On Wed, 16 Aug 2006 14:03:50 -0700, Hatunen wrote:
>
>If you're accustomed to riding trains in Europe you will probably
>become quite frustrated riding AMTRAK.
My wife and I took two train vacations in Europe, using Eurailpasses
and booking trains as we went along. It was a lot of fun and I
recommend it but there was some variability in the service. In
Switzerland you'd better have your hind quarters on the train by the
posted departure time; they are relentlessly punctual.
In Italy we found quite a bit more um, *elasticity* in the schedule.
We also found a strong entrepreneurial spirit among the porters on the
Italian trains. Liquor and food were stocked in the porter's room and
available for sale. So was a transfer to one of the many compartments
curiously left empty while all the occupied ones were at maximum
capacity. I guess if they had distributed the passengers more evenly
to begin with there would be fewer business opportunities for the
staff.
My favorite bit of unoffical commerce was when the porter on a
Hungarian train offered us a "l a n g u a g e" sandwich, rolling the
"L" with his tongue stuck out as he said the word. That was a clue to
the proper translation of the sandwich: Tongue. We opted for the
dining car instead. A truly excellent meal, unless you don't like
paprika. There was paprika in the meat, the potatoes and the salad.
None in the drinks, as far as I could tell.
I've been on Amtrak on the East Coast a number of times. Not quite on
time, but no disasters.
Greg Guarino |