Tag: train

“I’ve bought a ticket to the States. I’m off in three weeks.”

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US trip

(Coffee on me for the person recognizing the title quote without googling!)

I am not exactly off in three weeks, I am off in 10 days! And I am not prepared at all yet, so I better start working on that.

I have stripped off quite some bits from the draft plan and have decided to leave the East coast for another time.

I did try to put Chicago in, but I had trouble finding a reasonable priced place to stay so I dropped it in the end. Next time, baby.

The final plan is simple:

  1. I fly from London to Los Angeles.
  2. I spent a couple of days in LA.
  3. I take the Amtrak Coast Starlight train to San Francisco. This takes 11 h 17 minutes and is supposed to be one of the most beautiful train rides in the US. (You can continue to Seattle if you stay on the train, but I get off in San Francisco).
  4. I stay in San Francisco for 6-7 days and fly back to London.

That is roughly the plan. I have booked flights and hotels using Expedia, Tripadvisor and Hotelscombined. Now I just need to figure out what to see and do.

A couple of things I know I am going to do:

In San Francisco

  1. Rent a bike and bike the bridge.. It is not sure I will rent the bike there, am still investigating the possibilities, but am definitely going to bike the bridge.
  2. Take a ride on a San Francisco cable car
  3. Do a whale watch tour.

More ideas will popup I am sure, also for LA, but this is as far as I got.

I have to run now, I am off to a preview of Away We Go. (by Sam “American Beauty” Mendes).

Two days in Paris

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TV-2 in Paris

How to be impulsive and try something new in six easy steps:

  1. Read on facebook (and yes I want to be your friend too – I am known as Ingrid M van Vliet, the M standing for mad) that TV-2 (danish band extraordinaire) is playing a concert in Paris.
  2. Admit that taking the Eurostar train from London to Paris has long been on your todo list and that this might be a perfect reason to book it, like, now.
  3. Book a ticket for the TV-2 concert in ELYSEE-MONTMARTRE, Paris.
  4. Book your Eurostar ticket and realise that it is only 2 hours and 20 minutes from London St. Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord by train! Make sure to reserve a window seat.
  5. Visit tripadvisor.com, search for “cheap hotel Gare du Nord, Paris”, read reviews from other travellers, pick a hotel and book it. Realise after you booked it that the hotel is located on Rue de saint Quentin which put a smile on your face.
  6. Start looking forward to the trip and promise yourself to do things like this more often.

Voici, c’est simple!

Pause a while and muse

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Love never ends

A train at 9.47am on a Sunday morning – after a short night and weather that could not be more depressing – demanded a lot of willpower. But I had my book and the prospect of a train trip, and even if it was going to be rain all day, that was enough to have me leave my bed and hop on board to Eastbourne. The BBC promised heavy showers all day.

While approaching Eastbourne it magically cleared up and the grey clouds turned into sunshine and while setting a first few steps on a very steep hill in the direction of Beachy Head I discovered a couple of things:

I really need to work on my condition
Love never ends
and most importantly
I live in one of the most beautiful countries in the world.

Warning: Lots of pictures in this post.

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Rain from my brain

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Piccadilly Circus in the rain

I am struck by a severe (blog) writers block (and wondering who is interested in reading all this crap shit stuff anyway), so a couple of notes and then I am off.

When I took this picture 2 days ago (without having an umbrella at hand but not minding the rain) I focussed on the reflections on the pavement, I am annoyed now that I did manage to cut off the top of the umbrella on the left.

Some words about the Oscars:

I was very pleased to see Marion Cotillard winning the Oscar for best actress. La Vie En Rose was one of the best films I have seen in 2007 and she is to blame for that. Fantastic performance.

I was also pleased to see Juno win best Screen Play. Appreciating films like Juno with an Oscar is encouraging, Juno has been made on a low budget, and it proves that it can be done: making a great film on a low budget. Have you seen it yet?

I don’t share the hype about No Country and have not seen There Will Be Blood (not in the mood for a film like that).

Some short film reviews:

  • The Bucket List, even though a bit too Hollywoody in some places is wonderfully uplifting, despite the fate of it’s two main men. Jack Nicholson is funny. And, as you know, I love actors who can act with their eyebrow. Jack is a master.
  • I thought Jumper was crap. Hayden Christensen doesn’t have any on screen charisma, and the story was so bad I left the cinema before it was finished. Only high point in this film is Jamie Bell.
  • Be Kind Rewind. I so looked forward to this one, the trailer looked great, Jack Black is spot on for the role, and I love Mos Def. And I loved, loved, loved Michael Gondry’s The Science of Sleep. Be Kind Rewind has a great premise, and the parts where they “swede” existing films is great, but the story was messy and unfortunately I have to say that overall I didn’t like it very much.

March is going to be a train travel month. With film shoots (for work that is) planned in places like Oliver Lucas’ Shropshire (I strangely look forward to that, even though the man is a made up character in a play!) , Exeter (a visit to England’s beautiful Devon and close to south Coast at last) and Edinburgh (mmm yeah talk Scottish to me). I will try to plan the shoots in a way so I can stay over for the weekend and see bits of the country. Not the least because I desperately need a holiday as my head is on the edge of exploding.
More about this soon.

It’s all too beautiful

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The Bridge

A view from my train window on my way home from Carlisle through a country I have seen way too little of I found out.

Over bridge of sighs
To rest my eyes in shades of green
Under dreamin’ spires
To Itchycoo Park, that’s where I’ve been

What did you do there?
I got high
What did you feel there?
Well I cried
But why the tears there?
I’ll tell you why
It’s all too beautiful
It’s all too beautiful
It’s all too beautiful
It’s all too beautiful

The Bore Ultimatum

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What is going on? Why do both the Times and the Guardian rate this (hopefully) last film in the trilogy that well? I was utterly bored! I gave it a fair chance, but I admit, having read nearly all Ludlum books, that these three were not among my favourite ones. Neither is the film.

What’s the film about? It’s about Matt Damon running around being chased by baddies. That’s about it, and that for about 2 hours long.

What annoys me the most about the whole Bourne franchise is Matt Damon himself. Here is what he has to say about Bond, James, Bond:

“Bond is an imperialist and a misogynist who kills people and laughs about it and drinks Martinis and cracks jokes.” By contrast, he added, “Bourne is a serial monogamist whose girlfriend is dead and he does nothing but think about her … he doesn’t have the support of gadgets and feels guilty about what he’s done.” (Guardian). Here is more on Bond vs. Bourne.

I only have one thing to say: it was probably a desperate attempt from Matt Damon. I mean who can compete with Daniel Craig in a Bond movie that has a lot more character development than the Bore Ultimatum, and Casino Royale was also a hell of a lot more interesting to watch. Not to say that Daniel Craig has more charisma in his left small toe nail than Matt Damon as a whole, Matt Damon has no charisma at all on screen. Sorry for the rant. The Bourne Ultimatum (6/10)

I am currently preparing for a 4 hour train trip to Carlisle somewhere in a more northern part of the UK. My iPod is charged, my silksounding Bill books are waiting for a re-read, and it is also stuffed with music that is going to make my train journey great. My script is in my bag as well, you never know when inspiration strikes you.

We are going to shoot some film on a depot where they transport nuclear waste. That will light up my day. It might light up me as well. In several ways. Not that my day needed lighting up more, it was turned into a very bright one already very very early in the morning. I haven’t slept much because of it, and maybe I will tell you why at some point. Or not. It all depends. On if dire chance and fateful cockup will have it.

Why does it always rain on me

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Manchester is a great place to be. If you love rain. Which of course I’ve always said I did. It does get a bit annoying though when you have to stand out in the rain for a couple of hours.

Just to let you know how exiting it is to be involved in a film shoot: you have to stand up at 6am. You have to be ready at 6.45am. And then it just pours down so much that it is to no use whatsoever to do any filming. So you eat a breakfast in the hotel and wait till it clears up a bit. It did after an hour or so, so we went off. And ended up standing in the wind and the rain for hours anyway …

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Like electricity

thegirlinthecafe 11 Comments
  • It’s amazing. We were 7 people, all around my age (17) and we were all so nervous for this exam, it was like being back at high school again. We all passed. I am relieved, because it was tougher than I thought, it was all new for me and it is all so different from what I used to work with.
  • The trainer I had for this course could be a brother of Michael Caine. He looked a lot like him, and his accent was rather, ehrm, voicilicious.
  • Just shortly on the explosives: they are small round flat circles that you put on the rail. They make a sound when the train drives over them and this alerts the driver that there is trouble ahead on the line and it will make him stop the train.
  • And about my electricity adventure: when I was young (13 is my guess) I was trying to be handy. I was opening and messing about with a screw driver and a power outlet/strip, while it was still connected. I got a major shock, my arm was numb for quite a while and I never ever forget it. I like to think that my mind got messed up by it, which is very useful if you want to be a writer.
  • Power on train lines: on the over rail lines (the ones above your head) : 25.000 volts. (never ever touch them). And on the 3rd rail that is an unprotected rail just running along normal rails on lots of places: 750 volts. This does cause a lot of accidents, especially when outsiders get onto the rail (kids playing or graffiti sprayers). I was quite surprised to hear that those rails are this dangerous. And I was wondering if we have the same system in the Netherlands and in Denmark. Just never ever step on or touch rails in the UK is what I’ve learned.
  • Germany has banned the makers of Tom Cruise’s new movie from filming at military sites in the country because the actor is a Scientologist.. Weird story. Bill Nighy is in Valkyrie as well.
  • I was walking around in Canary Wharf this afternoon and they were showing Henman’s amazing tennis match on a big screen outside on one of the sky scrapers. Funny to watch all the suits watching it. And I am happy for Henman.
  • I promise not to write about trains tomorrow.
  • I found out: Papa Oscar Tango Charlie: One Zero times. Because I just returned from the One Zero time. I felt I deserved some Bravo India Lima Lima after passing my exam.

Oh Edinburgh

thegirlinthecafe 4 Comments

In case you were wondering why it is so quiet over here – well I am in the process of falling in love with Edinburgh. I’ll be back in London tomorrow with more about this lovely city, men in kilts, taxi drivers which voicilicious accents, lots of pictures, a new addition to my “Bill posters will be prosecuted” collection, and a lost heart.

Oh and I saw Pirates again, just to check if I hadn’t overdone it in my review, but I hadn’t. This is one fantastic Pirate movie.

Jo-ho, jo-ho …

Trans Mongolian

thegirlinthecafe 2 Comments

A little more from my Trans Mongolian train trip:

After an evening at the Russian Border (passport control took 4 hours!) and the Mongolian border (passport control took 1.5 hours) we entered Mongolia. While enjoying a good night sleep, after yesterdays , we were brutally woken up at 7.30 am in Ulaanbataar, Mongolia’s capital. While having lived in luxury the last 5 days (2 persons sharing a 4 persons compartment) 2 new passengers moved in. We had to quickly take our things from the other beds and rearrange our stuff. A harsh wake up but we could have been 4 from the beginning so we were grateful for our first 5 days.
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Are you asleep?

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2nd of March 2007 – 4th night on the Trans Mongolian train

“Are you asleep?” ~Gina
“I have pretended to be dead since 1 am, but I am still alive, still awake.” ~Lawrence

I had pretended to be dead since 1 am, but at 2.36am in the night I was still alive, still awake. I reached for my mp3 player, as, unfortunately, there wasn’t a Lawrence available but J., my roommate asks me if I am awake, he couldn’t sleep either. We were completely awake in the middle of the night, in a train crossing through Siberia, a full moon lighting up the snow.
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The Trans Mongolian : Getting on the train

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Moscow, 27th February 2007 – Yaroslawsky station
And then you are standing there and think : What could be the train to Beijing?

This wasn’t the most fun day of the trip, but I think I’ve found my train, thanks to someone writing Beijing/Peking in Cyrillic on a piece of paper. Now that I am here in the evening, the evening trains are actually displayed on the time table, they weren’t earlier today, which caused some of the panic.

(Can you guess which train I am supposed to take from the names on the this time table?)

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Ni hao from Beijing!

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I am in China! Wooohooo!

Moscow was harsh in many ways, and I didn’t feel too sorry to leave it. I found my train, woohoo! for that and thanks so much for all the crossed fingers – it helped!, and I will write more about all my up front worries later. But I entered my 4 persons compartment in the train and sat down. 2 minutes later my train roommate came in, also here I was prepared for the worst. After a tough time in Moscow I ended up sharing my cabin with only one person, so lots of space, which was great.

And how I love Ithika and A simple twist of fate, because this person, are you ready, was as English as an Englishman could be (and hearing him speak was like music in my ears after days of struggle Russian), and the very first morning I woke up after my first night on the train and he-served-me-tea-in-bed. Tea in bed ladies and gentlemen, and not just any tea, it was bloody Yorkshire tea!

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