In the dining car Jake Lamangno and Jacob Scholl are trying to think of new card games to play. The two are students on break from Killington Mountain School taking Amtrak to Philadelphia to Scholl's home. Across the aisle Munoz plays solitaire and invites the boys over to learn crazy eights. Soon a new game and new relationship are formed as the day fades to twilight outside the large windows. Pulling into the subterranean station within minutes of the scheduled arrival time in Manhattan, passengers stretch, reach for their bags and bid farewell to their train acquaintances.
Regular riders say goodbye until next time to familiar conductors.
From the hushed atmosphere of the train, you are disgorged into the frenzy of Penn Station as city commuters hover near train displays for the Long Island Railroad, ready to whisk them to the suburbs. Although the Ethan Allen Express arrives at Penn Station, a trip to New York City would be incomplete without a visit to Grand Central Station, only a few blocks away. Recently renovated, the landmark granddaddy of stations positively glows with the warmth and bustle of an era when trains were still king. New York is a city for walking. Its grid-like street design makes navigation easy.