Hi,
I’m Karl, a long-term ESL teacher, and when you come to study ESL abroad at EC San Francisco
you’ll meet me. In addition to being one of the Senior Teachers, and a former film and television actor, I’m a rail fan. I love trains.
Some tourists visiting the U.S. don’t even know we have trains, and Amtrak (our passenger rail system) is a bit worn out, and slow. However, the trains are comfortable, the service is good, and you can’t get lost, or have to worry about crazy drivers or strange traffic laws. If you want to see the country (rather than just get to another city by air), the train is a good choice, at a good price.
It’s also part of the history of this country, and one of the reasons that the U.S. was able to become the world power it is today. California owes much of its existence as the most populous (and popular) state to the railroad. It also has, in Sacramento, the California Railroad Museum, one of the best museums of industry I have ever seen If you are interested in trains, or history, (ideally both), this is a must-see.
The museum is just on the edge of “Old Town,” the oldest surviving part of Sacramento. It is also a very short walk from the Amtrak station. For me, that’s the best part. From EC San Francisco, I can take a combination of Amtrak coach (across the Bay Bridge) and train, and be delivered almost to the door of a museum dedicated solely to — trains! The journey along and across San Francisco Bay, and then across the great Central Valley, is worth it in itself. So is the museum. The combination, for train buffs, is perfection.