greatcats
Engineer
The friend and I, comprising the two Erics, set off on another concert going adventure this past Monday night. We knew our Southwest Chief was going to be late, so we took a taxi around 8pm and had a leisurely dinner at a nice place, the Tinderbox, two blocks south of the station on San Francisco Street out on the back deck outside. Very pleasant. Returning to the station, we visited with out favorite Amtrak agent, Carol Perez, who I truly hope for her sake will be able to retire in the next year. She drives 80 miles to this job, starting at 1 pm four days per week for a scheduled 10 hour shift, and with late trains, is often stuck there until 1 am, this being one of those cases. I would have much preferred to have been on the train at 9 pm or 10 and gone to bed. Feeling tired, I was stretched out on one of the hard wooden benches of the station - not comfortable. The train arrived at 12:45 am. Our SCA, Cindy, was a lovely lady, explaining that she had a full car and our room was not ready. She told us to go sit in the dorm car, although it would have been fine with me had we been put up there. She came and got us and I climbed into the upper bunk and kept pulling the hose out of my CPAP machine in the tight quarters. A very lousy night for sleeping. Breakfast was to be served later than usual, starting at 6:30, to which we went east of Barstow. They ran out of cranberry juice. The French toast was OK and the friend's eggs the same. I visited with Steve 0431, who had been giving us accounts of this trip, and we swapped tales for a time up his roomette in the dorm car. The rest of the trip was uneventful and arrival, with padding, in LA was at 11:23, 3 hours, 8 minutes late. Carol had urged us to call for a voucher, which I did. I do not always complain due to lateness, but in this case, the delays were mostly due to Amtrak mechanical problems. The late departure from Flagstaff made for an awkward trip. From the Metro Lounge, I did call Customer Relations, who are sending us a $75 voucher each. OK, fair enough.
We took the Red Line train out to Hollywood and Highland, and after a nice lunch in the Chado tea room in the mall at the intersection, walked up the hill to Hilton Garden, our home for three nights. The hotel is OK, but the rooms are nothing special, and we had a few complaints about plumbing fixtures. The staff, however, was most hospitable and earned high marks. The main purpose of our trip was to take in two symphony concerts by the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, an easy ten minute walk from our hotel. It was a pleasure not having to put up with the hectic traffic and parking situation. This was our first time to this famous landmark, with the huge concentric bandshell and the Greek style seating holding over 16,000 sprawled over the hillside. The concerts were simply wonderful and the weather conditions in the evening ideal. It is not hard to understand why many concert goers bring their own picnics, as the concession prices make one's eyes pop. Nevertheless, these were great experiences. We also visited the Griffith Observatory, going up by taxi, which was expensive, and the driver preferred going around corners on what seemed like two wheels. Returning, for the first time, I used Uber from my cell phone and was highly pleased with the result. My phone showed the car in motion coming up the hill, with the license plate, and driver's picture. The lady driving the Audi was a delight, and she returned us to the Hilton Garden for only $8.00, automatically billed to a credit card, plus of course I gave her a tip in cash.
Last night we returned to Union Station and enjoyed a Ben & Jerry's ice cream cone out in the courtyard, from which most of the benches have been removed. ( I have been panhandled out there more than once. ) We went back to the lounge, and encountered Steve again, having come down from Portland and sent on a detour through Bakersfield, but then he would be making his desired connection to the Sunset. Redcaps, who gave very good service both times, took us out to the platform, although the train had not arrived in the station, and we were out there for over 20 minutes before it finally backed in, but we departed on time, encountering a delay getting into Fullerton, apparently so we could have the station side track. Out attendant was Jason, who was a pleasant young man, who did perform his duties, but unlike most of the others, did not come around and introduce himself. Off we went to the diner for the 7pm seating. I have much to say here, and am pretty steamed at what we encountered. To be fair, our server, Carmel, was cheerful and efficient. My steak dinner and my friend's salmon were pretty good, the salad OK, the roll, OK, and the Tiramisu passable. I had a half bottle of Merlot, which was fine, even in its plastic cup. She brought the packets of salad dressings, which last time were in some kind of wicker basket. I did not take notice at first, but my friend did.....the dressings are brought in a cardboard box held together with paper clips! Oh come on, bean counters, this is really low class. Denny's does better than this, and for that matter, so does Waffle House. The coffee and tea served in a paper take out cup is another insult.
This subject has been discussed to death by us. Are we being spoiled brats because we are unhappy with the lousy decline in the quality of service? Don't we have more important concerns in life than to throw fits over the dining car level of service? Maybe so, but for the price we pay, I think our feelings are justified. I have been composing in my head a letter to Mr. Boardman and some of these politicians who ought to have minded their own business, but I don't want to come across as a superficial whiner......Hmmmm.... Feedback, please.
Our sleeper was in pretty good shape, and the upstairs bathroom appeared to have been refurbished, a plus. Nothing wrong with the roomette, except for the thin blanket and pillow. Another lousy night of sleep, finally nodding off after Needles. I have no recollection of Kingman, and woke as we approached Williams. Somewhere after Needles, we lost an hour of time, which is not surprising with the huge number of freights run on this route. We arriving about 1 hour 15 min. late at Flagstaff, not a problem and called a taxi to my home. Amtrak did get us directly to and from LA and in many respects was better than driving. Sleepers on the way over were nearly full, but not so on the return and each train had four coaches. Amtrak keeps stumbling along, to what future remains to be seen. It could be so much better!
We took the Red Line train out to Hollywood and Highland, and after a nice lunch in the Chado tea room in the mall at the intersection, walked up the hill to Hilton Garden, our home for three nights. The hotel is OK, but the rooms are nothing special, and we had a few complaints about plumbing fixtures. The staff, however, was most hospitable and earned high marks. The main purpose of our trip was to take in two symphony concerts by the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, an easy ten minute walk from our hotel. It was a pleasure not having to put up with the hectic traffic and parking situation. This was our first time to this famous landmark, with the huge concentric bandshell and the Greek style seating holding over 16,000 sprawled over the hillside. The concerts were simply wonderful and the weather conditions in the evening ideal. It is not hard to understand why many concert goers bring their own picnics, as the concession prices make one's eyes pop. Nevertheless, these were great experiences. We also visited the Griffith Observatory, going up by taxi, which was expensive, and the driver preferred going around corners on what seemed like two wheels. Returning, for the first time, I used Uber from my cell phone and was highly pleased with the result. My phone showed the car in motion coming up the hill, with the license plate, and driver's picture. The lady driving the Audi was a delight, and she returned us to the Hilton Garden for only $8.00, automatically billed to a credit card, plus of course I gave her a tip in cash.
Last night we returned to Union Station and enjoyed a Ben & Jerry's ice cream cone out in the courtyard, from which most of the benches have been removed. ( I have been panhandled out there more than once. ) We went back to the lounge, and encountered Steve again, having come down from Portland and sent on a detour through Bakersfield, but then he would be making his desired connection to the Sunset. Redcaps, who gave very good service both times, took us out to the platform, although the train had not arrived in the station, and we were out there for over 20 minutes before it finally backed in, but we departed on time, encountering a delay getting into Fullerton, apparently so we could have the station side track. Out attendant was Jason, who was a pleasant young man, who did perform his duties, but unlike most of the others, did not come around and introduce himself. Off we went to the diner for the 7pm seating. I have much to say here, and am pretty steamed at what we encountered. To be fair, our server, Carmel, was cheerful and efficient. My steak dinner and my friend's salmon were pretty good, the salad OK, the roll, OK, and the Tiramisu passable. I had a half bottle of Merlot, which was fine, even in its plastic cup. She brought the packets of salad dressings, which last time were in some kind of wicker basket. I did not take notice at first, but my friend did.....the dressings are brought in a cardboard box held together with paper clips! Oh come on, bean counters, this is really low class. Denny's does better than this, and for that matter, so does Waffle House. The coffee and tea served in a paper take out cup is another insult.
This subject has been discussed to death by us. Are we being spoiled brats because we are unhappy with the lousy decline in the quality of service? Don't we have more important concerns in life than to throw fits over the dining car level of service? Maybe so, but for the price we pay, I think our feelings are justified. I have been composing in my head a letter to Mr. Boardman and some of these politicians who ought to have minded their own business, but I don't want to come across as a superficial whiner......Hmmmm.... Feedback, please.
Our sleeper was in pretty good shape, and the upstairs bathroom appeared to have been refurbished, a plus. Nothing wrong with the roomette, except for the thin blanket and pillow. Another lousy night of sleep, finally nodding off after Needles. I have no recollection of Kingman, and woke as we approached Williams. Somewhere after Needles, we lost an hour of time, which is not surprising with the huge number of freights run on this route. We arriving about 1 hour 15 min. late at Flagstaff, not a problem and called a taxi to my home. Amtrak did get us directly to and from LA and in many respects was better than driving. Sleepers on the way over were nearly full, but not so on the return and each train had four coaches. Amtrak keeps stumbling along, to what future remains to be seen. It could be so much better!
