Amtrak Cascades to Vancouver

Siracusa, Friday 11/02/11: We happily recommend taking the Amtrak Cascades train to travel to and from Seattle-Vancouver BC (always adding the BC to Vancouver, to signify the one in the Canadian province of British Columbia, there also being a Vancouver in the State of Washington USA, south of Seattle. 

We had come south on Amtrak, but at a time when the route was served by bus rather than rail, not quite as pleasant. We were on the Cascades to go north. It's nice to be able to move around on the train. And nice to go sit in the buffet car for morning coffee. 

I reported in the last entry that the sun shone. Only briefly. Nevertheless there was a dark spectral beauty outside the windows, of country houses on damp ground in this top corner of the USA, of water coming almost to the track, of the infrastructure of arrival in Vancouver. Let photos tell the story.

on board Amtrak Cascades

Very brief note!

It is 7.50am and we have left Seattle on time at 7.40 on the Amtrak Cascades. After overcast days without distant view we have a clear sky to travel north to Vancouver, four hours. Very comfortable. With 'coach' class coming south on the bus and business class going north, a total of $US140 for two, round trip Vancouver-Seattle.

So we have, as expected, water to our left and mountains (when we emerge from hills of housing) to the right. But the unexpected is that across the sound on our left we see snow capped pointy mountains on the land strip between Salish Sea (which everyone speaks of as 'the sound') and the Pacific.

Now to put down the computer and look outside, listening to Helen's morning Italian language class: "No non e qui," "Si, e qui."  "No, non c'e" Si, c'e." eccetera eccetera.

We had a great time with Liz and Mike, including abundant relaxation and delighted entertainment, watching season 1 of Pushing Up Daisies and the Czech surrealist icon Lemonade Joe (when not dozing, that is). 224 Pontius Ave North is in a delightful area, surrounded by places to walk day and night, eateries of different kinds. Across the road from the apartment building is the astounding 'flagship' store of REI, with its great rock climbing walls, its waterfalls, its tracks for trying boots or bikes. Some pics of this and other bits of Seattle at Mike Murphy's postcards.

Tips for arriving Seattle via Vancouver

We arrived in Seattle via Vancouver on Thursday. A very pleasant way to arrive from Sydney, with departure at 12.15pm and arrival 07.40am the same calendar day. A 777 aircraft (Air Canada) smaller than most going to LA etc, seat pattern 3+3+3 so easy to get out (and we had a middle three to ourselves). A single flight leg of 14 hours.

We had done some research in advance on how to get the 200km from Vancouver airport to Seattle but information seemed elusive though no difficulty finding it today, of course! At one point we booked, then unbooked, a car rental for the weekend. We made the right decision. It was wet and messy with traffic on the roads coming south. We booked with Amtrak, coach south, Amtrak Cascades going back north tomorrow. At the airport when we asked where we should take the metro train to to catch Amtrak this seemed a puzzling question for an information lady, who pointed out that coaches run direct from Vancouver airport to Seattle, a shorter distance than from Vancouver to Seattle. We would not have needed to book. Nonetheless, we would not have seen anything of Vancouver had we done that and though in the rain we did not see all that much Thursday, we hope to have a good first view of the city tomorrow.

THE PLAN!

We plan to go to Italy from Australia, via Vancouver and Seattle, a natural thing to plan when you have family in Seattle. And surprisingly the flights to and from  Rome via Vancouver are only marginally longer  in total than more conventional routes via Asia and perhaps London. The stop in north America will break travel all into comfortable legs. From Vancouver to Seattle we use ferry or train or Amtrak coach (three or four hours). The customs and immigration processes are said to be considerably less hectic than travelling via LA.

We will be away from home 3 February to 16 April 2011.

Arriving Rome 8 February, we depart next day by train (all day, the train crosses the straits of Messina at lunchtime) for Siracusa in Sicily. Go south for warmth in February, be back in Rome for spring! Two week-long bookings are in place in Sicily, another three day booking to come. Then by ferry overnight from Palermo to Naples. After a week in Naples (who was it who said "see Naples and die"..? Aha, here is the interesting answer) we take the short train trip to Rome where we will be based from 6 March to 7 April. Some lovely places to stay at quite reasonable prices for holiday rentals... four and a half weeks in a romantic hideaway right in the centre of Rome, tre passi dalla Piazza Navona  ---- around $2000 Australian. Suddenly, writing 'tre passi" [three steps] I am reminded of my stunned youthfulness, or youthful stunnedness, 42 years ago, first weeks in Rome, going to see Tre Passi Nel Delirio with very little Italian.

After this first entry we will try to write in Italian first...

Andiamo in Italia provenienti dall Australia, passando Vancouver e Seattle, e be - una cosa naturale  quando si ha famiglia a Seattle. E scopriamo che i voli da e per Roma via Vancouver sono solo marginalmente pui lunghi delle rotte convenzionali attraverso l'Asia. Fermarci in Nord America e confortevole. Da Vancouver a Seattle usiamo traghetto o in treno o in pullman Amtrak (tre o quattro ore). I processi di immigrazione e doganali sono detto di essere molto meno frenetico rispetto al viaggio via Los Angeles.

Saremo fuori da casa 3 febbraio - 16 Aprile 2011.

Arriviamo a Roma 8 febbraio. Il giorno dopo partiamo con il treno (tutto il giorno, il treno attraversa lo stretto di Messina a mezzogiorno) per Siracusa in Sicilia. Andiama al sud per il calore nel mese di febbraio, torniamo a Roma per la primavera! Abbiamo due prenotazioni di una settimana in atto in Sicilia, cerciamo un posto per un altro tre giorni. Poi un notte in traghetto da Palermo a Napoli. Dopo una settimana a Napoli (chi ha detto "vedi Napoli e muori "..?  Aou, ecco l'informazione - interressante) prendiamo il breve viaggio in treno a Roma, dove saremo dal 6 marzo al 7 aprile. Bel posti a prezzi abbastanza ragionevoli per affitti vacanze ... quattro settimane e mezzo in un rifugio romantico proprio nel centro di Roma, tre passi dalla Piazza Navona ---- circa 2.000 dollari australiani. Improvvisamente, la scrittura 'tre passi' mi viene in mente la mia gioventù della stordito, o 'sturditamente' giovane, 42 anni fa, settimane prima a Roma, andare a vedere Tre Passi nel Delirio con molto poco italiano.

...E dopo questo primo post di blog, proveremo scrivere per prima in Italiano.