage......Last year, when I turned 50, I went online and bought myself a little present—a 10-day Eurail ticket, to remind me that I was still young enough for spontaneous travel....But I was feeling pretty awkward by the time I boarded the first train in Paris. Conspicuous. The only one over 30 without an itinerary.
Posted by yukon11 (Member # 2997) on :
I'm tempted to try the Napa Valley Wine Train, again. It looks like the prices are considerably more than they were when I went, at least 20 years ago. They now have a Vista Dome and Gourmet Express meal. I'm surprised how expensive the meals are. I also have learned the prices do not include the wine. Late Sept and Oct would be ideal times, to go, as the weather usually is sunny and mild. I only wish they would offer St. Helena to Napa, round trip, as well as Napa to St. Helena.
We encountered a trio of young US college-age bohemians rail passing without advance itinerary on our return to Munich from Salzburg in June BUT they were by far the exception.
As someone a year or two older than the writer of this article and travelling with my wife and daughter, I was far more comfortable having a 'plan'....... knowing which train I plan to take. Having reserved seats so that we would be sitting together, having reservations at acceptable hotels within three blocks of the train station where our arrival was expected..... etc. etc.
I suppose that as I become more mature that I am becoming more a subscriber to Mr. Norman's philosophy. The one that begins "The best surprise is..........."