Don't You Wish This Was The Chunnel Train From London to Paris?

Kinder don't you think.
Although I rarely get to ride in the luxury that is the acela.

The title of the the blog is an advertisement that is on the train from Atlantic City to Philadelphia. (I take a New Jersey transit train from Atlantic City to Philadelphia and then get on the much nicer Amtrak train from there to DC.) The adds must be in every car, and they have been posted for the last few years. I see them every time I am leaving the shore and every time I think "yes thanks for rubbing it in jerk." It has to be the last thing that you would like to see as you are leaving your vacation for the real world. I don't know what the add is for, probably an airline or a travel agent or some other similar service or maybe it is some wealthy Parisian sadist's way of getting her jollies. I think that the Amtrak adds are much more civilized, they make me want to get on a train, instead of just wishing I never had to get up for school again.

Because I couldn't find a picture of the coffee counter
 here is the scene from Marnie

I am home safe and sound and ready for another week. It is hard to face reality again, but as transitions into it go I can't think of a better way than Amtrak. I love taking the train, something most Americans don't understand. (Even with the kid kicking the back of my seat and the depressing advertisements both courtesy of New Jersey transit.) Maybe it has something to do with being from a "railroad family" both my grandfather and great-grandfather were railroad men, and I think there are days my dad wishes he had taken up the family occupation. Train travel is so calming and civilized, I don't have to take off my shoes or disply the contents of my bag. I can get up and walk around, there is WiFi on  the trains and places to plug in your computer. Even when we get stalled, which is not uncommon, I don't mind all that much. And I love it when my travel takes me to beautiful old stations, Union Station and Penn station are some of my favorites although the old station in California my great-grandmother used to commute out of holds a special place in my heart. How many people can say they are the fourth generation to get a cup of coffee a counter? (Plus it was in Hitchcock's Marnie doubling as the Hartford Connecticut.)  I will gladly take a train over flying or driving (at least if I am the driver.)