A View from the Train

As I continue to kick items off my bucket list in terms of trains traveled (and some spotted) on this planet, and not so much the destination visited I thought I'd start listing them in some order more to serve as a documentary for me since I have begun to realize that the hard disc upstairs is getting full and might throw an unexpected error one of these days.

So hopefully in chronological order of where I've been are some views of this planet shot at varying velocity through clear or murky glass and at times without. Some above ground, some under, some at sea level and some much higher, some in scorching and humid weather while some near freezing.
Most journeys these days have been on trains with electric locomotives, sometimes diesel-electrics but not with steam. When they invented good cameras, the steam train had died. I would need to find some exclusive journeys to take just to get on a steam train one of these days (like the restored Flying Scotsman that just unveiled in England in late 2015).

Enjoy!

2003 - summer- visiting the Grand Canyon - Williams AZ

Williams Depot in AZ before train leaves for the south rim of the Grand Canyon

2004 - Napa Valley Wine Train

Chardonnay country, Napa CA

Toy Train - steam loco in Tilden Park, Berkeley CA

12" Gage - Redwood Valley Railway (joy ride through redwoods)

Australia's East Coast - near Cairns (jump off point for the Great Barrier Reef)

Kuranda Rail - into the jungle and on top of a hill

Bridge on the River Kwai - near Kanchanaburi, Thailand

Death Railway - built by the Japanese during WW II connects Thailand to Burmese border

Inside London in 2009 - underground

inside the tube

Summer 2009 - Eurostar to Paris from London

St. Pancras to board the Chunnel Train

And then explored Paris using their Metro

And then on to Bern, Switzerland on the TGV - operated by the French SNCF

Visiting the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland was one of the most memorable and idyllic times we have spent

Interlaken (on said lake) provides the gateway to the Alps

Visited the 10,000 foot mount called the Jungfrau

Leaving Kleine Schedig on the way to the mount

After doing some train spotting every evening when back at the hotel in Interlaken it was finally time to head back to the last stop - Zurich and then fly home to SF

Trainspotting at Interlaken - an ICE heading to Germany

Leaving for Zurich Flughafen with Glattalbahn light rail

A summer spent in the nation's capital - 2010 July - Washington DC

Time to head north on Amtrak's regional express to NY, NY

Fall of 2011 was another amazing journey into Spain - much cleaner and newer trains - their superfast version is called the AVE - we traveled at over 300 km per hour from Barcelona to Madrid and Madrid to Seville on the southwest coast all by this deluxe service.

I will devote a separate blog to showcase the next set of trains (there is too many more) from New Zealand, Germany and India.

Of Jims and Johns

Here is another essay on the subject of first names. As in birth names. Or names provided to an offspring at birth. While the developed world tends to shy away from the exotic like Refrigerator or Coca Cola for their new production there is a plethora of Jims and Johns and Bobs or Robs. Speaking of which I do not think there is a categoric decision point at the time of birth if a child will be hereafter called as Bob. I mean have not yet met a toddler called Bob or Rob for that matter. At some point though the parental instinct to mouth out multiple syllables runs out and they switch from calling the crawler Robert to simply Robbie to Rob. Now speaking of - it is strange that the name sounds like something you would not want Rob to do - i.e. Rob anyone. Then why call someone that? After all Rob Peter to Pay Paul is not exactly a maxim to live a young life? Is it? Perhaps Peter or Paul might want to have a say in it? Then there is this matter of going to the John. Why degrad...

Presumptive Society

Today's world is hyper connected. I am not so sure what it means but you hear it a lot. It is probably hyper but not sure how connected it is. Sugar (fermented or not) is available in many ways than before and so getting hyper is easy. It is probably more a threat than cocaine since it is sold legally. And what is this connected stuff? Most people I encounter seem disconnected from reality. So going back to this assumption that we are connected there are subtle and no so subtle instances of how brands and companies and middle men try to portray someone - A linkedin profile for somebody working for X years at a place advertises to the connected network that so and so is CELEBRATING X years @ Such and Such Inc. Do we know if (s)he is celebrating or cringing? Perhaps a better way to portray will be - So and So LASTED X years @ such & such inc. Then it exhorts the readership to go ahead and congratulate them for this lasting effe...

But What If We're Wrong?

I attempted to read this book by author Chuck Klosterman backward to forward but it started hurting my brain so I decided to stop and do it like any other publication in the English language. Start from page 1 and move to the right. Witty, caustic and thought provoking this is a book you want to read if you believe that the status quo might, just might be wrong. At times bordering on being contrarian about most things around us it tries to zero in on the notion of what makes anything believable and certain in our minds. The fact that there is a fact itself is ironic. Something analogous to the idea that you can never predict the future because there is no future. Many books and movies have tried to play on this concept - best that I recollect (I think I am) was 'The Truman Show'. This book by Klosterman attempts to provoke the reader to at least contemplate that what they think they know may be wrong. He uses examples like concept of gravity, and how it ...

Brown Motion

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