Two weeks ago, shortly after arriving in D.C., we made our way to Union Station to catch our train to Charlottesville. We were a few hours early so we strolled around the terminal. There were no interesting places for lunch – the offerings being mostly of the fast-food variety – but there were three chocolate shops each representing a different country: Switzerland, Belgium, and England.
When our train arrived, we took the escalator down to the platform. Walking past the large, hulking engine I thought of the picture a friend had recently sent from Madrid of the sleek, low-slung, aerodynamic train he was about to board to Barcelona. Americans used to travel to Europe to see the Old World and now it’s what Europeans find in the U.S.
