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Posted by TBlack (Member # 181) on :
 
Sometimes the feature that notifies you of a private message doesn't work. Frank, would you do me a favor and check your in-box?

TB
 
Posted by sbalax (Member # 2801) on :
 
Tom--

You are right, it didn't tell me I had a message. I've sometimes gotten a notification weeks after the message was sent.

I replied to your question.

Frank in sunny SBA
 
Posted by smitty195 (Member # 5102) on :
 
The notification system doesn't seem to work most of the time, the "email replies" never works (except when it randomly decides to send everything you've been following all in one massive email blitz every few months), and the clock has been about 2 hours and 20 minutes slow for several weeks.

Anybody home???
 
Posted by TBlack (Member # 181) on :
 
Just to close out this thread, I want to publically recognize the great help that Frank has provided. In case the rest of you want to take advantage of his generosity, remember that he has told us he's off to South America on an extended cruise. Eat your heart out!
 
Posted by sbalax (Member # 2801) on :
 
Tom (and others we've met here including Ms. Vicki and Mr. Art)--

Yep, we are going to be gone until 11 May but will be checking in now and then when the internet allows.

Hasta pronto,

Frank
 
Posted by sojourner (Member # 3134) on :
 
Have a wonderful trip, Frank!
 
Posted by HopefulRailUser (Member # 4513) on :
 
Can't wait to hear about the trip. Have a wonderful time!
 
Posted by sbalax (Member # 2801) on :
 
Will do. Thanks for the good wishes. This should be an interesting pair of cruises especially going around Cape Horn as Winter approaches.

Frank in sunny SBA
 
Posted by train lady (Member # 3920) on :
 
I hope you two have a super time. Am eager to get your report on your return.
 
Posted by smitty195 (Member # 5102) on :
 
Have a great trip, Frank. That must be pretty cool to spend a month on-board a cruise ship. Don't gain too much weight! [Smile]

(Any spare room in your suitcase for a stowaway?)
 
Posted by Geoff M (Member # 153) on :
 
I expect to hear weather reports from wherever you are! Bon voyage!

[Yes, I suddenly received mail notifications weeks after they had been sent]

Geoff M.
 
Posted by HopefulRailUser (Member # 4513) on :
 
I notified the webmaster the last time I got the flurry of notices. It appears that the problem and our efforts to bring it to someone's attention are being ignored.

Rather Amtrakish, don't you think?
 
Posted by sbalax (Member # 2801) on :
 
Report #1. We made it to Houston. Breezy and cool.

Frank near IAH.
 
Posted by sbalax (Member # 2801) on :
 
Report #2 Hot (mid to high 80's and very little breeze in Buenos Aires. We have been on the go since we got here on Tuesday morning. Tomorrow (Easter Sunday) we board the ship but don't sail (for Montevideo) until 6PM on Monday. I'm hoping to get to the railroad museum on Monday. It is closed on the weekends and looked like it might be closed for good. We did a walk through of the Retiro Station which still shows a bit of its former grandeur. There was a nice restaurant/coffee shop in what had been the first class waiting are.

It was busy but all the trains were going short distances. The most popular were to Tigre Delta which is a resort area about 30k out of town.

Frank in sunny EZE -- Don't remember the three letter code for Aeroparque Newberry, the in town airport.
 
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
 
Brush upon your Espanol:

http://www.ferrobaires.gba.gov.ar/index.html
 
Posted by Vicki (Member # 3410) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by sbalax:
-- Don't remember the three letter code for Aeroparque Newberry, the in town airport.

IATA: AEP

Bon Voyage! I am so jealous. . [Wink]
 
Posted by sbalax (Member # 2801) on :
 
Mr. Norman--

It appears that there is only one train of any distance from Retiro. It goes west to Junin and Alberdi. They system is a skeleton of what it once was. Largely replaced by luxury bus service with double deckers and lie flat beds. We saw one with double front wheels and double wheels in the rear all equipped with devices to add or delete air from the tires without stopping.

Vicki--

Thanks, I knew it had to be and easy one. It is a VERY busy airport.

We are going to round Cape Horn in about an hour. Very smooth seas, sunny and little wind. The last trip they had 40 foot seas and 100mph winds. Our good luck holds.

Frank on board Radiance of the Seas.
 
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
 
Frank aboard C6SE7

So the only intercity train operating in Argentina is #513 from Estacion Retiro and all other services listed are, say, the Sunset East?

http://www.ferrobaires.gba.gov.ar/HTM/mapadestinos/mapa.htm

Talk about false advertising.

As I recall at "the end", the Mexican Railways System Timetable had "a few" services that might or might not operate depending on which way the "Dios del Sol" chose to smile.
 
Posted by sojourner (Member # 3134) on :
 
I am very jealous of you too, Frank, esp as, VERY coincidentally, I have just been reading 2 books set largely in WWII-era Argentina (mainly Buenos Aires) (and a bit in Uruguay, a bit in New Orleans, where I just was) and I was just telling my husband how I wish I could take a train (or cruise) to Argentina . . . and see Retiro Station too! And then you mention it right here!

The books, btw, are by W. E. B. Griffin, and quite readable, Honor Bound and Blood and Honor (I'm about 1/4 through the latter); actually, I think there may be a third too.

Have a wonderful time, and sing lots of shanties as you round Cape Horn. What is that song about Valaparaiso? . . . I need a beer to remember it. . . .
 
Posted by RRRICH (Member # 1418) on :
 
Frank -- as you round Cape Horn, remember this Gordon Lightfoot song:

All around old cape horn
Ships of the line, ships of the morn
Some who wish they'd never been born
They are the ghosts of cape horn
Fal deral da riddle de rum
With a rim dim diddy
And a rum dum dum
Sailing away at the break of morn
They are the ghosts of cape horn

See them all in sad repair
Demons dance everywhere
Southern gales, tattered sails
And none to tell the tales

Come all of you rustic old sea dogs
Who follow the great southern cross
You we're rounding the horn
In the eye of a storm
When ya lost 'er one day
And you read all yer letters
From oceans away
Then you took them to the bottom of the sea

All around old cape horn
Ships of the line, ships of the morn
Those who wish they'd never been born
They are the ghosts of cape horn

Fal deral da riddle de rum
With a rim dim diddy
And a rum dum dum
Sailing away at the break of morn
They are the ghosts of cape horn

Come all you old sea dogs from devon
Southampton, penzance, and kinsale
You were caught by the chance
Of a sailor's last dance
It was not meant to be
And ya read all yer letters
Cried anchor aweigh
Then ya took them to the bottom of the sea

All around old cape horn
Ships of the line, ships of the morn
Those who wish they'd never been born
They are the ghosts of cape horn

Fal deral da riddle de rum
With a rim dim diddy
And a rum dum dum
Sailing away at the break of morn
They are the ghosts of cape horn
 
Posted by sbalax (Member # 2801) on :
 
Sojourner--

Thanks for the reading list. I haven't had time to read much on the ship. I'll save those suggestions for when we return May 11.

RRRich--

I should have planned ahead and loaded that one on my iPod. We circumnavigated Isla de Hornos going from the South Atlantic into the South Pacific and back into the Atlantic. Then we made a run up Beagle Channel and docked in Ushuaia around midnight. On to Puntarenas, Chile tonight.

Mr. Norman--

I believe there are inter-city trains from the other stations in Buenos Aires but I don't think many of them go far. The most popular seem to be to Mar del Plata and Tigre (which does leave from Retiro).

All--

I didn't ride the "Train at the End of the World" but several people did. They enjoyed it but it is a replica and reminded them of a train at Disneyland. The only remaining rolling stock is at the Prison Museum here in Ushuaia and it's in sad shape.

Frank ready to sail again at 3:30PM
 
Posted by sbalax (Member # 2801) on :
 
P.S. I'm now entitled to wear a gold earring in my left ear. No comments from you, Miss Vicki.

Frank
 
Posted by MDRR (Member # 2992) on :
 
Frank, First of all, CONGRATULATIONS! [Smile]

Second of all, RCCL? have you forsaken HAL?
Must have been a very good interline rate?

Enjoy the rest of what sounds like a wonderful trip!

Tom
 
Posted by HopefulRailUser (Member # 4513) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by sbalax:
P.S. I'm now entitled to wear a gold earring in my left ear. No comments from you, Miss Vicki.

Frank

No comment needed. Arghh!

Thanks for the reports along the way. Love it.
 
Posted by sojourner (Member # 3134) on :
 
well, I found the chantey. I won't give you the stanzas, what with getting "paralytic drunk" and all, but the chorus goes like this:

Paddy lay back, take in your slack,
Take a turn around the capstan, heave a pawl;
About ship's stations, boys, be handy;
We're bound for Valparaiso round the Horn.
 


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