Day 5

Day 5 - Los Angeles, California. 

I had to set my alarm. But, I'm on vacation. Most people on vacation don't set their alarms. If I don't set my alarm, though, I'll miss my train.

Yes, that's right, my train. I've just ridden 3,412 miles by rail to arrive at the City of Angels and I am getting back on another train, for a three-hour ride... to San Diego. It's the Pacific Surfliner and there are several reasons I want to ride it:

First) It's cool. It runs right next to the ocean for quite a long time, sometimes right on the beach;

2) Riding this will make my trip coast-to-coast-almost*; and

C) I don't really care for Los Angeles. Sorry to all you Angelinos who may take offense to this but it's just really big and really loud and you can't walk anywhere from anywhere else and did I mention it's loud? Well it is. I live in the country. I don't hear traffic or sirens or helicopters like, ever.

So, before I digress and forget to explain,  I put 'coast-to-coast-almost' because while Wilmington, DE and Baltimore, MD ARE seaports on the east coast and I originated this trip in Philadelphia, PA and passed through both of these cities and now I'll be riding the Pacific Surfliner with the Pacific Ocean literally lapping at the wheels of the train. So, if you accept Baltimore and Wilmington as coastal cities, then I've traversed the continent. Funny, I don't feel any different.

A little fuzzier than normal thanks to my now really hairy face, but none the worse for wear.

So the only logical thing to do with your only full day in a far away city after taking four days to get their by train, is to ride another train. So off to Union Station at 8:30 am for a 9:55 am train. I figured I'd eat breakfast in the Metropolitan Lounge since I am in business class and there will be coffee and muffins available there. I took my time getting to the Lounge because I thought I had plenty of time. 
I walked in, showed the attendant my ticket and he points to the door and tells me to run after that Red Cap who will take me right to my train, which is boarding. Well, at least there will be coffee and muffins on the train.

The train is not boarding. The train is nowhere near the station. But at least I am at the platform and I got to watch the crew review their paperwork. It's amazing the details that they know well in advance on these trips.  I'm not sure I was supposed to be able to watch this, but at least I didn't try to record it or anything so they just let me be. Afterward the conductor explained how the whole crew communicates together so that each knows where the other is, and they are all at their positions at the right times.

Business class guarantees you a seat in the business class car. It does NOT guarantee a good seat in that car. Upon boarding I of course found that all of the forward facing window seats on the right side of the train were taken. I did manage to find a rear-facing seat on the right side so I settled for that. You can't tell from my videos or pictures and I am not going to go so far as to claim that sitting backwards makes me nauseated or anything like that, but given my choice I will always sit facing forward first. 

Right after San Juan Capestrano, where the swallows no longer come to roost, the train takes a southward curve and comes right up alongside the ocean. There are houses and parking lots and stuff in the way at first but then it clears up and there's the Pacific Ocean. Right there. The last time I saw the Pacific Ocean in person was in 1983. 

Now, according to Wikipedia, in 2009 the swallows failed to return to roost at the Mission at San Juan Capestrano, as they had done for most of human memory. The article says that taller structures constructed north of the town were more suitable to the swallows than the smaller mission building there and so the town lost it's claim to fame and most likely some serious tourist money as well.

Before long you roll into San Clemente Pier station with the famous pier and the beach literally 15 feet from the train. After about an hour and a half of amazing coastal scenery with some mountainous terrain thrown in and a few coastal marshlands for added flavor and I am deposited at Old Town San Diego.  I've been told this is an interesting place to kill a few hours before my return trip at 4:30 pm. 

I have to say it held my attention. It had a lot of interesting plants for landscaping and the shops were in the style of a pueblo, surrounding an estate of the Estudillo family, accent on every syllable as the tour guide told me. I wandered aimlessly and purchased frivolous things like some hand made glass marbles and a few trinkets for souvenirs and more Jelly-Belly jelly beans that I really need. I had lunch in an open-air restaurant Casa de Reyes, or House of Kings for the Spanish-Impaired. I have to say I've never had a salad that had both mussels and avocado in it, but it was tasty.  I wandered around outside of the Old Town area for a while and headed back to the train platform with about 15 minutes to spare.  

For some reason, on the return trip to Los Angeles we got a snack pack and a choice of beverage, including wine. We got squat on the San Diego bound trip. Maybe they gave it out already before the train got to my boarding station. Oh well. This would not be the last time that Amtrak did not provide me with food that my ticket purchase included. More on that later. 

An absolutely uneventful return trip... my seat mate was an Asian gentlemen who either could not or would not communicate with me and he detrained before San Clemente Pier so I got a forward facing window seat for at least much of the ride. It doesn't take much to make me happy.

For dinner I really didn't want anything heavy so I took my friend Chuck's advice and tried Phillippe, about 1 block from The Metro Plaza. They claim to have invented the French Dipped sandwich. I've never heard of a French Dipped sandwich so I didn't really know what to expect.  It was a sandwich. Dipped in gravy. So, basically, a wet sandwich. It was good, I mean, I didn't gag on it or anything, but it was still just basically a wet sandwich. So far my two dinners in Los Angeles have been raw fish and a wet sandwich.  I can't wait to get back on the train and have my Amtrak Signature Steak again. 

But, will that ever happen?  To find out you'll just have to keep reading my blog.

It's been a long day so I did some blogging, reviewed my videos and pics from the day, and called it a night. Tomorrow I have a whole day to kill at Union Station.

Continued on Day 6