Saturday 22 September - Day 32 - New York to Washington.

Got up early and caught a taxi to Penn Station.  Needless to say, because we were so early, everything went perfectly at the station - we had our luggage checked in with more than an hour to spare.
The train we caught was the Amtrak Carolinian - it goes from New York to Washington with about four stops, then continues on to Charlotte in North Carolina.  We took a business class seat, which cost basically the same as the economy air fare would have and to be honest I'd never go any other way.  The train is a bit old and the ride isn't at all smooth, but the seats were comfortable including a huge amount of leg room. The other real benefit is the luggage - the luggage allowance is far more generous than flying.
This afternoon is the technically the first day of the Cosmos coach tour, but it really only consists of arriving at the hotel and doing a bit of local exploration.  We're actually staying in Alexandria, just over the river in Virginia.  We went for a long walk and ended up seeing a lot of sights around the Alexandria Old Town - just lots of interesting little things like Robert E Lee's childhood home.
Not writing a lot tonight as we really really need to catch up on our sleep after a couple of really hectic days  :-)