Train to DC

Wednesday June 6, 2012

Man, even the train has free wifi.

Yesterday we started the day at the Museum of Natural History near Central Park, only a few blocks from the hotel. The place is massive, with four floors taking me a total of three and a half hours to explore. There's plenty of exhibits on space, geology, extinct animals, cultures of the world and dinosaurs.

I did a huge candy run. So much candy. I'd say I have around five kilograms of the stuff and it was tough carting all of it to the train station this morning. Sadly I won't be eating all of it... It's mostly gifts for friends and family.

But the best part of my day was being able to witness, firsthand, the historical Transit of Venus, which will not happen for another 115 years. My luck with viewing astronomical events has never been good, and with rain and clouds forecasted for the day, it looked like it was going to be rather iffy at stages. But shortly after 6pm, the clouds parted for a brief glimpse into the heavens and the several telescopes that had been set up at the Pier 1 Cafe on Manhattan's west all caught the intense black spot nestled on the sun's rim. My thanks again to the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York for organising this event and I am totally stoked to be out of stormy Wellington for this!

The Amtrak train is cool. In the two hours I've been on the train, we've been from Penn Station in NYC to New Jersey, Pennsylvania and now in Delaware, with Maryland and finally DC to go.

Posted by Jeremy at 1:08pm on Wednesday June 6, 2012 :: 2 comments ::

Where? new york, washington dc | What? astronomy