The Long Ride Home

You can try to shelter yourself from travel’s inconveniences but you’re never completely successful.  We’re used to negotiating travel’s mine fields (sometimes literally.)  We’ve done winding dusty mountain roads in third world busses, train rides with goats and chickens, and … Continue reading The Long Ride Home

St. Croix River Soo Line High Bridge

I love the iron and steel constructs built between the American Civil War and the First World War. Many were built by the railroads, the wonder train sheds of Europe. But the US has its share of railway architecture. The St. Croix River Soo Line High Bridge is a magical construct of steel latticework. I never tire of taking a boat down to the bridge just to marvel at how, more than a century ago (in 1909) folks made such a wonderful and beautiful structure.  I love how delicate the lacework pattern of iron and steel can look. Make sure … Continue reading St. Croix River Soo Line High Bridge

Take the Train from Casablanca going south. (The Marrakesh Express)

I’ve never heard a train song I didn’t want to ride.  I’ve ridden the Rock Island Line and the City of New Orleans.  Some songs I can never ride.  The Super Chief and Phoebe Snow are 30 years gone.  But you can still “take the train from Casablanca going south.”   We rode the Marrakesh Express.  The song is more about anticipation than the ride, but the ride, while crowded, is worth it.  You clickety clack from the coastal flats through rolling hills and dessert.  There are settlements of brown adobe brick, circled by a wall, looking like they grew out … Continue reading Take the Train from Casablanca going south. (The Marrakesh Express)

Railjet, Austria’s High Speed Train.

Railjet is Austria’s high speed train.  While not as fast as Germany’s ICE (Suzi’s train from Brussels to Munich topped out at 275) or France’s TGV, we clocked a respectable 232 km per hour  (144 MPH) on the route between Munich and Vienna.  The train is comfortable with wi-fi (I took a picture when the speedometer tipped 200 and sent it out on FaceBook), a dining car, a cart that brings food to you and nice seats.  Taking pictures out of the windows at the alpine meadows at that speed was a challenge for my camera.  You don’t really feel … Continue reading Railjet, Austria’s High Speed Train.