Text 8772, 84 rader
Skriven 2008-06-12 14:29:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: trip to washington 446
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Had to hie me down to Washington to do some stuff ...

2V2253 BOS WAS 1110 1750 quiet car

I'd say that the business-class experience on Acela is
quite a bit inferior to that on any airline I've been on;
the seats are 2-2, not particularly wide (though not
uncomfortable), not particularly clean, fairly ratty.
Service is nonexistent. The restrooms are pretty clean,
though. The no-cell-phone edict was not enforced, so the
car wasn't all that quiet.

= 

As it was his turn to pay for dinner, I told my brother
that I would settle for a modest place. He chose, based on
the Washingtonian reviews, an Ethiopian place near U St.
called Etete. It's much more comfortable and sightly than
most such - it's defining itself as an upscale neighborhood
bar as well as an ethnic eatery. Appears to be doing well
as both. Warning: the Ethiopian beers cost twice as much
here as the American and European ones.

We started with samosas of lentil, pretty much what you'd
expect, followed by mains, which are served on a tray of
injera (very floppy, very sour) along with salad and
stewed collards. My brother's choice was "yebeg alicha:
seasoned and marinated strips of lamb sauteed with onion,
garlic, and jalapeno"; mine was "gored gored: chunks of raw
fresh beef seasoned with special butter, mitmita, pepper."
What came: a gristly mess of beef trimmings instead of the
lamb; my brother didn't complain, merely noting that the
meat didn't taste like lamb but wolfing it down anyway. I
guess that it must have been better than his own cooking.
Mine was a was a half pound or more of raw beef cubes (I
wonder if the trimmings were off my meal) tossed with a
sour marinade, cumin, coriander, and lots of red chile
powder. It was terrific. Maybe they sized us up and figured
that I was paying. In any case, I enjoyed myself, and my
brother seemed to tolerate his. Had mercy on the kid and
had just a couple $3.50 Guinnesses and no wine or dessert.

And back again, jiggety jig -

2V0066 WAS BOS 2200 0752 biz

There are advantages to going in biz on the regular
trains, though. Early boarding feels good but is not a
substantive advantage. The main benefit is there is
all the carryon space you can reasonably use, and the
cabin (in this case, as with many trains, the front
half of the cafe car) doesn't feel crowded like, well, an
economy cabin. On this train, the seat was reasonably
comfy but very antiquated: there used to be a regular
coach car back in my day where they put all the through
passengers from Washington to Boston - it had pretty
much the same level of recline and legroom (though was
2-2 rather than 2-1) as this train, and it had been
available without a premium. On this train I sat in the
first row on the 1 side, which had a lot more legroom
than the others but no folding table, so that sleep was
the only viable option - it would have been difficult to
work. I slept reasonably. Despite being somewhat delayed at
New Haven where they still do the changing from electric to
Diesel routine, we came in within a couple minutes of
schedule. The car was half full leaving Washington but
filled up at New York. The offerings of the cafe car
looked wretched. The rest room, at the rear of the cafe,
which we shared with the plebs, was a wet and sorry mess.
And there I discovered a leak in my shoe sole. Yecch.

Took the subway from South Station at rush hour. Not a
pleasant experience, though it was less horrendous than
I recalled and feared. Having gotten a good night's sleep
probably helped.

Ran some errands (getting an iGo at the Radio Shack to
replace the Targus thing that died spectacularly about
15 minutes after it went off full warranty) and then there
was time for lunch before reunion registration opened. 

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