After four full days of fun, it was time to head onto our next adventure. We bid fond farewell to Steve and Sarah who had graciously chauffeured us to the train station in Salem.
Our seats were roomy and actually quite comfortable. The train stopped several times to board and unboard passengers, and the entire trip was less than 5 hours. The conductor certainly got a workout, walking up and down the attached cars over and over again after each station stop.
Steve had packed us sandwiches for the trip, so we were perfectly content to settle into our seats and have someone doing the long drive for us.
When we reached our destination, I was surprised at how warm the temperatures were as I had expected them to be a bit cooler. Once we arrived and retrieved our luggage, we began the mile trek to our hotel with the last few blocks being uphill. I'll admit....it was a bit of a workout, but we handled it well.
And, we managed to see some interesting sites along the way.
Here is our hotel where we are settled in a room on the 16th floor.
When we walked into the hotel we were surprised to see our friends from the Italy tour waiting for us in the lobby! They had arrived earlier in the day from Tennessee where they call home. We all decided to meet for dinner, so Marty and I headed out to explore some of the streets on our way to Capital Hill.
We certainly stumbled upon some fascinating sites. Lush green plants
as well as various fountains to add to the tranquility.
This plaza looked like the perfect place to sit, relax, and take in the beauty of it all.
And there were some interesting scenes worth photographing for the memory.
As we headed up hill towards our destination, I was taken with the brilliant reflection in the glass of this building along the walk, so I captured a photo.
We had chosen an Italian restaurant to celebrate our reunion, which seemed quite appropriate considering that was how we all met.
We had a grand time chatting and catching up and the time flew by.
We figured it was time to head back down to the hotel, which, I will admit was much easier than the opposite direction!
In case you are interested, here is a sneak peek of the view from our hotel room.
It's quite comfortable, and I actually hear a soft bed calling my name.
Until next time.....
