Train Trek Coming Up Soon!

Posted on December 15, 2021February 15, 2022 by VB_Webmaster

Train Trek Coming Up Soon!

At last, here we are… in the final prep of our two-week train trek from NEW YORK to CHICAGO to SANTA FE to EL PASO to NEW ORLEANS and back to NEW YORK.

The first leg of our trek is a 19-hour ride between New York and Chicago.

We board our train at the newly-remodeled Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station in Manhattan at 3:40PM on Sunday, December 19. We arrive in Chicago the next day, Monday, December 20 at 9:50AM.

Sleeping on the Train?

Jim and I are wondering how well we will sleep on the train. We’ve got earplugs and eye mask. Maybe a glass of wine or two will make us mellow and we will easily fall asleep to the motion of the train. We shall see!

The same day, Monday, December 20, in the afternoon, we leave Chicago for an almost 24-hour ride to Santa Fe. Should be interesting to cross the wide-open plains of the Midwest.

TRAVEL NEWS

Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, November 2021

November 25, 2021 2 Comments

Train Trek Coming Up Soon!

December 15, 2021 No Comments

Day 1 – Leaving New York, December 19, 2021

December 19, 2021 5 Comments

Day 2 – Arriving in Chicago and Leaving for Santa Fe, December 20, 2021

December 20, 2021 No Comments

Day 1 – Leaving New York, December 19, 2021

Posted on December 19, 2021February 15, 2022 by VB_Webmaster

Day 1 - Leaving New York, December 19, 202

At the last minute, we decided to take an Uber. Our bags are a bit too heavy (wine and cranberry cookies weigh a lot!) to navigate the stairs of the subway. Traffic was New York usual for a Sunday and we got to the train station with enough time to take photos while waiting for our boarding time to Chicago.

Inside the Moynihan Train Station
as we wait for our train

View of our Sleeper Car just
before departure

Now that we’ve got everything organized,
Jim’s ready to go!

The sleeper cars for Chicago are toward the front of the train and we are welcomed by the train attendant. Car 4911 Room A.

Small room to fit two people and luggage, but after finding the optimal “arrangement” we made ourselves comfortable. There is a sink area and a shower/toilet. Really small to take a shower… we shall pass on the shower!

On the train, masks are obligatory when in motion but in your cabin you can take them off.

Some photos from our cabin as we were leaving New York traveling alongside the Hudson River.

Jim’s wondering about what to eat for dinner. We will play it safe for tonight.

The dining car is simple and it was not the white linen of the fabled Orient Express; more like airplane food with bigger portions and a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon.

Then, the mystery of the sleeping arrangement was revealed. Our cabin attendant pulled up the bottom bed like a sleeper sofa then he pulled down the bunk bed.

Lesson learned: make sure you are absolutely ready to get into your pajamas before asking for the turn down because there’s no room to move once the beds are made.

We didn’t take any pictures as we would have needed to be a circus contortionist to get to our equipment.

The motion of the train was smoothing – at least for me – but it’s the pillows that made it hard to sleep. These darn pillows were soft like marshmallows. Firm is how I like my pillows. Regardless, we both managed to get some sleep, on and off, with weird dreams. We slept OK but not as sound as we would have liked.

Maybe we’ll sleep better tomorrow night.

Day 2 – Arriving in Chicago and Leaving for Santa Fe, December 20, 2021

Posted on December 20, 2021February 15, 2022 by VB_Webmaster

Day 2 - Arriving in Chicago and Leaving for Santa Fe, December 20, 202

We arrived almost one hour late in Chicago due to some slow freight trains that have the right of way over passenger trains.

Not enough time to really walk by Lake Michigan and, yes, it was windy. Chicago lives up to its Windy City nickname. It seems like an interesting city to visit though… next time, and preferably in late spring.

Chicago’s Union Station is quite impressive after its renovation work back to its original art-deco architecture style. Of course, we took photos of the famous staircase portrayed in The Untouchables where the mother tries to pull a baby carriage up the stairs.

We love the Christmas Tree inside the train station. The whole ambiance was very calm, and the passengers were very well-behaved.

Right around the station, there is a pizza joint called Beggars Pizza and we had an early lunch. I chose a Chicago pizza (deep dish style with sausage) that was quite good. Jim stayed with his favorite, the New York style pizza (thin crust).

We killed time at the Metropolitan Lounge of Union Station, playing puzzle games (me on my cell phone), and Jim reading Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead (much more serious).

From the lounge, a couple of Amtrak attendants escorted us to our sleeper cars (bypassing the lines is one of the perks to being in a sleeper car).

Our sleeper cabin (Car 331 Room A) is the first one right behind the locomotive. We can hear the train horn every time there’s a railroad crossing. Luckily, we have our Boules Quies to sleep!

This cabin is much newer than the last one with a more efficient setup. The previous one between New York and Chicago needed some TLC, for sure.

Instead of going to the dining room, we had our dinner brought to our cabin. It was much better than our previous dinner. Very nicely prepared and quite tasty, served with a glass of wine.

Day 3/Part I – Traveling toward Santa Fe, December 21, 2021

Posted on December 21, 2021February 15, 2022 by VB_Webmaster

Day 3/Part I - Traveling toward Santa Fe, December 21, 202

We slept quite well on the train for the second night. We must be getting used to the motion and sound of the train. We woke up to a beautiful sunrise over the Kansas plains just before crossing the New Mexico state line.

We had a very nice breakfast in the dining room and watched the wide-open scenery go by. As the sun was piercing through the winter clouds it allowed for very nice photos.

The menu choices are not bad on the Amtrak’s Southwest Chief (name of our train). Everything was nicely prepared and better than what we had on our first train, the Lakeshore Limited, between New York and Chicago.

After breakfast, I tried to write some the blog and organize some pictures, but the train ride can be a bit bumpy at times. I managed to do some of the work.

First stop in New Mexico is a small town called Raton. I took advantage of the 15-minute stop to take some photos of the train station and our train.

We arrived at the tiny train station of Lamy, NM, about 20 minutes to our destination, The Eldorado Hotel & Spa. The Eldorado is a few minutes from Santa Fe’s historical Plaza. As part of the ticket price, Amtrak organizes a shuttle to pick you up from Lamy and drive you to downtown Santa Fe. Our driver was really nice as he dropped us off right at our hotel instead of the central depot.

Day 3/Part II – First Afternoon and Evening in Santa Fe, December 21, 2021

Posted on December 21, 2021February 15, 2022 by VB_Webmaster

Day 3/Part II - First Afternoon and Evening in Santa Fe, December 21, 2021

The Eldorado Hotel is very nice and we were quickly checked in to our room on the patio-roof. A bit on the cold side though to enjoy the patio. It would be great any other season, I’m sure. We quickly got organized in our hotel room to walk to the Historic Plaza before it became too dark. We wanted to check out a place to eat and we were able to make a reservation for 7:00PM at a small Mexican restaurant called The Shed. Very lucky as they were really booked.

We enjoyed seeing all the Christmas lights and the farolitos (also called Luminarias) that are set up on buildings and along the streets when possible. We checked out a couple of shops but everything is quite expensive (all for tourists, of course).

As the sun went down, it became quite nippy, so we went back to our hotel to dress in much warmer clothing before heading out to the restaurant, The Shed. The food was very good and we both enjoyed the tamales. So difficult to find tamales outside the Southwest. Of course, I also had a homemade Marguerita!

After eating we spent more time on the Historic Plaza to take more pictures of the holiday lights in Santa Fe.

After a nice evening walking around the plaza taking pictures, we went back to the hotel for a very nice night sleep.

Day 4 – Bandelier National Monument, December 22, 2021

Posted on December 22, 2021February 15, 2022 by VB_Webmaster

Day 4 - Bandelier National Monument, December 22, 2021

After a hearty breakfast, we picked up our very fancy rental car (Toyota Corolla…), more than used up with plenty of miles and not particularly well maintained in terms of cleanliness and covered with all kinds of dings. The only positive thing was that it’s a Toyota and those cars are mechanically reliable and tend to run forever.

After a quick stop at a grocery store for some fruit and lunch snacks we headed toward Bandelier National Monument. A pleasant drive through high desert, mesas, cliffs, and small towns. Luck was with us as the weather wasn’t too cold or windy. When the sun was shining it was actually warm enough to remove our jackets.

A horno is a mud adobe-built outdoor oven used by Native Americans and early settlers of North America. The horno uses wood as the heat source and is still used by American Indian tribes in New Mexico and Arizona. Bread, cakes, corn, and meats can be cooked inside a horno.

Bandelier is the home of ancestral Pueblo Indians going as far back as 10,000 years ago. They started to live inside the cliffs in natural caves (called cliff dwellings) that they enlarged when possible, and then migrated to building adobe-style homes at the bottom of the cliffs.

Jim takes all kinds of photos with his cameras and lenses. With his telephoto he can really get tight close-ups of the cliff dwellings.

We walked the Pueblo Loop Trail all the way to the Long House Cliff Dwelling. It took us over two hours as we stopped so often to take pictures and admired the beauty of the scenery.

With three cameras, we took our time to compose artistic photographs of the dwellings and nature all around, capturing the rays of the sun playing hide and seek with the clouds.

We were very lucky as it was sunny and not too cold and made our stroll among these amazing cliffs very pleasant.

On the way back, we took a slight detour up a mountain peak to capture the sunset and then headed back to Santa Fe.

After a full day out, we decided to have dinner at the hotel. We found just enough energy before bed to download our photos on our computers. But not enough time to write up the day’s travel blog. Another time!

Day 5 – High Road to Taos and River Road to Santa Fe, December 23, 2021

Posted on December 23, 2021February 15, 2022 by VB_Webmaster

Day 5 - High Road to Taos and River Road to Santa Fe, December 23, 2021

After another hearty breakfast knowing that on the road, we would only be able to have a very light lunch of mandarins and pretzels with some cheese (very fancy lunch!).

The drive from Santa Fe to Taos on the High Road is 105 miles. You can drive it in about two hours or so with no stops. But it took us much longer as we stopped to see sites and take photographs, of course!

Chimayó is a U.S. National Park American Latino Heritage site, nicknamed the Lourdes of America for its famous healing miracles. The Church, El Santuario de Chimayó, attracts 300,000 pilgrims a year seeking cures from the holy dirt (called el pocito) that’s located in a small room inside the church. Even before the Spaniards arrived in the area, the Pueblo and Tewa Indians considered Chimayó to be a healing site. The short slideshow below represents a sample of interesting art in the small village.

Chimayó Arches

Stone arches in the courtyard of the village

Walls of Photos

Photos of people who come to Chimayó to seek cures

Santo Niño Chapel

Traditional religious wood carvings

Santo Niño Chapel

Traditional religious wood carving

Previous slide

Next slide

We stopped at a small village called Las Trampas which is considered part of the American Latino Heritage. The village of Las Trampas was settled by Spanish families in 1751 and was built within a defensive wall with low buildings packed around a central plaza. Within the village is the San José de Gracia Church considered one of the most-original and best-preserved examples of Spanish Colonial architecture in New Mexico.

Some of the other villages and historic points of interest were more difficult to see during winter time but even more challenging during a pandemic. Instead, we continued on our way through the Carson National Forest. There was snow in some of the areas we drove past. It would be great to come back on a summer day to go hiking among the pine trees, junipers, and mesas.

Surprisingly, we found easy parking in Taos, had our light lunch in the car before walking the historic part of town. Taos Pueblo unfortunately remains closed due to the pandemic so we were not able to visit it. The Taos Plaza was not much to see except for some stores. We could see that the pandemic has been hard on the town with the lack of tourists.

We decided to take a slight detour Northwest of Taos to see the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. The Bridge is considered the seventh highest bridge in the United States. We parked and walked to different locations around the bridge and on the bridge itself to take pictures. Here again, we took our time capturing some artistic photos. Quite impressive to walk on the bridge… and it vibrates as cars drive past! Luckily, we don’t have vertigo!

There were some merchants from Taos Pueblo selling hand-crafted jewelry, woodcarving statues, knives, etc. I bought myself two Christmas gifts – two necklaces.

Finished, we drove through Taos once more to head back to Santa Fe. Right outside Taos, we stopped to see Rancho de Taos, a village which was original established in 1725. On the small plaza, there are some really old structures, but the original Native American Village (over 300 years old) can no longer be seen, except for a couple of buildings.

On the plaza, we visited the San Francisco De Assisi Mission Church, another Natural Historic Landmark, dating back to the late 18th century. We read that this particular church was painted by Georgia O’Keeffe and photographed by Ansel Adams.

Some photos of old Pueblo homes in Ranchos de Taos

Then as night was falling quick, it was time to drive back to Santa Fe on the Low or River Road, winding through small farming communities of the Rio Grande Valley.

Back in Santa, Fe, we decided to head straight to a restaurant called Jambo Café in Santa Fe.

Jambo Café is a blend of North African cuisine with Swahili, Indian, Arabic, Caribbean, and European flavors. Winner of numerous awards, Jambo Café has been featured on the Food Network’s Diners and in various cooking magazines.

The food was very flavorful, fresh, and so different from what we’re used to. We loved all the spices used in the dishes we chose.

Chef Ahmed Obo is from Kenya and has created a very successful restaurant. He came to our table to say hello and cleared up the dishes.

Extract of the Jambo Café Menu

www.jambocafe.net

Day 6/Part I – Pecos National Historical Park, December 24, 2021

Posted on December 24, 2021February 15, 2022 by VB_Webmaster

Day 6/Part I - Pecos National Historical Park, December 24, 2021

We woke up to gray, cold, and rainy day as forecasted the day before. Regardless, we decided to drive to Pecos National Historical Park. Driving through some passes, rain turned into a rain-snow mix. The ranger at the Park told us it was snowing in the mountains. The next day we could see snow on the lower foothills of the mountains.

Views of Santa Fe and the low rain clouds over the mountains from our Patio Room on this cold and rainy day

We were hoping that the rain would take a break for us to do the short loop of the ruins at Pecos National Historical Park, but it was the opposite – it rained even harder and the wind doubled up… so much for a walk in the Park. We managed to get out of the car to take a few steps among the ruins and even take some pictures, but it was too cold to linger too long and went back inside the car.

The Park has a very interesting exhibit of the history of the area starting thousands of years ago with Paleoindian and Archaic hunter-gatherers (11,500 B.C.E. – 600 C.E.). Later came the Pueblo and Plains Indians, Spanish conquerors and missionaries, Mexican and Anglo armies, and Santa Fe Trail settlers and adventurers. The history of the location is fascinating.

Jim faces the rain and wind… his umbrella flying away! Too bad I wasn’t quick enough to video tape it! It really started to rain even harder after we visited the exhibit. We had to rush through the site unfortunately.

Pecos is a great location in the midst of piñon, juniper, and ponderosa pine woodlands of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. It would be great to come back on a warm spring day. Next time!

After this cold and rainy outing we went back to our hotel to “chill” before our Christmas Eve dinner hoping that it will stop raining for the viewing of the Christmas lights on Canyon Road (see next blog!).

Day 6/Part II – Christmas Eve in Santa Fe, December 24, 2021

Posted on December 24, 2021February 15, 2022 by VB_Webmaster

Day 6/Part II - Christmas Eve in Santa Fe, December 24, 2021

Back to the hotel from our quick and rainy visit of Pecos, we fixed ourselves a light late lunch snack. We both were able to download photos and start organizing them. I even had some time to post a couple of blogs… but still way behind. Note to self: when I am retired, I will need half a day of quiet time to catch up from a full day of sightseeing. With limited time, we try to do as much as possible outdoors and not spend it at a computer. Oh, well. I’ll catch up eventually with photos and blogs even if I’m back in New York by then!

We had booked our Christmas Eve dinner was reserved for 4:00PM at the hotel restaurant (the Agave), early enough to allow us plenty of time to walk up Canyon Road and see the farolitos and other Christmas activities… hoping that the rain would eventually let up (and it did!).

Dinner was a very classical Mexican buffet and unfortunately I didn’t really enjoy the choices. But Jim certainly did and had a couple of servings of everything.

After dinner we changed into comfortable clothing and walked a total of two miles past the Santa Fe Plaza and up Canyon Road for the Farolitos Walk. It was packed! Many people were out enjoying the activities. Unfortunately, the rain did damage many of the farolitos and the Canyon was not as lit up as it should have been. We did find the activities rather subdued, most likely due to the Covid restrictions still in effect in the American Indian tribes. Nevertheless, it was good to walk since we hadn’t moved so much all day due to the wintery weather.

Day 7 – Merry Christmas from Santa Fe!

Posted on December 25, 2021February 15, 2022 by VB_Webmaster

Day 7 - Merry Christmas from Santa Fe!

Santa Claus didn’t come and visit us at the hotel. I believe he may have left something for us under the tree when we get back to New York on New Year’s Eve!

After a nice breakfast at the hotel, we decided to walk around Santa Fe even though most of the shops were closed. The weather was quite nice once more and we were able to enjoy some sun for most of our walk. On the main Plaza, there were some Pueblo Indian merchants who were selling their crafts and I bought two other necklaces (Christmas presents from me to me).

Jim in front of Burro Alley in Santa Fe. In the 19th century, people would haul firewood to town on the backs of burros. The burros would park and unload in Burro Alley so people could sell the wood. Burro Alley was notorious for saloons and brothels back in the day. We then continued our walk to explore the historic district and stopped to see the oldest church in the USA and the oldest house in Santa Fe.

The Oldest Church in the USA is located in the historic district (called Barrio de Analco) of Santa Fe. Mexican Indians from Tlaxcala built the church under the direction of Franciscan friars to serve a congregation of soldiers, laborers, and Indians who lived in the Barrio de Analco. The church was partially destroyed during the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. The current structure dates from 1710.

The oldest house in Santa Fe is located next to the San Miguel Church. Although its origins seem to be lost, it was confirmed through tree-ring specimens taken from its ceilings that the house was built around 1740-67. The house also showed on a Urrutia 1766-68 map next to San Miguel Church.

We ended our walk in the government section of Santa Fe. There were some interesting sculptures in front of the State Capitol, one of them being a sculpture of three Native American Indian women on the Santa Fe Trail. The Capitol, called the Roundhouse (the only capitol in the US to be round), also hosts an art museum but of course it was closed today. For another time!

Finished with our walk, we headed back to the hotel we spent some quiet time with photos and travel blogs.

We were looking forward to our Christmas dinner (booked for the 5:15PM seating) at a restaurant, called Martin Restaurant, with very high ratings for fine dining. We had read that Chef Martin Rios was a native of Guadalajara, Mexico, who grew up in Santa Fe. He started in the restaurant business as a 17-year-old dishwasher, working his way up to Executive Chef at several restaurants and hotels. Chef Rios received his formal training at the Culinary Institute of America in New York City, the top culinary art school in the US.

The restaurant hostess took us through two small eating and bar areas toward an inner courtyard for outdoor meals (when the weather’s warm, of course) and then to the main dining area. The Christmas dinner was succulent in a very friendly, down-to-earth atmosphere. We took our time to eat the three-course Christmas dinner with a bottle of Saint Emilion, a very traditional Bordeaux blend.

The photos are my dinner choices: sashimi, lamb, and chocolate cake with praline ice-cream.

After dinner, we spent a quiet evening in our hotel room looking at photos. It was a very nice and relaxing Christmas day.

Day 8 – Drive from Santa Fe to El Paso, December 26, 2021

Posted on December 26, 2021February 15, 2022 by VB_Webmaster

Day 8 - Drive from Santa Fe to El Paso, December 26, 2021

Today, we said goodbye to Santa Fe. We got up early and were the first ones in the hotel restaurant for our breakfast. By 8:15AM we were on the road toward El Paso. Being a Sunday and the day after Christmas, the roads were very quiet… easy driving all the way. The weather was variable but the wind very strong.

We stopped at White Sands National Monument… and surprise! It was packed. People were there to spend their Christmas weekend with family, relatives. There were kids everywhere sliding down the slopes of the white sand dunes. Way too crowded for us.

Also, it was too windy to take too many photos. We didn’t want to damage our camera equipment. We still managed to do one short walk and take some nice photos (mainly Jim as he has a weather-proof camera). We also drove the short loop of the monument, and then we left to get back on the road to El Paso.

We arrived in El Paso just before 4:00PM but our room was not ready. 45 minutes later we were finally able to get settled in our room. To compensate for the delay, the hotel gave us two free drinks of our choice (we chose two red wines over dinner).

The hotel we’re staying at is called the Plaza Pioneer Park Hotel and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It has a long history anchored in the heritage of El Paso going as far back as the 1800s. The Hotel was the location of the meeting between US President William Howard Taft and Mexico’s President Porfirio Díaz.

The hotel went through a ten-year renovation effort to restore the building back to its former grandeur. It finally re-opened in the summer of 2020. Our room was very spacious and tastefully decorated.

Once we had freshened up a bit in our hotel room, we went back outside to discover the downtown of El Paso. Walking around, it was very apparent that the area is rather poor and in need of some cash to rejuvenate the downtown area. Later, I read that El Paso is one of the poorest cities in the United States. However, there are some joint private and public efforts to renovate parts of the city

The L-shaped structure of the Kress Building is one of a group of distinctive art deco buildings designed by the late Kress retail chain’s chief architect Edward Sibbert from 1929-1944. Kress used to be a famous department store. The building is being renovated as part of the various efforts to renovate downtown El Paso’s numerous historic buildings.

We had dinner at the hotel restaurant, the Ambar, a tex-mex fusion restaurant. The restaurant didn’t anticipate to be full and was short staffed to serve everyone. We had to wait a while to get our meal. Luckily, it was good… but the kitchen made a mistake and Jim’s short ribs were cold. Of course, they fixed it, but still, not a good thing to happen.

After eating our dinner, we went to check out the activities on the San Jacinto Plaza. The hotel staff had told us that between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, the Plaza hosts several Winter Fest activities. The decorations were very colorful and the loud and vibrant energy was contagious.

Being right at the border with Mexico, we noticed the culture differences with Santa Fe. While the festivities at Santa Fe were rather subdued (too many old people, maybe, or too many White tourists), the festivities downtown El Paso were lively, rowdy with kids playing and running around on their scooters, families talking loud, laughing, taking photos in front of the Christmas decorations, kids dancing to the rhythms of Christmas music… and lots of Spanish-speaking words (actually, all Spanish speaking).

Day 9/Part I – The El Paso Mission Trail, December 27, 2021

Posted on December 27, 2021February 15, 2022 by VB_Webmaster

Day 9/Part I - The El Paso Mission Trail, December 27, 2021

Today we want to start early enough so we have time to see some of the missions. There are six missions on El Camino Real: three on the US side and three on the Mexico side. The mission were established in Texas and across the Rio Grande were built as a result of the Pueblo Revolt in 1680. The three missions have functioned as the religious and social centers of their communities virtually uninterrupted since their founding in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Driving toward the first mission, Ysleta, we saw Trump border wall made out of steel and barbed wire at the top. We’re sure that people who want to come across the border will go somewhere else around the Rio Grande – and, of course, there are these tunnels we hear about.

The Ysleta mission is only a few miles from our hotel (you can see on the map that the mission is very close to the border) and we’re just about the first tourists to visit the mission. The Ysleta Mission is recognized as the oldest continuously operated parish in the State of Texas. Over the next two centuries the mission was relocated several times due to flooding of the Rio Grande.

The architecture of the Ysleta mission is quite interesting due to its partial facade and its silver bell dome. Of the three missions we saw, it is the one that is the best maintained.

The Ysleta Mission, founded in 1682, was built by the Tigua Indians and resides in the heart of the Tigua Indian community. The Tigua Indians have always been faithful to San Antonio (Saint Anthony), the original patron saint of Isleta Pueblo (the mother pueblo situated near modern-day Albuquerque). The mission has had many names through the centuries, but the Tigua have always recognized San Antonio. Today, the Tigua people continue to be closely associated with the church and observe traditional holidays at the Mission with dancing, drumming and chanting.

Below are photographs of traditional religious wood carvings, bright and colorful.

The second mission is Socorro very close to Ysleta. Socorro was founded in 1682 by the Franciscan order to serve displaced Spanish families and American Indians who fled New Mexico during the 1680 Pueblo Revolt. The interior of the mission is very unique, blending American Indian symbolism with Roman Catholic icons.

The finely painted and decorated beams, or vigas, are from the 18th-century mission and were reused when the present church was constructed. The massing, details and use of decorative elements of the Socorro Mission show strong relationships to the building traditions of 17th-century Spanish New Mexico.

San Elizario is the third mission on our short journey on the El Camino Real. In reality, San Elizario marks the start of the northbound trail of the El Camino Real in the U.S. as it moves across the Rio Grande out of Mexico.

In 1788, the site was chosen to establish a military stronghold on New Spain’s western frontier. Soldiers occupied the new presidio to defend area residents and El Camino Real caravans from Apaches. Like the fort it replaced, the presidio was named in honor of San Elzear, the French patron saint of soldiers.

U.S. troops were assigned to the presidio in 1850 and during the Civil War volunteers from California were stationed there to prevent a reoccupation of the area by Confederate forces. The one-story chapel is built in the traditional Spanish Mission style.

It is the mission that needs the most work in particular painting on the outside. The church is one of the late examples of the adobe architecture in West Texas and reflects European influences on the Spanish Colonial style.

The three missions were destroyed during the Rio Grande flooding and had to be rebuilt. This short tour on El Camino Real gave us an interesting glimpse into the history of the Southwest of the United States, so different from the rest of the country.

I wish we could visit the other missions on the other side of the Rio Grande Time, but not possible due to Covid and not enough time. We were now only a couple of hours away from catching our train for New Orleans.

It was really nice though that we had just enough time to see some sites around El Paso.

Day 9/Part II & Day 10 – On the Train to New Orleans, December 27 & 28, 2021

Posted on December 28, 2021February 15, 2022 by VB_Webmaster

Day 9/Part II & Day 10 - On the Train to New Orleans, December 27 & 18, 2021

After visiting the three missions it was time to drop off our rental car and head out to the train station downtown El Paso. Being quite early, I was able to get us an upgrade from a roomette to a room. We had called before to upgrade but were told that everything was booked. But we lucked out and were able to upgrade to a room. We were ecstatic! We didn’t like the idea of spending time in a tiny two-seat cabin – not even enough room for our luggage.

Jim ran out to get us some lunch since it was past 3:00PM and we hadn’t eaten since our early breakfast. I was checking my watch every so often kind of worried he was going to miss the train… but he did come back with fresh sandwiches from a local shop near our hotel.

A slight scare before getting in our cabin. The attendant told us that our upgrade was not valid due to some maintenance that needed to be done. We were a bit worried that we couldn’t get to our larger cabin but the conductor said that if we wanted to take it we could – however, at our own risks in case something was broken. We checked everything in the cabin before saying yes, and since we didn’t see anything wrong, we took it. In the end, all went very well. No issues at all with the cabin.

The Sunset Limited is the name of the train between El Paso and New Orleans is 24 hours, the longest so far for us on the train. The service was great and it was closer in style to the “Orient Express” train with white-linen dining, servers, and good food. Everyone was very friendly. This particular train ride was the best so far!

We spent time playing Mille Bornes (the English version) and Jim kept saying I was cheating… not true. But the rules were a bit fuzzy at first! We figured it out eventually. We also spent time going over our photos and writing the text for my blogs. A very relaxing trip.

We arrived in New Orleans over one hour late and got an Uber to get to our hotel, the Omni Royal Hotel in the heart of the French Quarter.

But bad surprise when we got to our room – the sink was broken. We called the front desk and they moved us to another room. However, the room was a significant downgrade to the room we had originally booked. Too tired to argue on the phone with personnel, we decided to wait tomorrow morning to talk to the hotel manager.

Day 11 – Sightseeing in New Orleans, December 29, 2021

Posted on December 29, 2021October 13, 2022 by VB_Webmaster

Day 11 - Sightseeing in New Orleans, December 29, 2021

The next morning, we brought our hotel room complaints to management and they gave us a very good discount on the room, over 60% less than what we had originally paid for the room per night… not a bad deal at all.

After resolving this issue, we went to the dining room to have breakfast. We decided to have a hearty breakfast knowing that we wouldn’t have time for lunch. We also made dinner reservations for 7:00PM. A good thing as the City of New Orleans is packed with tourists ready to celebrate New Year’s Eve. We had no interest in mingling with thousands of people in the streets on New Year’s Eve, which is why we had planned to stay just one day in New Orleans.

In hindsight, a good thing we didn’t stay longer as Amtrak later told us that they were canceling trains due to the shortage of personnel who were out sick with Covid-19 (mainly the Omicron variant).

In the dining room (photo above), there were some interesting lights with funny names in old French, except for two that have American Indian names. We asked the waiter about the meaning of these words and he told us they were locations of sites throughout Louisiana. I made a collage of these lights (below).

Bayou Goula is a name derived from the Choctaw language meaning “river people”. A community on the Mississippi, also known for the explosion of Steamboat Brilliant in 1851 which killed many people.

Vacherie means cowshed in French. A small community on the Mississippi home to the Oak Alley Plantation, where you can see several historic plantations. Recently it was used as a film location for the TV series True Detective.

Venice. It is the last community down the Mississippi accessible by car, hence its nickname, The End of the World.

Grosse Tête means big head in French. It is a very small village located near the Grosse Tête river.

Pointe à la Hache means axe point or cape in French. A small community on the Mississippi which has been hit by multiple hurricanes throughout the years.

Belle Chasse means beautiful hunting in French. It is believed that it was so named due to the richness of wildlife which the initial French colonists observed when they settled in the region. Today the town is home to various US naval air units.

Mamou. A small community located in the heart of Cajun country. The origin of its name is not sure, but it is believed that it comes from the legendary Indian, Chief Mamou. The town is famous for its music and musicians, and bills itself as “The Cajun Music Capital of the World”.

The French Quarter has been so extensively filmed and photographed that it was as if we had already seen it. In spite of the tourists and the typical touristic shops, it is interesting to see at least once. However, like Jim said, it is more like an amusement park now and a lot of its charm has been lost. Overall, New Orleans appears to be an over-rated location and one day is more than enough to see what needs to be seen. Nevertheless, I’m glad I finally got to visit the French Quarter. There are a lot of interesting characters – tourists and natives – strolling through the streets of the French Quarter.

Jim couldn’t resist taking a photo of this tee-shirt in one of the window shops. He didn’t buy the tee-shirt but he probably should have.

As we were leaving the hotel we stumbled upon a jazz band parading through the main streets of the French Quarter.

We really enjoyed photographing the buildings of the French Quarter. Most of them are very well maintained. There are even “beauty contests” to vote for the most traditionally beautiful buildings in the French Quarter.

We took our sweet time to window shop and bought a couple of souvenirs. I bought my usual coffee cup to add to my “collection.” I like to have a different coffee cup in the morning. This one is very colorful, filled with energy and enough to get me going in the morning!

The one thing we really wanted to see was the Lafayette Cemetery which has also been featured in many movies and TV shows, however, it has been closed to the public for over two years for renovation. We still decided to take a street car so we could at least walk around the cemetery and its neighborhood. Glad we did as we still could take some photos through the gates

Watch the slideshow below of selected photographs of the cemetery (click on the arrows to navigate)

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The cemetery is slowly being taken over by the trees and their roots. The overall impression is rather desolate but when the sun rays pierced the clouds, the illumination brought an eerie beauty to the cemetery and its surroundings.

After coming back from Lafayette Cemetery we strolled the streets of the French Quarter as the evening activities were just starting. Since our dinner reservations were a bit later and we didn’t have lunch, we stopped at the Bourbon House for some oysters and white wine. It was delicious!! The oysters were grilled in a white wine-based sauce and spices out of this world… wish I could replicate the recipe (but it’s a Chef’s secret!).

We had fun taking photographs at night while strolling through the streets of the French Quarter.

Day 12 & Day 13 – On the Train to New York, December 30 & 31, 2021

Posted on December 31, 2021March 22, 2022 by VB_Webmaster

Day 12 & Day 13 - On the Train to New York, December 30 & 31, 2021

We woke up early for a nice breakfast at the hotel (we were the first ones in the restaurant) and then we grabbed an Uber to head to the New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal for Amtrak. Traffic was light and it only took us only a few minutes to get to the train station. The Terminal itself wasn’t very busy either. Can you find where I’m sitting? There was some very nice artwork (see one example below) on the walls of the train station that we didn’t get to see when we first arrived since it was so late.

We boarded the train – called the Crescent – without any issues. The sleeper cabin setup was similar to the first leg of our trip between New York and Chicago. This last segment of our trip was going to be a long one but we were looking forward to sit back and relax!

Unfortunately, this Crescent was the worst part of the journey. The new variant of Covid, Omicron, had already started to make Amtrak personnel ill and there was a shortage of people on the train. The problem though was the lack of communication by the personnel about delays with food, and other details of the trip. They could have cared less. Jim and I remained calm but we did let them know this was the worst Amtrak train we had taken so far – as if they cared what we said! A lot of people were not happy at all and there were a lot of complaints everywhere…

The food was decent but it was far from the quality, style, and service from the Sunset Limited (our train between El Paso and New Orleans). Too bad that Amtrak isn’t doing anything about the Crescent to make it a much more pleasant trip.

Leaving the City of New Orleans we crossed Lake Pontchartrain which made for some beautiful photos even from a fast-moving train. The light was quite gorgeous on this winter morning with the sun playing with the clouds. It seems that it would be fun to spend time on the Lake or hiking the shores of the Lake. Another trip maybe. We followed the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, which is the longest continuous bridge over water in the world. Very impressive.

We slept very nicely on the train for our last night. Must be getting our “train” legs now. We had our breakfast in the cabin. With this train, no one was using the dining room as it wasn’t much of a dining room.

The weather outside the train was grey and rainy. It was interesting to see the various landscapes of our journey – from rivers to forests to fields to lakes.

Around lunchtime, it is when things started to deteriorate. They ran out of food on the train and could no longer serve the passengers. We had to wait to be in Atlanta, GA for the train to be replenished. At last, at about 2:00PM they served us our lunch which was really a slightly better fare than a fast-food meal.

Not wanting to ruin our last hours of our journey, we played Milles Bornes, worked on our photos, and had a pre-arrival snack with wine and macaroons we had bought in New Orleans. Always a bit of competition to finish the wine, as you can see!

Almost time to leave the train… no, we didn’t take the pillows with us in case you’re wondering. The weather in New York City wasn’t too bad. There was just little fog hanging around the skyscrapers as you can see on the Empire State Building. We grabbed an Uber and we made it home in a very reasonable amount of time for Manhattan.

For our New Year’s Eve dinner, we ordered food from our favorite Chinese restaurant, No. 1 Chinese (yes, it’s the name of the restaurant) in our neighborhood. It was nice to be home and we felt really energized after spending time away from the City.