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The bus journey went fine with no hitches and we arrived into Washington bout 9ish, we sorted ourselves with a drywash n teef brush then put our bags into storage for a few hours($33)(ouch!) we were gonna go straight on a tour round the sites, but after trying to get cash out on our card and firstly it not paying out, followed by a angry call to the company them reinstating it for it to work, then another call to them to sort the Internet banking out (as it costs $3 to check your account at an ATM!!?) after 45mins of calls and Jen n I gettin irate with their bulls*** replies we spoke to manager who convinced us she knew what she was doing so we left it there.. Anyway, as this lasted about 45mins, it greatly reduced the small amount of time we had in DC anyway, so after leaving the station we found a bike rental place, that an Amtrak info fella advised us about, an rented 2 bikes to whiz about on. The sites are really easy in DC as its all along one long stretch of open ground with paths on it, so we scooted ourselves along ringing the tinkle bell to get the strolling tourists out our way, such fun!! We stopped at Capitol hill then Washington monument then Barry Obamas place and onto the Lincoln memorial and the reflecting pool, this was extra special for two reasons firstly its where Martin Luther King gave his iconic speech (only 49years ago to the day, no less!!?) and secondly where Jinny ran across the pool to Forrest!!!;-)... Once all photos were taken we speeded our way back to the station racing with all the runners who were obviously secret agents or sumthin keepin trim for their boss Bazza! We made it back in plenty in time, thank god its flat! And got ready to board the o/nite train to Chicago. We checked in with no worries and got to our seats and loved them, the leg room was ace as could both fully stretch out and the seats were like first class on a plane width..so once we were sorted we secured our stuff and went on a wander to the 'viewing car' which is more like a greenhouse on wheels so you can look at all the scenery, not that there was much, just lots of untouched woodland and a few rivers, apparently it's the most historic piece of railway in the US, which is interesting if your American or a train buff, we're neither so it was just bits of forest with a few rivers for us!! We ate a quick freeze dried camping dinner we had bought in Boston and then made our way back to our seats to get sorted for sleeping, as soon as the sun had set, our lights were out too. We woke what we thought was 7am but as the nattering wimmin in front of us noisily commented on, it was infact 6am as the clocks had gone back an hour somewhere along the way!! So we sucked it up and sat n snoozed for a bit longer ready to get off the train at about 10 local time. We got off the train and out the station into the sprawling metropolis of Chicago. We wandered along a little bit and came to the Sears tower (now called 'willis tower' due to some commercial wisdom....a.k.a b.s!!) then wandered a bit further into the city took a few piccies of obvious Chicago sights like the subways running above the city (guess they can't be called 'sub' ways if they go above eh??, answers to that one on a postcard pls?) then onto the shoreline, it was quite amazing to see a lake so big that passes as a sea, so few more pics before we wandered back to the station, stopping off at a cafe to get some classic 'Chicago Deep pan pizza' and back onto the new train called the Southwest Chief to take us on a 47hr trip thru the mid west to Los Angeles which is where I am now with Jen already snoozing on my shoulder, so for now it's goodbye from me and......Choo Choo!!!
- comments
Mum I cringe every time you two say you have to catch a coach or train, i hold my breath and then let it out in a whoosh when you say you have boarded. Remember i know you two!!!! The greenhouse on wheels sounds interesting, if they had those here, the kids would be throwing bricks at it. XXX